is the topography of where you now live...

[butters]

...important to your state of mental happiness?

so, not about your house or apartment/condo/whatever, but the attributes of your physical location.

for me, i love the sea but even more important to me is an undulating landscape, with lots of trees... more deciduous than evergreens, rolling hills and waving grasses. rivers and streams.

mountains are beautiful to look at but i don't think their sharper outlines would leave me peaceful, too austere, and really flat, uninterrupted terrain has me downright on edge--as if my eyes are constantly seeking some relief from its 'sameness'. a jungle? too claustrophobic. i need vistas and less humidity! desert? no good, even with rolling dunes... not enough green and the trees are weird.

where do you feel most at home?

 

[thør]

Yes......

I have the ocean on one side and mountains on the other. The best of all worlds. I can live without the ocean every day, but not the mountains. If you have mountains, you can never be lost. AND, mountains don't have trees on their tops.....

 

[Tigersman]

I live in a planned community with loads of trees. None of the streets are straight but most have wide tree-lined center medians. There are over a hundred miles of bike paths that connect to shopping centers, parks and movie theaters.

 

[oggbashan]

Yes. 180-degree view of the sea from the kitchen sink and sea views from every room except the downstairs toilet and my study.

 

[BrokenBarbie]

I’m in a national forest area, from the house you see trees, trees, trees, and trees.

 

[davion2308]

Hot damn!

A general board question that's not about redheaded pussies Volume 5!

I live now in the plains of the midwest. I grew up near a big ocean and mountains. I'm an outdoor dog so I much prefer hiking, beaches, parks, and outside things that involve warm weather. Winter sports aren't fun because they're not technically outside for me, except snow-shoe hiking.

I'm bored out of my mind where I live but my wife has her dream job at a great place so we make it work. I make the sacrifice since her family is here for our kids and our own family and we have tremendous support.

We'll end up back at the ocean one day. That will be a happy day.

 

[islandman]

I like bush.

There are no bushes here.

 

[InternationalFunboy]

I'm not sure if it's this, that, or the third that makes me happy, or more that it change every so often. Central Texas has a lot to offer: lakes, hill country, it's not mountains or beach but it's a good compromise to be around genuinely good people and an interesting culture. I do want to live in a more extreme mountainous region at some point. I've experienced coastal living quite a lot, but I've only visited mountain life. The ends of every spectrum are what appeals to me I think. That said, I'm a pretty simple creature... give me relative comfort and safety, and a curvy road to carve up, and I can see the best in most places.

 

[LLCox]

I live at 3,800 ft. in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Gods country

 

[Carnage2020]

I live in a semi rural community nestled below the Cotswold in the UK. Fantastic place to live with a town within a few miles, but i can be in open fields or on top of the hills within minutes.

On those days when work or life in general gets me down its great to be able to find some fresh air and get some exercise either on my own, with the dog or as a family

 

[stickygirl]

I love being by the sea when I'm there but it also makes me sad... no idea why. Scotland is nice, Peak District in the UK is a second best and easier to get to

 

[Adre]

I’m on an island with tens of thousands of live oaks and pines, to the north and west is a sound, the other directions wide beaches and an ocean. It pleases me.

 

[ksmybuttons]

“Bloom where you are planted” is my motto. I live in between the mountains and the sea in a city I love, on a plot that allows me to be content.

 

[oggbashan]

I have been jealous of some of my Australian relations for decades. They have a weekend cottage on the Barrenjoey Road at Palm Beach north of Sydney.

The house is on a sloping site below the road. The terraced garden goes down to Pittwater where they have a tidal swimming pool and a jetty for their cabin cruiser. The view across the water is of the Kuringai Chase National Park. With binoculars, they can see the wildlife in that park.

The only problems are the commuting time to Central Sydney and the tidal swimming pool can sometimes be invaded by great white sharks...

 

[NemoNautilus]

Close to the ocean. I don’t like living more than a 2-3 miles inland.

 

[Liar]

In another life, I'd been a fisherman. If I live too far from the sea, it feels...off.

 

[Comshaw]

Mountains in my backyard and the sea in my front yard, I'm content with that. But it's not just about the topography, it's also about what that topography offers. Some of my family live in eastern Oklahoma. It has a beauty all it's own, but if you drive 50 or a 100 miles in any direction you are basically in the same topographical place.

