Allowing and Accepting What Is

I love living in Santa Cruz.

I think it is because it feels so much more relaxed. There is a general vibe of openness and acceptance throughout the whole city. We moved here from a tony neighborhood in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the vibe is completely different.

A great example is the conditions of the sidewalks. In our old neighborhood, the sidewalks were well maintained. Every year, any sidewalk with too big of a gap or height difference was filled in or ground down. Most of the intersections had ADA compliant pads making a smooth transition from the sidewalk to the street.

In Santa Cruz, it is just the opposite. The sidewalks are falling apart, and there is no way anyone on a wheelchair could possibly navigate very far unless they go out in the street.

The per capita and budget size for Santa Cruz is undoubtedly smaller than our old neighborhood, but I think the condition of the sidewalks is representative of the relaxed vibe. It’s an attitude of just get along, let it go, allow and accept.

The idea of letting things go and accepting them as they are is very different from where we’ve been. In the corporate world, it’s all about doing it right, not making mistakes and being correct.

Living in Santa Cruz has helped us become more open and accepting as we’ve slowly dropped some of our old habits. Some are easier than others to change, but we seem to be more comfortable letting things happen in their own time. That does not mean we are not driven to accomplish big things; it just means that we are learning we don’t have to push quite so hard to make things happen.

When we stop pushing, it feels better. Things might not turn out exactly how we planned, but they turn out just as well if not better than we wanted.