Moving to a new place is always difficult. Moving from one side of a town to another is an enormous pain in and of itself. Moving from one side of a country to another is significantly worse.
One of the things that makes moving cross country hard is that it can sever ties to friends in what once was your home. In the digital age it’s much easier to keep in touch with people than it once was. However, there is something to be said about being with friends in person. Moving doesn’t just mean learning new routes to work, or finding new restaurants, it means creating new connections with people.
For many of us, meeting new people can be difficult. Every interaction with a stranger brings with it a host of uncertainties. We can never be sure what the other person is really thinking. Two people can have vastly different interpretations of the same interaction. This can lead to unfounded expectations for future interactions that will never be fulfilled. When reality hits it can be awkward. It can also be heartbreaking.
What makes most social interactions tolerable is that there usually isn’t just one. Most of our interactions are with the same group of people. We often get a second chance. We’re given the opportunity to learn about them, learn their tics, their tells. This accumulated knowledge helps us to understand what’s happening. With chance encounters, one can never be sure where they stand, leaving us forever unsure.