If I go south 20 miles I'd be on top of the mountains a completely different environment. North the same distance I'd be on the water of the Straits. East it's foothills, timber and tendrils of the sea meandering inland for miles. West...aw west. We get 15 inches of rain a year here but for every mile I go west an added inch of yearly rain falls. By the time I've gone 100 miles I'm in an environment where it rains 14' (yes FEET) a year, where the moss hangs like blankets on the trees and the old growth Firs and Hemlocks tower above all else, the Hoh rain forest.

In the winter, if I want to play in snow it's a 1/2 hour drive. If I want to be fishing on the salt chuck, it's a 1/2 hour process to get the boat launched.

I've visited 38 of the lower 48 states and each has it's own particular beauty. But the Northwest always calls me home.


Comshaw

 

[butters]

In another life, I'd been a fisherman. If I live too far from the sea, it feels...off.

that... that's the kind of sensation i'm driving at. guess it's that sense of being grounded (watered?). i don't need to live by the sea year round but it's a part of my psychological happiness: when i see it or approach it enough to smell the salt, something inside me expands and breathes more. it's the same kind of sense of feeling something's right that i get when i've returned to countryside after time in an urban setting. but if that countryside's all dead flat? feels wrong on a bone-deep level.

 

[islandman]

that... that's the kind of sensation i'm driving at. guess it's that sense of being grounded (watered?).

Defined as such, I've never been grounded to a place. I have, however, been grounded by the people around me.

I wonder what I'm missing out on if anything.

 

[butters]

I love being by the sea when I'm there but it also makes me sad... no idea why. Scotland is nice, Peak District in the UK is a second best and easier to get to

there's something about the sea that connects very deeply with people even if that connection manifests itself in very different reactions. i can understand sensation of melancholia, like an infinity, making humans so small, calling us back... its movement and moods, its sound... maybe it's more that sound of waves on a beach, hypnotic in its quality, that connects so deeply with your mind

scotland IS beautiful, as is the peak district; a different kind of rugged beauty. i prefer cornwall/devon.

 

[Saint_Ann]

there's something about the sea that connects very deeply with people even if that connection manifests itself in very different reactions. i can understand sensation of melancholia, like an infinity, making humans so small, calling us back... its movement and moods, its sound... maybe it's more that sound of waves on a beach, hypnotic in its quality, that connects so deeply with your mind

scotland IS beautiful, as is the peak district; a different kind of rugged beauty. i prefer cornwall/devon.

Wow. That was unusually sentient.

 

[butters]

Defined as such, I've never been grounded to a place. I have, however, been grounded by the people around me.

I wonder what I'm missing out on if anything.

a man who can be content, even happy, anywhere, must surely be a lucky man. not sure you are missing anything at all

i don't know if it's down to a sense of feeling home due to people's earliest memories of their environments, but i do know i've experienced a sense of incompleteness, even physical/mental unsettledness in certain surroundings that evaporate when my senses are filled with what makes me happy as i've described. i could probably live anywhere with the people i love, but it would entail sacrifices

there was a strange sensation i experienced regarding the sea: much as i love it, i prefer a curved bay beach... straight line long long beaches not so much, but when visiting a friend once up in norfolk i had the strangest reaction! instead of the beach being concave, with cliffs and bluffs, beach and water, it was the furthest point of land pointing out into the north sea... i was surrounded by water on all sides except directly behind me. now THAT felt all kinds of wrong, battling with the pleasure sensations of my seaside visit!!! it was screaming 'wrong wrong wrong!' inside me and i felt downright nervous. ridiculous!

 

[neci]

I can drive five minutes and be on a country road. Wide open spaces are important to my soul. I also have to have regular water access. There are lakes and a river within a short distance. I need the sound of the water lapping along the shore. I would love to move to the mountains one day. Live along a creek or river. That is where I feel most refreshed and at peace. Clean air, fresh water.

 

[butters]

Yes......

I have the ocean on one side and mountains on the other. The best of all worlds. I can live without the ocean every day, but not the mountains. If you have mountains, you can never be lost. AND, mountains don't have trees on their tops.....

why do you think you connect so strongly to your mountains, and is it a certain kind of mountain (eroded/sharp-peaked/snow-covered/their colour) that hits that right note for you? does it connect with your early memories? for some i know that's true, but there are others who find that sense of connection with something entirely alien to their upbringing

I live in a planned community with loads of trees. None of the streets are straight but most have wide tree-lined center medians. There are over a hundred miles of bike paths that connect to shopping centers, parks and movie theaters.

and does it feel 'right'? would you feel displaced living somewhere with a different envirnment?

