Things that suck about moving to a different country

I’ve recently discovered than an easy (lazy) way of getting traction on TikTok is by romanticizing my new life here in northern England. In one representative example, I took a clip of Lynette and Gus in a cafe in Hebden Bridge, looped it, overlaid sped up Taylor Swift, and wrote: At age 21 I wanted to live in a big American city and climb the corporate ladder. At 31 I’m cherishing a quiet life in a small town in northwest England with my wife and our dog. I’ve never felt more at peace.

3k likes, 22k views. Someone commented, “Sounds like you were the star of a Hallmark movie.”

Like everything on social media, and particularly posts that are in some way aspirational, this little throwaway video was rooted in truth but also not really true? I guess it’s as true as something can ever be when expressed by very few words in very few seconds in an algorithmically-friendly format.