shifting.

Tonight felt like things shifted.

New people, new friends, are really hard to make in St. Louis. I've heard people from outside of St. Louis say this before, that St. Louis is really clicky, but I never really felt the pains of that before now. Now, when I'm trying to meet new people and start a new life for myself, I get it. St. Louis is clicky. People here for the most part are lifers. They grew up here and stay here, or they grew up here, went away to college and then came back and hang out with the same people they did in High School. That's why the #1 question that St. Louisians ask is "Where did you go to High School?"

This makes it hard to meet new people, because no one in St. Louis is really looking to meet new people. They already know a comfortable amount of people and they don't need to know anyone else. They're content and that's okay. But tonight I met a group of new people that are really great. And you know what... none of them are from St. Louis. They are all transplants of some sort.

I'm proud of myself, as a St. Louisian, that I pushed myself outside of the St. Louis stereotype and met new people. Tonight things shifted - for the better. And I feel a little hope that life is going to be okay.