The Bustling Cities or Quiet Villages?

My life experiences have given exposure to both living and working in both Rural and Urban areas. I enjoyed living in them both, but like many things, they both have their pros and cons. I believe a person’s personality and lifestyle are probably the two biggest factors that will affect which one you’d prefer living in and building a life around – City or Village.

The Bustling City Life

I love cities. They’re fun to be in. They have beautiful environments and diverse entertainment options. I’m not even sure whether I can say the latter about all cities, because entertainment options in Tamale are not that many right now. Perhaps, it is because entertainment providers feel that people here will not be willing to pay the amount charged for their services. This opens up into another thing about cities. This one, not so good.

Cities are expensive!

Of course, expensive is relative. Among themselves, cities are more expensive than each other, but the point is that cities in any given region are likely going to be the most expensive locations in that region. The good thing though is that the reason they’re expensive is because there are usually more opportunities there, and earning potential for jobs are higher. So you earn a lot of money, but cost of living collects it right back. Which is why you hear people abroad always talking about even though they’re making a lot of money there, they don’t get to save much because they spend just as much too.

They’re called bustling for a reason

One thing that I both love and hate about cities is that they’re busy. I was telling a friend a few nights ago some things I loved living in Accra for a short while for. Everyone was busy. People associated less importance to themselves than I’ve observed in Rural areas or even smaller cities. This sounds bad, but in a way, it’s a good thing for me. Just taking a look around me allows me stay pegged to the reality that I’m just one person in millions of people.

Now the other aspect of this – the bad

Because there are too many people, you can get lost in the numbers, and start to see yourself as just a normal person. This is not good for ambition. Ambition sometimes requires you to believe that you’re unique – and you are. But it’s not only about your own belief, but the fact that in a city where 100s of other people are doing exactly what you’re doing or similar, it’s easy for your talent to get buried under all the busy and all the people. The case would likely be different for an Urban community where you have less competition, and so it’s easier for you to shine. At the same time, that could mean you get comfortable and are not as challenged as city would. Arrgh it’s complicated, isn’t it?

Likelihood of becoming a statistic

When you live in a slow environment, it’s easier to control the variables in your life. Slow life is not really a normal for cities. Because of how dense they are, it’s easy to become a statistic in cities because you’re surrounded by people of all sorts. Alcoholics, Pick Pockets, Normal-looking but crazy people, Real Psychopaths, Organ Harvesters, you name them. You can follow all the road safety rules and still easily get killed in a road accident because of someone else's careless driving, get robbed because someone else considers you as better off, etc.

Recently, there was an accident trending on Twitter about some under 18 years old boy who crashed a car almost reaching the speed of light into a car full of some ladies in Accra. It was a sad scene to watch. But this was not surprising given the stories I’ve heard about the place. I don’t even want to recount some of my personal experiences with road safety there, but you get my point.

---

In the end, where you choose to live or settle will require that you do a pros and cons of the things that are most important to you. Both come with their perks and challenges. Personally, I love urban areas because of the opportunities and easy access to resources, but every once a while, I appreciate moving down to my quite village to experience some of that slow and peaceful surrounded by nature and the people I love.

---

All images here are mine

Posted Using InLeo Alpha