Putting All Your Geographical Eggs in One Basket (Conclusion of 3-part City series)

I write and think A LOT about the place I want to be my home, and this is hopefully the conclusion of my 3-parter ("Are You Proud of Where You Live?", "Life is Nomadic").

If you want to get a full grasp of my musings on this, read those, but I'll catch you up. In Proud of Where You Live I discuss statistical and analytical ways to compare cities. In Life is Nomadic I discuss the opportunity cost of living in one place and inherently sacrificing the possibility of living somewhere else.

I've come to an "eat your cake and have it too" conclusion. I think it is reasonable and realistic (but expensive) to have a homebase in one city + travel and experience other cities deeply. I read the quote "I want to learn to play cities like an instrument" and it really resonated with me. To know other cities well, have friends there, and be able to have a sense of familiarity is happiness.

So then the question becomes what will the "homebase" be. For me, the answer is Nashville. Personally, this city is a perfect Venn-diagram of many of the things I'm looking for in life right now, but besides my own situation, this city is a growing wave. A rising tide lifts all boats and by all measures Nashville is a rising tide that is incomparable to any other city in the US.

So, if I have to put all my geographical eggs in one basket I'll put it in the place where I can grow alongside the city. Even if I don't live here forever, I'm laying down roots to forever maintain a part of myself in the city. More to come on that in the future, but for now, I'm happy and have answered my question of where I want to live. Nashville 😎.