Small towns exist everywhere, so I'm sure many of you can relate to this article. When you grow up in a small town, you have different concerns than someone who grows up in a big city. Safety isn't really something that many people worry about. It's more along the lines of fitting in and being the norm so you don't stand out so much. Or maybe it's to try and keep some of your life an actual secret and manage to give yourself the slightest bit of privacy. Or maybe it's just getting food from the drive thru before the entire place closes down at 8pm. No matter what it is, there are certainly huge pros and cons to growing up in a small town.
No matter what, I wouldn't trade growing up in a small town for anything. It made me who I am today, and I'm very thankful for that. With that being said, I think sometimes, I am very closed off from different aspects of life that others may have gotten to experience in their lives already. I had an amazing childhood, so by no means did I "miss out," but people in small towns tend to be a little close-minded about others and how they live their lives. It's not necessarily to be bitter towards others, it's just because they grew up in that town, and that's all they know, and so did their parents, and their parents, and their parents, and... well, you get the idea.
When you grow up in a small town, life is simple. You know what you are going do pretty much every day because let's be honest, you don't have that many choices to begin with! If you want to do something different or adventurous you're 100 percent going to have to drive at least 30 minutes to the next town... Matter of fact, even if you just want to go out to eat somewhere new or catch a movie at the theaters, you're going to have to drive at least 30 minutes.
Yeah, this is not a drill. There are perks to going to other towns for stuff, though. You can listen to music way too loud with all of your friends packed into your car, and get milkshakes from Cookout. Sorry if any of you don't know what Cookout is. You are truly missing out! You can always make a day out of it and go shopping as well.
Another thing is a lot of people talk in a small town. Again, there isn't much else to do so might as well, right? So, when you grow up in a small town, you know a little too much about everyone there, and they know more than you want them to know about you too. It makes a person very aware of the repercussions of their actions, and I think that's something that everyone needs to experience, so might as well start at a young age. It's not always a bad thing. If you play sports or have high achievements in school, your town is more than happy to celebrate those with you, and everyone will be talking about it for days to come, or maybe even years.
Truly though, life in a small town is what you make it. You can either let the "politics" of the people around you get to you, or you can just smile and keep going. Either way, you'll probably end up with a love/hate relationship with the place, and it'll make you who you are. The memories you make in that little town, the people you grow up with, and especially the friends you lose along the way are things that can never be replaced, and cannot be found in big cities, so hold onto that because it's something you should never take granted.
Us small town people, we're simple, but we stick together, and at the end of the day, you'll probably think, "growing up in a small town, it's not so bad."
