The way I explained it to myself in my '20s is that humans are social animals, but unlike any other social animal, we can choose whether we're herd animals or pack animals. It comes down to how pointy you imagine your teeth to be.

The thing to keep in mind is that a life of complacency suits a broad cross-section of people. Their triumphs are internal. They have a roof over their head, food in their belly, a mattress under their back and kids in the back yard. They may be excellent bowlers, they may be the go-to cake decorators for the Rainbow Girls, they may be exactly the person you want in the bass boat on a Sunday morning when the crappies are biting. But if you do not bowl, you are not a Mason, and you do not fish they will be ciphers to you.

When I first went back to college, the advisor I met with said I should take one class, to get me back in to it. The Ohio way of doing things. Safe. Slow. Shitty.

This is great advice if you don't want to be challenged. If the most important thing is stability, safe, slow and shitty is the way to go. Confucianism favored stability over innovation, tradition over innovation and continuity over change and as a result, China didn't fuckin' move for 2,500 years. It ended the warring states period and led to continuity of government that lasted through Greece, Rome, Charlemagne, the dark ages, the reformation and the renaissance.

But it's bloody stifling if you're unsatisfied with, say, Ohio.

Here's the thing: if you don't like it there, you're going to be at odds with the people who do. If you want change, you're at odds with the people who like the way things are. And nobody has ever moved to Dayton for the adventure.