Yeah, as someone who grew up in a conservative town and got bit by the travel bug, it’s really relatable actually.
People absolutely do look down on you for not being content to just live a “normal life” (meaning "conform to the oppressive standards we impose on you as “normal.”). They’ll make fun of you for being intelligent (“brainiac”/“knowitall”/etc.), and even call you arrogant while worshipping the narcissists who happen to be into sports and machismo culture instead of books and knowledge.
And when you say you want to see the world, they act like you’re arrogant/pretentious. “Oh, so you think you’re better than the rest of us?” And they think it’s unrealistic too. As if no one has ever left their hometown and built a life for themselves anywhere else. And they’ll try to guilt you about it, like “so you’re just going to abandon us?”
Yeah, as someone who grew up in a conservative town and got bit by the travel bug, it’s really relatable actually.
People absolutely do look down on you for not being content to just live a “normal life” (meaning "conform to the oppressive standards we impose on you as “normal.”). They’ll make fun of you for being intelligent (“brainiac”/“knowitall”/etc.), and even call you arrogant while worshipping the narcissists who happen to be into sports and machismo culture instead of books and knowledge.
And when you say you want to see the world, they act like you’re arrogant/pretentious. “Oh, so you think you’re better than the rest of us?” And they think it’s unrealistic too. As if no one has ever left their hometown and built a life for themselves anywhere else. And they’ll try to guilt you about it, like “so you’re just going to abandon us?”
It’s really exhausting, to be honest…