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I moved from my small hometown to a large city in 2009, loved it and had the time of my life for three years, but because of the recession I ended up having to move back to my small hometown in 2012 and am here to this day. Since being back, I've fallen deep into debt and find myself at a point where I want nothing more than to get out of here but I can't for a few more years for financial reasons. I just can't take the ultra-conservative culture where everything revolves around church and the Republican party. It really is like serving a prison sentence. I really can't believe this is what my life has come to. Rural America has its perks and is a great fit for some people, but if it isn't for you, its such a depressing place.
Congratulations OP on getting out of rural America. I hope one day I can escape, for the second and final time.
Last edited by bawac34618; 01-01-2016 at 08:02 PM..
I almost thought I was reading the story of my life! We seem to have experienced very similar things.
I live in South Georgia (since 2011), but I grew up in a very large town in South Carolina and I never really adjusted. I spent the first three and a half years in a very dark place. Small town life straight up sucks. There's nothing to do. Nothing new ever opens and if it does, it only lasts six or so months before closing. The schools are some of the worst and most corrupt in the country. The list goes on.
About a year ago, I pulled out of the public school system in favor of a charter school with the sole purpose of trying to focus on my future. I work entirely from home or wherever in the world I am. It's allowed me to travel and have more freedom, certainly, but it's also allowed me to break away from the community that I never really felt like I was a part of to begin with and to severe the ties with people who were mostly only friends and associates out of social necessity. I'm moving to New York in May and I start school in August and I am so excited. I feel like I can't get on a plane quickly enough.
I have been called every name in the book for leaving. "Uppity," a "yuppie," etc. My parents think I'm trying to impress someone (which, certifiably, I don't give a damn what anyone thinks or has to say). People have guilt-tripped me, tried to make me feel bad for leaving my parents behind, etc. You can't listen to them. If people don't like what you're doing, you must be doing something right. Good for you for getting out of a miserable situation and doing much better for yourself.
This seemed like the perfect forum for me to write this up in. I grew up in a rural town called LaGrange, in Georgia. It has about 30,000 people and is very old fashioned and traditional in a lot of ways. Some backstory: I am 23, a college graduate with a year of graduate school under my belt, and currently live in Atlanta working as a software engineer.
Ever since I can remember, I was different from the rest of the people I grew up with. I tended to read a lot, to enjoy spending a lot of time on the computer and playing video games, going to science fiction conventions, things like that. Not usually things that would be associated with rural living. I grew up on a farm, and learned how to take care of horses and other animals, and how to do things like build fences, bush hog fields, fix roofs, you know..the kind of things you'd expect to learn growing up on a farm in the woods in the South.
Like I said, I was never really like the rest of the people I was around. My best friend growing up lived down the road from me, and we worked together a lot during the summers. He was never interested in education, and dropped out of high school and (possibly) got his GED. He now lives in a double wide trailer, got married at 20, and has a four year old daughter. His wife works part time at McDonalds, and he works at a grocery store part time as well. My other friends never seemed to amount to much either. They would get into drugs, get crazy drunk during the week, most have been arrested or put in jail for stupid things. There's a ton of drama surrounding them pretty much all the time.
My dilemma was that I never wanted any of that. I wanted to get out of that small town and make something out of myself. I wanted to be successful with a good, stable career and a family when I get ready to have one instead of something totally unplanned. I was sent to a private school, paid for out of the Social Security money I received every month from my father's death. That kept me out of the public school system and away from a large amount of bad influences. The problem with that was that I was looked at as "uppity" and "arrogant" and "thinks-he's-better-than-you" because I got a decent education and was never arrested.
It got worse when people found out I was going to college. My family was very supportive, of course, but my friends felt the opposite. I wasn't "one of the boys" anymore; I was a jumped up college boy who thinks he's too good for the people he came up with. I was looked at as "abandoning my roots" and "forgetting where I came from".
Another issue came from me being generally a very liberal person in a very conservative area. My friends would display casual racism (towards all minorities) all the time. I didn't like that, but was made fun of for speaking my mind about it. For the record, I'm a left-leaning equality minded person, which is something very rare in a small Southern town. It set me apart from everyone else, but I can't help what I believe. If I believe something is right or wrong, then I do, and shouldn't feel unwelcome because of it.
