Same Person New Identity

Yesterday was a big day for me. I finally caved and formally changed my home address from downtown Chicago to the suburbs. I tweeted about it.  I updated my facebook status and let everyone know about it. I thought I was going to cry about it. But a funny thing happened instead: I survived!!

Not only did I survive this drastic identity change, but this morning I feel free and relieved for the first time in months.

For the last 6 months, I’ve been driving back to my old apartment to check my mail. I know it sounds crazy, but I couldn’t bare the idea of letting the world know that I no longer reside off of Michigan Ave, and have now embraced a new way of living.

So every few days or so I’d get in my car, plan my day around avoiding traffic and make it all the way downtown just to check my mail.

I guess I was worried about what people would say if they knew I lived in the burbs now. Things like: “Oh, she’s one of them now”….or, “I guess she’ll never hang out with us ever again”, or “What in the world is she even thinking? I mean, who moves from downtown Chicago to the burbs??” Or, “ She thinks her life is gonna be so much better now, but look at her, she’s still single, and she’s still doing the same old things”, and on and on and on.

So I led a schizophrenic life with one foot in downtown and the other in the burbs.

The irony of it is that there is no question in my mind that moving was the right thing to do, and no question in my mind that my life is better now. I love owning a home, and I love the freedom I have in a house. I love the easier way of life in the burbs, and finding parking spots anywhere I go. I even like my crazy neighbors.

Same person, new identity.

Reminds me a little of Christians if you ask me.

You make a commitment to Jesus Christ and things start to change. Your address changes so to speak. At the beginning it’s hard. You may be a little embarrassed about what your new life will look like, and you may be petrified by people’s reactions to your happy news.  So you hide it for a while.

But one day you wake up exhausted. You find that the days that you are in your new home are happy and peaceful days, but the burden of keeping up with the downtown lifestyle is just too much.

Do you want freedom? Stop living with one foot in each home. After all, life in the burbs is not so bad.

Same person. New identity.

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