And I think for me, you know, having lived in kind of a bubble for so long and
just so attached to the ideas and opinions that people had
for me and my life, I had to make a major move
just to really discover who I am and also what I want.
Hey, friends, welcome back to my channel, I'm Tiff, I;m an American
living in Paris here to help you live your life on your own terms.
And it's honestly been a while since I've done a sit down video.
I feel like I've been giving you guys a lot of vlogs lately about,
you know, my life in Paris and everyday experiences.
But I wanted to switch it up a bit and chat with you guys about this
quote that I recently saw that really resonated with me.
Just about leaving your hometown.
But before we get into it,
if you guys are new here, please make sure to subscribe to my channel.
And for anyone that's watching, please make sure to like my video.
If you find value in it, it really does help a lot.
But anyways, today I really wanted to chat about this quote
that I recently saw on Instagram and it said, you know,
leaving your hometown in your twenties is a life hack.
If you are a young person,
I highly suggest you create a plan to move away from your hometown.
Leaving the typical norms you grew up in will help develop you as an individual
and force you to grow in ways that staying home just can't do.
And for me, leaving your hometown
at any age is a life hack, and I really want to get into that.
So just to give you guys a bit of a background, for anyone who's new here.
So I'm originally from a suburb right outside
of Boston, Massachusetts, then moved to D.C.
to go to school at Howard University.
Shout out to HU! Then after that moved to California.
I was living in San Francisco for a bit, then moved to New York City
and then moved to Paris, where I've been and I've been here for
the past four years. So your girl has been around the block.
Your girl has definitely been around the block.
So I am one of those people who actually did leave my hometown
in my twenties or right before I, when I was 18, going to Howard.
And I really do think that it changed my life.
And when I saw this quote, I was like, Wow, I completely agree with it.
So I really wanted to make this video for anyone who is in this place
where maybe you're feeling
a little bit scared about jumping outside of your comfort zone.
You know you feel like you're really ready for a change, but aren't sure
if you should really take the leap or,
you know if you're just wondering if leaving your hometown is worth it.
This video is absolutely for you and guys, just to be super clear,
when I say leaving your hometown,
I'm not saying you have to move
to a different country or even move across the country.
I mean, it could be spending a few months in a different city or a different area.
I just do think that getting out of the bubble of where you were raised
and brought up really helps you to grow and evolve,
and I'm going to share what I mean by that.
So I think number one for me is I do honestly believe
that leaving your hometown helps you grow into who you are.
So for instance, and I'm obviously just basing this off of my story,
so I would love for you guys to drop in the comments
if this resonates with you or what your thoughts are on it.
So looking back at my story, I was raised in the suburbs
just right outside of Boston as I shared.
And when I think of my family dynamic,
you know, both of my parents had very traditional jobs.
Both worked their way
up to like the highest that you could go in each of their jobs.
It was very much like, OK, you're going to do good in school,
you're going to go to college, you're going to get a traditional job
and you're going to work your way up too.
And I feel like I constantly tried to box myself
into what they wanted, because that's kind of all I knew.
I didn't know anything else, you know?
And when I left my hometown
for the very first time, which was when I went to Howard in D.C.,
I was like, Oh my gosh, people are doing such cool things.
And oh my gosh, my friend is studying fashion merchandizing.
This girl's doing this thing.
Oh my god, I can write for the newspaper as a life & style editor.
I think for the first time, the door was open to different
avenues that I could take outside of the traditional path
that I saw in the bubble of my hometown.
And then, of course,
that led me to move to San Francisco and then New York and then later Paris.
I'm telling you, if you had told little tiff
back in the suburbs that she would move d to Paris in her twenties,
like she wouldn't believe you, she would not believe you.
I just never thought that things like that were possible.
I think it's because everything and everyone who I was surrounded with
were kind of doing
all of the same thing and working in very traditional settings and,
you know, staying in the same city like, I just I just never knew it was possible.
And guys, this is also like before Instagram and all of that stuff.
So I think Instagram actually started what, like my senior year of college
or something like that.
So this is before anything. So I feel like Howard opened a door.
Then I moved to San Francisco and that opened a door.
Then New York and then Paris opened that door wide open when I came to Paris.
I think that that for me is when I really,
truly started coming into myself, honestly and truly.
You know, it's funny because I remember when I was in New York City,
I think a few weeks before I was about to leave for Paris,
my therapist had said to me, like, Tiff you are going to go to Paris
and you are not going to come back the same person.
And I never really knew what she meant by that.
You know, I was just like, What are you talking about?
And she was just kind of like, You're going to be different,
you're going to be different.
You're not going to resonate with people the same way
you're going to be a different person. And I was just like, All right, let's see.
And now, four years later, I'm like, I get it. I absolutely get it.
And I think for me, you know,
having lived in kind of a bubble for so long and kind of been that person
who was so attached to her friends and so attached to her parents
and just so attached to the ideas and opinions that people had
for me and my life, I think for me personally,
I had to make a major move to break free from all of those attachments
just to really discover who I am and also what I want.
And guys, please let me know if this resonates with you at all.
But I think for me, it's like moving here for the very first time.
You know, I didn't have family or friends to turn to because, I mean,
none of them had made the move to Paris, so they couldn't really give me advice.
You know, when I moved here, at first,
I was experiencing so many things just on my own.
For the very first time. There was a shock that came with it.
I'm not going to lie,
but I really do think it's what I needed to grow in the way that I needed to grow.
You know, I was just I was finally doing my own thing
and doing things that I really liked versus just doing things
because other people wanted me to do them.
So then I guess another reason why I think that, you know, leaving your hometown
even for a bit is a life hack is because I think it opens the door
for you to meet people who are truly aligned with who you are.
