Why leave paradise?

Last weekend, I found myself in Whidbey Island, north of Seattle.

Green, luscious, wet- paradise on Earth for mammalian life.

Surrounded by people I love.

And so the question kept on coming back: "why did you move away?"

When I was a child, my friends from a different island paradise asked me the same question.

Then, the answer was simple: money, my family no longer had it.

Now, it's different. I feel a need in the world. One that is not being met. That need won’t be filled without ability gained from friction.

Even with all our technologies to make things comfortable, geography situates our everyday experiences.

Those experiences, in turn, mold us.

Pressure creates. And in paradise, there is little pressure- other than price increases and culture wars.