Whenever I tell people where I’m from, where I grew up, they always make some funny little face. Whether they laugh, then ask if it was boring. Whether they’re surprised, because it just doesn’t seem like a place I would be from. Whether they tell me that one of their friends now goes to ANU. They may as well be asking, “aren’t you just so glad you’re finally escaped?”
And I am. I’m glad I now live in Sydney, with its trains that let me go wherever I want, its beaches, its anything you could dream of. At age 18, I thought moving away was like making a prison break.
Now I’m 22, and I would not trade growing up in Canberra for a childhood in Sydney or Melbourne. The endless opportunity of a big city would have overwhelmed teenage me, who had no clue who she was yet, but wanted to be it all. In Sydney, I would have had far too many opportunities to do absolutely everything; nothing but excellence would be required of me in order to compete with so many peers. The abundance, the fear of failure, I’m sure it would have exhausted me. A big city is so magical, but the magic is overwhelming.
Regardless, there’s things I still prefer about Canberra. A large coffee costs the same as in Sydney, but it’s the size of your head. Not being late to anything because everywhere is a 20-minute drive. There’s something about crisp, genuinely frozen air in the morning. Being able to see your breath in front of you. A real sunset every night, electric colours across the sky. Real seasons, from a genuinely sweltering summer to below-zero winters. Feeling like you know everyone, just a bit.
Growing up without having a thousand cool things to do, despite the cliche of it all, is character-building. I know I don’t need a place to be interesting, because I’m interesting enough on my own. I don’t need the city of Canberra to be funny and entertaining, because the people are.
And all in all, maybe I like boring. Boring is stable, secure, reliable. I know that no matter what happens, if the city feels as turbulent as the waves, I can escape Sydney. It only takes a three hour bus ride to go somewhere I know for sure that I am loved.
