Metropolitan cities can be among the happiest or the loneliest places to grow up. It all depends on the way you see things. To most people, it can be a combination of both.
Among other things, you’re raised in a culture that encourages you to both work and play hard. And it is this very bifurcated lifestyle that makes you so different from the rest.
Having been born and raised in a metropolitan city myself, here is a list I have compiled of 10 things only people who grew up in metropolitan cities would understand.
1. You were raised playing a sport of some sort.
If you grew up in a metropolitan city, it’s highly likely that you grew up supporting a local sports team.
And in hopes of one day being among your heroes, you probably spent a lot of your days playing the sport either with your friends or better yet, as a part of an amateur team.
So at some point in your life, if not for a prolonged period, you’ve virtually been fixated with the sport.
2. You have loyalty to certain local brands.
Big metropolitan cities may be a major market for large international companies but there are plenty of local brands as well. It doesn’t matter if they have established themselves globally or not, you have a soft corner for them.
You never cease to love these brands and they are parts of your connection to the city. You feel attached to the city when you use something that came out your local enterprise, in a distant land.
3. You have lived behind doors with multiple locks.
Life in big cities is loud. It’s not to mean that life in big cities is scary all the time. But more than once you must have lived behind doors with multiple locks. Remember that time when gang wars broke out around the corner?
Big cities are full of hustle and tussle and sometimes circumstances get crazy. For safety concerns, you and your family might have spent some nights inside a house with multiple locks on the door.
4. You feel that being different is good.
“You laugh at me because I’m different, I laugh at you because you’re all the same.” You must have lived by this Jonathan Davis quote as someone who grew up in a big city.You want to stand apart from others in the crowd.
The love for something different extends beyond personal motivation as well. You don’t want resort yourself to same sort of routine all the time. You always want to explore things new and march into the unknown.
5. You grew up really fast.
Kids in big cities seem to grow really fast. With so many people living around you as you grew up, it was very easy for you to be exposed to many of the ways and adversity of adult life. And with your parents busy in their vocations, you might also have needed to act like a grownup from the early stages of life.
Whether it be in the form of learning to drive, getting a taste of alcohol or going on a first date, you must have experienced the stuff of grown-ups at a pretty early age compared to kids from smaller cities.
6. You have seen the evolution of advanced technologies.
Metropolitan life is always in demand of change. It always wants to experience something new. And it’s served in that manner pretty aptly as well. The newest of technologies make their presence first known in these big cities as son as the are invented.
Over the years, you must have seen the advancement of technologies at your city and in your life. You have lived through the early years of the internet, the growth of e-commerce, the emergence of social media and rise of smart phones. Things always keep changing in your cities.
7. You have read at schools with racial diversity.
The populace of metropolitan cities are generally diverse. People from different ancestries, races and cultures gather in such cities from all around the world. So as a student, you must have read at schools with racial diversity.
Having grown up in a racially diverse environment, you’re positive towards people of different cultures. Your friend circle is highly likely to be diverse in nature. Such is not the case in small towns where certain races are dominant.
8. You learned to use public transportation at a very young age.
Your folks were off to work and couldn’t always drive you to your destination. In those circumstances, you learned to use public transportation from a very tender age.
Whether it was going to school every day or visiting a relative or going to some fun event, you had to take public transportation at a very tender age. You should have plenty of vivid memories on buses as a child.
9. You never had a legitimate reason to feel bored.
Boredom in a metropolitan city is very rare or almost doesn’t happen. There are too many things you can participate in. Feeling bored? There are plenty of fun things to do in these cities.
Visiting fun parks, discos, gaming parlors and late night parties are some of the common things people do to avoid boredom.
In those times you felt bored, you have visited malls, taken a free outdoor yoga classes, visited a stadium and cheered for your favorite football team or enjoyed street food.
10. You never had to wait long for your favorite band to come to town.
This is the most joyful reason to grow up in metropolitan cities. Whether you are a fan of international bands like AC/DC, Green Day, Metallica or local bands in your country, prepare yourself, they may visit your city anytime.
You may also get the chance to get an autograph or even to take pictures with them if you are lucky enough. Different bands frequently visit metropolitan cities enlarging your joy of being part of the city. Of course, you may have to struggle and skip work or school though to get a ticket.
Featured photo credit: Metropolitan City (Wikipedia) via upload.wikimedia.org
