One year ago tomorrow I moved from Bushey, Hertfordshire back to St Neots, Cambridgeshire, the area in which I grew up. I made the decision to move home when I realised I’d exhausted everything I needed and wanted from living in Bushey. Moving home was the best decision I made, one year on and I’m elated on how this past year has gone with nothing but excitement for the future.
Here’s a little story: I moved from Cambridgeshire to Harrow, a north London suburb famous for the posh school as well as the hilariously opposing town centre, to study music at the University of Westminster’s creative campus. Once I graduated I decided that it was worth staying in the London area due to it being a hub for creativity as well as my fellow band members all living in the London area. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I fell into the leisure industry and worked at the local pool/athletics track and quickly developed a friendship group in the area. There was no need for me to move home, if anything I felt like it was the last thing I wanted to do. For the following 3-4 years, being a Hertfordshire/London suburb dweller served me well.
Whilst living in Bushey, I had a little studio flat which had a very small separate bathroom but was no bigger than most people’s bedrooms. I was by myself which I’d learned to absolutely love but perhaps even a little too much. As a person I like to be left alone and enjoy my own company but it was reaching a point where I would happily not see anyone socially for weeks. Though this wasn’t something that phased me much, I could tell that it wasn’t perhaps a healthy habit. Due to various circumstances I had to change jobs and career paths, which is also mentioned in the same previous blog post, and this meant I didn’t perhaps see my leisure friends as much as I had been and some of them had also moved on to other areas. Various band members had also vacated the London area, which it turned out, was not a problem and had little to no effect on rehearsing/meetings/gigging etc. I started to question why I was living there? Yes, I enjoyed the area and I had a nice little routine but I could quite easily have lived in that comfortable bubble well into my 30’s.
The pivotal moment that made me realise I wanted to move back home was when I did a music workshop at the college I now work at. It was just a 3 day programme that I set up due to having some time off and wanting to earn a bit of money. Whilst here I fitted in all my usual routinely habits; swimming, running, gym. I had a little walk around the fields and suddenly realised how much I didn’t enjoy the city, that the country air was actually where I belong. The band then went to the USA about a week later. Whilst there we stayed in an Air BnB in Florida which was a big 4 bedroom house with an epic kitchen/diner as well as a small pool out the back. I woke up one of the morning’s there and just thought about living in an actual house and not just a room. On my run that morning I just kept thinking about moving home, so when I returned I messaged my mum saying that was what I was going to do.
I applied for a job at the college and within a few weeks I had an offer. A few weeks later, I’d moved back. Fast forward a year and here we are!
I like to reference back to what I was doing this time one year ago, sometimes I even like to look back 2 maybe 3 years. It’s good to gauge how far you’ve come but also it highlights different chapters to your life story, I like that feeling. Anyway, as I said, there’s exciting plans in the pipeline for the next year and I’m excited.
Today’s athletic update: Cross train week in full flow, I swam 2 miles this morning then had a strength session in the gym which resulted in a bench press 3RM personal record… I think I’ve got a bit more in me as I’m not getting so fatigued from the run, it felt good. Still, I’d rather be running though. No pain from the hip though and both the mobility and stretches felt good.
Carpe Omnia.
BG
benedict. 