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Need Advice or SupportGeneral isolation + lack of walkability
I live in a suburb of a big city, and I’ve been reflecting on some areas of dissatisfaction in my life lately. Wanted to ask for advice
After visiting some relatives in Europe and seeing how walkable + public-transit-supported the cities there are compared to the city I live in in the USA, I’ve been feeling really disgruntled about how I have to drive everywhere and how isolated I am. I have great friendships and I see each friend once a week, but they live driving distance away and I’m feeling really frustrated about the limitations on my lifestyle living here.
Groceries, bars and restaurants, nice parks, friends, my boyfriend. Can’t walk to any of these and can’t take public transit either — it would turn a 10 minute car ride into a 90 minute multi-bus ride or 45 minute walk.
What I really wish for is a neighborhood where all my friends live, or at least where I have friends within walking distance, and where we could get all our needs met within walking distance. But also where we are not living in downtown (it is crowded, dirty, and less safe there) or in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere (because then there’s almost nothing to do and people tend to be less open minded).
I don’t know where I could move to. I obviously can’t make my friends move next to me, and I don’t want to move in the next few years as I own my place and I do like the area generally.
I don’t want to volunteer somewhere where I have to drive to get there. I just want to:
Any advice on any of these points? Anyone else feel similarly?