I hear people complaining all the time. Seriously, some people complain so much, they hardly have time for something else.
The most frequent complaint I’ve been hearing recently is that we live in a boring city where nothing really happens. Just to let you know – we are talking about the city with the biggest musical festival in New Zealand, a city with that epic Banksy exhibition, weekly markets, outdoor cinemas in summer and annual outdoor theatre in Historic Village, a city where regular sport events are taking place and a funny bomb competition was organised on a new pier recently, a city with picturesque fireworks on Guy Fawkes and huge racing competitions at ASB Baypark Arena, celebrities from "Flash" and other series coming to "Armageddon" festival, saying nothing about test-drives, digital workshops, healthy food classes, group meditation at the Mount summit, etc. I mean, every weekend me and Alex are CHOOSING where do we have time to go next week. Is it even the same city we are talking about?!
The funniest thing is that I never hear anything like that from people living here for ages, but mostly from newbies like us. Which kinda allows me to make comparisons. When we were choosing a city to move to, we did our best to gather as much info about every place we were considering – weather conditions, local businesses, shops, events. Tauranga seemed to be a perfect mix of vibrant metropolis and laid back, relaxed lifestyle. Exactly what we needed! We knew a lot in advance and we worked damn hard to build our life here the way we imagined it to be.
Result? I can’t remember a single day in the past eight months I was disappointed! So what were the others thinking about? You were given such an awesome opportunity: to change everything, to start a better life. It is something many people can only dream about. If you’re looking for something particular, make sure you’re going to the right place – it is so obvious, isn’t it?
I am deeply convinced, it is a person and his/her attitude that makes the city and the life itself comfortable and interesting or boring. Not the others around you. It’s always easier to blame others. I can do it as well. Let’s say, houses in Tauranga are SOOO expensive, I would never ever afford a cosy small 2 bedroom with a garden, that could have made me happy! Or how about this one – water by the (officially most beautiful in New Zealand) beach is so cold – I didn’t even swim a single time in the whole summer! Oh yes, and it was raining so badly all the time and I thought it’s always summer in New Zealand! And now I need new boots to wear in winter, though I wanted to wear my jandals all the time. Wait, what do you mean they have no Cosmo here? Where would I work then?! Life, stop being so unfair to me!
See? But the question is – can complaining make me any good? Make me feel better or become more successful? Never. So I prefer to highlight all the positive moments, rather than going over the negative ones again and again. Too optimistic? Pink glasses? Don’t care! All I know is my attitude gives me reasons to look forward to every new day and all the opportunities, new friends and amazing events it will bring.
All I have to say to all the complainers out there is: stop being pathetic! Get yourself together and, God damn, Google it do something!
P.S. Tauranga is awesome. Don’t be fool.