And I say this because, you know, growing up, I feel like the friends we make
and the people that we surround ourselves
with are more often than not just by association, right?
Like, you know, if our parents have good friends,
we're friends with the children of our parents, friends, or if you know,
we go to a certain school, we're friends with the people in our class,
which don't get me wrong, it's fine.
And it's like, I mean, I have friends from childhood who have been my friends
throughout my entire life and are still my friends today.
So I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that.
But I do think that when you leave your hometown,
you know, for the very first time, it's like you open yourself up
to connections that could be a bit more aligned for who you are.
And I say this because, you know, I think that at every stage of your life,
you become a different and a more evolved version of yourself, right?
And I do think that there are different people in your life who feel more aligned
for those different versions of you, if that makes sense.
You know, having these
different experiences where I've moved to different places has really allowed me
to open the door to different friendships and meet just different people, you know?
And it's like, I always just think
to myself like, Wow, if I hadn't left my hometown,
if I hadn't lived in the different cities that I've lived in,
I would not have the circle of friends that I have today.
And these are people who have opened the door to just different perspectives,
to teaching me new things, to having such enlightening conversations.
And again, I'm not saying that you can't have these types of conversations with,
you know, people from your hometown or anything like that.
You know, I just honestly believe that
when you leave your hometown and you meet different
people with different experiences, different backgrounds, I just feel like it
hits different and it pours into you in a different way.
And I think also allows you to see, like what parts of their story resonate
with yours and again, just contributes to you becoming all that you truly are.
And I think that this kind of brings me to my next point, which is I really do
think that when you leave your hometown, it allows you to kind of start
to uncover all of the layers that aren't really you.
Because I do truly believe that like when you're in that bubble
and I can totally attest to this, it's almost like you think that everything in
that bubble is real and valid and true, and that's all that there is.
For example, growing up, I honestly believed
that to make it in life, you had to you have to have a traditional career
and you have to work your way up.
You know, that's the only way you're going to survive.
And I feel like I'm now at 31 years old, finally starting
to realize that way, like it doesn't have to be that way.
So again, I really do believe it took me leaving my hometown,
leaving my comfort zone to really start to pull back that layer just to see
what could be possible for me and for me to finally also start to see who I am.
When we're conditioned
to believe one thing to be true, we kind of start to suppress
another part of us.
You know, like if someone's telling me you're never going to make it in fashion,
you're never going to make it as a creative.
Then I'm like, All right, guess I won't show the world that part of myself.
And I think it's really unfortunate that so many people are walking
around with such amazing gifts that at times are suppressed
and not shown to the world because of their conditioning, you know,
because maybe they were told in their bubble that they couldn't
make anything of it, or it's just because they didn't feel seen.
And I do think at times it takes
you coming outside of your comfort zone to really see all that you truly can be.
And I think the last point that I want to make on this is,
I think for me and kind of piggybacking off of what I just shared,
I think it did take me again, leaving my hometown,
leaving my comfort zone to finally feel seen.
Growing up, I don't think I ever truly felt seen
for who I really am, and it's not anyone's fault.
I just don't think I was ever really in an environment
where I felt like people really saw who I am, you know?
And I think what I mean by this is, you know, and especially at a young age,
it's like all you want to do is fit in and belong right and also be validated
for what you're doing.
I think for so long, I was just trying to belong.
I was just trying to fit into this community.
I was just trying to blend in with everyone else.
Well, at the same time, knowing deep down that I didn't fit into this,
and I think also I will say that growing up, I always felt super insecure
about not fitting in. Where it's like I really want to fit into this community.
Deep down, I don't really feel like I fit in.
You know, let me not show that side of me that's different
because then I'll definitely then I definitely won't fit in.
I do think our differences and what makes us unique is
what also connects us to each other.
And I think for so long, I just wasn't sharing the different aspects of Tiff.
I was just trying to fit into a mold.
And I do think that leaving my hometown again
and seeing what was possible and meeting so many different people kind of helped me
to uncover this conditioning and this programing
and also made me a lot more comfortable with just being who I am.
And guys, I'm not saying that I'm this super confident person.
I feel like I am, so I am in so many ways still growing and evolving.
But I do really think that in every move that I've made and every time that
I've jumped outside of my comfort zone and found myself in a different situation,
I have uncovered another layer and have come a bit more into who I am.
Let me know if that makes sense and if any of this resonates with you guys.
But yeah this is definitely something
that I wanted to chat about just because again,
when I saw this quote, you know, leaving your hometown is a life hack.
I was like, Wow, because it definitely has been for me.
I truly do not think that I would be the person who I am today
had I stayed in my hometown.
And again, I am not at all saying that it is a bad thing
if you want to stay in your hometown. I am not saying that at all.
The point of me sharing all of this is that I do believe that
just taking a step out of it for a little bit, even if it's like
you go somewhere for a week or a month to just break free from,
you know what you were conditioned to believe for so long.
I really do think it helps you to just come into who you truly are.
I really do. I can't stress that enough.
But anyways, that's pretty much all I wanted to share with you guys today.
I just saw that quote and I was like, Oh my God, this is hitting home for me.
I need to talk about this, so please let me know if this resonated with you.
If there's anything you would add,
I definitely want to do more kind of sit down videos about topics like these.
So if you like this video, please make sure to give it a thumbs up.
And also, if you
are not subscribed to my channel, please make sure to subscribe again if you like
this type of content, I just love sharing all that I've learned with you guys
and also really love hearing your perspectives as well.
So, yeah, that's all for me.
Thank you guys so much for watching, and I'll see you next week.