One day, not long after returning to the US after a long vacation in India, I was chatting with a friend in India. She asked me how it felt being back. In response I told her that I want to move to another city. I've been in SF/BayArea for 5 years and it has become too comfortable, which for me equates to boredom. She said that it was scary that I found comfort boring. It got me thinking about the changes I had made in my life because I felt bored, or too comfortable.

I used to rent an awesome three bedroom house in SF with 2 friends as roommates. I had the best time living with them. On weekdays after work we would go out for dinner and try out new places in the city. Or on days we got home early, we would cook and clean together. I had some complaints living with them, like they played video games all the time and that frustrated me sometimes. They also had stupid rules like when there are conflicting views on what to watch on TV, the first priority would always be given to live sports. But those were the only 2 gripes I had and they were dwarfed by the positive things I got by having male roommates. They never nit picked about small things, took great care of my parents when they were visiting, took my siblings out and fed them when I was too lazy (or busy) to do so myself. They were basically like family and made me want to get to home after work, besides the house was great. We had a lot of space, a basement with a Jacuzzi in it and we held many parties at that place. Despite all the luxuries I enjoyed, I decided to move out after about a year. At that time I felt like I had to change something. Now all three of us live in our own small apartments with 3 different leases, and we are all within a couple of blocks of our old place. What a waste!

Another drastic change I made had to do with my last job. I worked 50-60 hrs a week and thoroughly enjoyed it. I had the best coworkers ever. I was highly valued at work and worked on important projects. I made some good friends at work. The best part- that I didn't value then, but miss now - was the flexible hours. I got to work late (around 11 am) and worked late and nobody cared as long as I met my deadlines. I also got to do classes along with work during working hours and finish my work later or on weekends. So it was all perfect. But as soon as I passed the one year mark, I started complaining to people that I'm bored and need something different. Obviously my VP could not move me to another group immediately, but he gave me some challenging projects in addition to what I was doing. However, the feeling remained that I need to change. So now I have a new job with new kind of work that I wanted before. I also get to work in the city. It's all good, but I find myself missing my previous job sometimes. The people are nice at this company too, but it just isn't the same. I'm so lost at work and totally out of my comfort zone. I guess one should be careful what one wishes for.
Lastly, I had a great boyfriend. He took great care of me, listened to my problems and took care of them as his own. I could go on and on about how great he was, but again as you can guess now, after a year I decided to break up with him for no good reason. I spent last weekend with him and we had a great time. We went apartment hunting for me and found a great one bedroom place. We went out for a couple of drinks and talked for hours, mainly reminiscing about our times together. I had a good time with him and wondered why I broke up with him in the first place.

Well, it is now too late for me to reverse any of these changes I decided to make because I was too comfortable. I have to wonder if there is something seriously wrong with me. Comfort is good, not boring. It is what people seek and I should learn to cherish it, not chuck it.