Yes. 180-degree view of the sea from the kitchen sink and sea views from every room except the downstairs toilet and my study.

180 i could live with, 360 not so much

A general board question that's not about redheaded pussies Volume 5!

I live now in the plains of the midwest. I grew up near a big ocean and mountains. I'm an outdoor dog so I much prefer hiking, beaches, parks, and outside things that involve warm weather. Winter sports aren't fun because they're not technically outside for me, except snow-shoe hiking.

I'm bored out of my mind where I live but my wife has her dream job at a great place so we make it work. I make the sacrifice since her family is here for our kids and our own family and we have tremendous support.

We'll end up back at the ocean one day. That will be a happy day.

i hope you get back 'home' as soon as possible do you ever manage to go visit that kind of environment to help ease you through the waiting?

I'm not sure if it's this, that, or the third that makes me happy, or more that it change every so often. Central Texas has a lot to offer: lakes, hill country, it's not mountains or beach but it's a good compromise to be around genuinely good people and an interesting culture. I do want to live in a more extreme mountainous region at some point. I've experienced coastal living quite a lot, but I've only visited mountain life. The ends of every spectrum are what appeals to me I think. That said, I'm a pretty simple creature... give me relative comfort and safety, and a curvy road to carve up, and I can see the best in most places.

looks like you're hungry to experience the spectrums. you've a curious, questing mind.
change is another important aspect to what can make us content (or lack of it): i need the changing seasons. i do. i think i'd find it very difficult to live someplace hot or cold all the time... an incompleteness. the changes between winter, spring, summer and autumn are tidal to me. perhaps that's why deciduous trees are so important to my sanity, being such reflectors of those.

I live at 3,800 ft. in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Gods country

but is it LLCox country? would you feel displaced anywhere else? (i've seen footage of your environment and it IS beautiful)

I live in a semi rural community nestled below the Cotswold in the UK. Fantastic place to live with a town within a few miles, but i can be in open fields or on top of the hills within minutes.

On those days when work or life in general gets me down its great to be able to find some fresh air and get some exercise either on my own, with the dog or as a family

cotswolds *happy sigh* sounds like you are definitely 'home'

I’m on an island with tens of thousands of live oaks and pines, to the north and west is a sound, the other directions wide beaches and an ocean. It pleases me.

good

“Bloom where you are planted” is my motto. I live in between the mountains and the sea in a city I love, on a plot that allows me to be content.

that's a good motto and i'm happy you are happy.

Close to the ocean. I don’t like living more than a 2-3 miles inland.

because? you need that view? that horizon line? the smell? is it that basic for you or is it more a case of too many buildings/people as you move inland?

Mountains in my backyard and the sea in my front yard, I'm content with that. But it's not just about the topography, it's also about what that topography offers. Some of my family live in eastern Oklahoma. It has a beauty all it's own, but if you drive 50 or a 100 miles in any direction you are basically in the same topographical place.

If I go south 20 miles I'd be on top of the mountains a completely different environment. North the same distance I'd be on the water of the Straits. East it's foothills, timber and tendrils of the sea meandering inland for miles. West...aw west. We get 15 inches of rain a year here but for every mile I go west an added inch of yearly rain falls. By the time I've gone 100 miles I'm in an environment where it rains 14' (yes FEET) a year, where the moss hangs like blankets on the trees and the old growth Firs and Hemlocks tower above all else, the Hoh rain forest.

In the winter, if I want to play in snow it's a 1/2 hour drive. If I want to be fishing on the salt chuck, it's a 1/2 hour process to get the boat launched.

I've visited 38 of the lower 48 states and each has it's own particular beauty. But the Northwest always calls me home.

Comshaw

sounds like you've got all you want as well as all you need a man who knows he's home is a happy man

 

[butters]

I can drive five minutes and be on a country road. Wide open spaces are important to my soul. I also have to have regular water access. There are lakes and a river within a short distance. I need the sound of the water lapping along the shore. I would love to move to the mountains one day. Live along a creek or river. That is where I feel most refreshed and at peace. Clean air, fresh water.

clean air and fresh water -- sounds so simple and yet so many in the world don't have free access to them

do you have early-days connections with the mountains, neci, or is it something that transcends that?