So I severed contact with the people I grew up with. I didn't feel like I belonged in their world anymore, or that I even belonged in my hometown. I was never comfortable living in LaGrange - there was never anything to do except get into trouble, and I always looked for something bigger and better. I feel that I've always been a city man at heart - I love being around people, and I love the hustle and bustle of big city life. I finally got a job that paid what I wanted, and I moved to where I felt I belonged. I'm around like-minded people and I feel like I am welcome as opposed to being the odd man out.
I haven't set foot back in LaGrange for longer than two days since I moved away in 2008. I've never looked back and never had a desire to move back to that kind of place. I haven't had contact with the people that I knew for 15+ years since then either, with the exception of my childhood best friend. If he's happy, more power to him, but I always wanted something better for myself than living on a part time minimum wage job supporting a wife and kid, trying to figure out whether to pay the power bill or the rent on the double wide trailer.
You've got to be kidding me. LaGrange is a big town, not a small town. I should know, because I live in Statesboro, a Georgia town that's roughly the same size as LaGrange. LaGrange is a half hour drive to Columbus (pop. 200,000) and about an hour drive to Atlanta. I'm honestly surprised you'd feel remote in a place like that.
I was born in a city, but was raised in a small town all my life. I absolutely HATED it growing up. As I have gotten older, i still strongly dislike it! It's true what they say about people getting in each others business. For many people, born in small towns or not, they often get stuck there. People who never lived in small towns will never know the struggles of literally not having **** to do day by day by day, people talking about you (mostly behind your back) or having to travel long distances (an hour at the least) for any means of civilization!
They will never know what its like to live in an area that does not revolve around tourist, they cannot comprehend living in an area that does not have everything in the world, or people that love it there or would die to live there (small towns do not exist compared to California, New York, Florida, Texas, or Las Vegas)..hate to bring that up but we all know its true. Honestly, what gets to me the most is I feel like life has been kept from me by being made to live here. I picked up a saying, anybody can move to and live in a small town, but it is hell getting out!
small towns do not exist compared to California, New York, Florida, Texas, or Las Vegas
So there are no small towns in California, New York, Florida, or Texas? If that's the case, I've had some very realistic dreams of traveling through very small towns in those states.
The town my family used to live in had a population of around 1,000 people, and it's interesting to look up then-classmates on Facebook and see how many of them are still living in the area.....most seemed to have moved here to Phoenix. (a few exceptions being one guy who is an assistant principal at one of the elementary schools, and teaches junior-high math)
*Just something this thread got me thinking about, because my mom recently mentioned that one of the reasons she decided to move was that she felt my siblings and I would have no future there.
As a Texan we do have small towns,lots of them. There's Castroville, Yorktown,Cuero,etc.Then there's places like Denhawken ,Cheapside, Davy, Rio Medina and others where there really isn't much to do. Think there is 20,000 or so in my county seat Seguin. My town Schertz has like i think 18,00 something.New businesses keep opening up.We have a YMCA,library,big city park,with outdoor swimming pool and now the city is building an natatorium(indoor pool) We have two high schools and people go to the games.There's little league baseball and soccer.You're only 20 miles to San Antonio and about 65 or so to Austin. New Braunfels is only about 12 miles up IH35.You can go tubing on the Guadalupe River or go to Schlitterbahn the famous water park.Various state parks around here too.
Schertz and the communities around here have different events.But then this whole area around here keeps growing.Soon San Antonio and Austin will just run together along IH35.
If you want to find out more on small Texas towns you might check out All about Texas - Texas travel, Texas history, Texas cities, towns, ghost towns; people, historic places, buildings, illustrated. You can find all kinds of towns you can browse till your heart's content.
Whenever my sister and her husband come for a visit from New York, we go to Lockhart for barbecue
I spent time as a child in a small town and have lived in big cities almost my entire life. I am currently looking to leave and relocate to an exurb or suburban community within an hour of a city. I would have never thought of doing this until the last couple of years. I am sick of the crime, rudeness, high COL, and hipsters. I guess I will become the stereotypical commuter but it will be worth it.
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