BY DAVID LAWRENCE

I've been wrestling with the idea of longevity and consistency. What is consistent? In my head, the places I want to live change every day. One day Chicago. The next Seattle. And then maybe I will toss around the notion of buying a house in Orlando, where we currently live, but that is only to buy it, fix it up, sell it, and move on.

Why? I don’t want to be where I am.

I do social media work for an eyewear company and one thing I continually stress is that a good brand will offer consistency. And consistency, if done well, will almost always brew longevity.

There are many brands/lifestyle blogs that have found consistency in a vagabond lifestyle. With their constant display of pictures of travel and life around the world, they do well and attract a following. That lifestyle of constantly being on the move is sexy, beautiful, and appealing. I long for it all the time.

The truth, though, is that moving and not being planted is a heck of a lot easier than choosing to commit to a place. I say this to myself louder than to anyone else. It’s easy to go to a city for a week, meet some people there, check out a few great spots and then leave, feeling as though you have done something great.

But committing. That is hard and can hurt like hell. When you commit to being in a place you will generally lose something. You will lose the opportunity of “new” and "far off" places. Things will get messy. Things will fall apart. You will be forced to give in ways that you may not want to or even think you can. And more times than not you probably won’t receive back what you gave.

But most likely you’ll get something much bigger: true longevity and contentment from knowing that you lived in and loved a place well.

I’m preaching to myself in all this, because I’ve often found myself hating the place I’ve lived. I’ve hated Orlando and I’ve done everything I can do to be everywhere else. I spent three years living in Seattle and when I was there I wanted to move to Portland. And before that I wanted to travel overseas.

These things aren’t wrong. They can be great. But again, they are easier than commitment. So, if you are able, commit. Commit to something new. Commit to something that may not be the coolest or necessarily the next best thing. Trust that something good can happen and let life unfold where you are.

I’m learning to do this. I’m learning that I’m not alone in wanting to make a place that can’t be called home, home. It will be hard, but I’m desperately trying to believe that things that are hard can not just be livable, but enjoyable and good.