re: Are you thinking of leaving Louisiana for good?

My husband left LA to open a business in lower Alabama seven years ago. I moved over after we got married b/c I did have a better job in LA but I'm definitely happier over here. We are close enough to make easy trips home to visit family but we won't move back.

Hot Springs is a pretty decent choice. There are some nice areas, away from the tourist grind, in Northern Ark, Southern MO. You can be as isolated as you want, or immersed in the community. Your choice.

Does it snow? Yep, so fricking what.

Thats what airplanes are for.

Moved 7-8 years ago. Great move and couldn't be happier. Much better quality of life.

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dont want to bitch. I want to change a situation. And when you are surrounded by those who think its a waste of time and/or the way of life, it gives off a very defeatist vibe that manifests into insecurity.

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Louisiana definitely has such pure impenetrable corruption that breeds a lot of hopelessness, ambivalence, and pessimism for certain. If you try to get things done politically without going through the political machine of the “good ol’ boy” network, they will destroy you and your livelihood, and your family and the lives of all of your family. Getting things done in Louisiana basically requires the same courage and sacrifices as opposing the mob and a Mexican drug cartel, except there are no government agents waiting to reward you by catching the bad guys with your help. The bad guys ARE the government.

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Try to eat healthier? Get called a pussy

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Hey, man. You do you. Tbh, I’d rather die younger than eat food that doesn’t taste good. I hate most every moment of my life. Pretty much the only things that I look forward to each day are my meals. Take that joy away, and what’s left?

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Trying not to drink? It wont kill you. Peer pressure.

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This is huge. People in Louisiana do not trust people who do not drink. They assume that those who don’t drink are either elitist or trying to take advantage of people who do. The peer pressure to be a barely functioning alcoholic is extreme. I don’t like the taste of most alcohol. I don’t enjoy being drunk or even buzzed. I’m a barely functioning alcoholic because it’s a requirement to engage in literally any social activity.

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Want to start a small business that isnt a trade/labor? Who do you think you are? Nobody is going to pay for that.

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I think Louisiana’s corrupt government with all its licensing requirements is a big culprit in breeding this attitude. It’s really really difficult to start most kinds of businesses here. People aren’t hoping you fail, they just have been so beaten down by the system that they have lost any and all hope of anyone succeeding. They think they’re protecting you.

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Ride a bike instead of drive a vehicle? Grow up, get on the sidewalk, join society, etc.

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This one has some merit in most places. New Orleans is super bikable, but very little of the rest of the state is due to a lack of population density. With the weather, sprawl, and lack of safe places to ride, choosing to bike exclusively without also owning a car is a pretty bad plan for most people. It’s also really not safe as many motorists have zero respect for cyclists. I can’t tell you the number of times I was riding only for a car to swerve out of its lane to TRY and hit me!

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Its a state filled with people who are mostly obese, out of shape, ignorant, and miserable who get upset and insecure when other people try to change their way of life.

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I think some of it is insecurity as they see people trying to live a different lifestyle as an indictment of their own. However, I think most of it is them actually believing they’re protecting others from pain of failure and rejection. They probably tried and learned the hard way or watched someone go down that path and fail and don’t want to see it happen to you.

It’s not exactly a secret, guy

One reason I fear leaving is that as long as I’m here, I can blame some of that depression as a natural reaction to my environment. What if I leave and I feel the same? Then it’s me that’s the problem. It’s a lot easier to fix your zipcode than yourself.

If your house is haunted, so you move out and buy a new house that isn’t haunted, then the problem was your house. If every house you live in is haunted, the curse is with you, not the location. That’s a lot harder to shake, no?

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hate most every moment of my life. Pretty much the only things that I look forward to each day are my meals. 

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Any things you enjoy? Any things you want to experience?

Is there a more self-deprecating state than Louisiana? There is one of these threads monthly about how people hate it there and are encouraging people to leave. I find this strange.

I know Alabama isn't the greatest place on Earth, but the only people I hear the "I can't wait to get out" stuff from are college kids.

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Any things you enjoy?

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I was exaggerating some when I said there’s nothing giving me joy, but in an average day during the work week, the meals are probably what I look forward to most. I dread going to work, it kicks my arse because I’m, frankly, really bad at it, and I count the minutes until I can go home. Once I’m home, I have no idea what to do with myself or my time and find some way to waste it before I have to go back to work.

I enjoy playing music with my friends, but I often feel a lot of pressure, embarrassment, and anxiety about it because of my lack of skill, lack of time spent practicing, and my struggles with songwriting recently. It’s become so bad that I can barely play for fun anymore because in the back of my mind all I hear is this browbeat of things I need to be working on that aren’t done yet, like it’s just another job.

I enjoy dancing and seeing live music, both of which are currently banned by our government. Performing live was also a major source of my fun money before covid.

I love eating and trying new things, but I feel anxious and scared to try new recipes out of fear I’ll waste valuable time and ingredients that I cannot afford to replace. I also often feel completely unmotivated to start the prep work (cutting up vegetables) and just never get started.

I really enjoy traveling, but Covid closed most everything down.

I love nature and finding spots with a great view, but Louisiana is absolutely shitte for hiking, and the nearest mountains are too far for a day trip, which is all I ever have time for with my job.

I love traveling, but I feel this extreme depression as soon as I remember that I have to go home and go back to work. It’s so bad that on the last couple trips I took, that feeling basically washed out all the enjoyment from the trip.

I used to enjoy gaming, but most games I’ve played over the last few years are either too easy to keep me interested or so hard and complex that I don’t have the patience to learn them and get frustrated and give up quickly.

I love taking old, broken, and forgotten items and bringing them back to life (especially cars, musical instruments, toys, homes, and furniture). Unfortunately, I’m not very handy, so I rarely succeed without paying someone else to do most of the real work for me.

I tried to pick up writing, but that hobby has been a real dead end. My fiction writing is even lazier and poor than my attempts at scholarly academic writings in law school.

I was starting to find my groove a little doing comedy open-mic’s before covid, but that was shut down, and I have no idea how to translate that to a podcast or YouTube format and still be funny.

I enjoy the little bits of policy work and political stuff I’m involved in, but I definitely feel like I’m trying to dig to china with a spoon most of the time and not making any real difference and really just engaging in pointless arguments and hypos to pad my ego.

Huge football fan, but Covid and political nonsense has largely ruined that hobby.

I love my dog, but constantly feel shame for not giving him enough attention pr taking him on regular walks because I just don’t have the energy after work or the time before work.

I enjoy being a social person and talking and swapping stories, but it’s damn near impossible to meet people right now. No one wants to talk to strangers and everyone has their guard up 24/7 in public. So, why bother going out at all?

When I’m isolated for long, I get lonely, but I also seem to get real sick of other people before too long. When I experience things alone, it’s freeing at first, but quickly becomes lonely, pointless, and hollow-feeling. I often feel like a kid who plays hooky from school, but literally has no idea what to do once he’s left home and school behind.

I also feel a lot of social isolation on social media due to politics. I got booted from one of the local musician groups because I wanted venues to open up and played a show during covid. I was accused of “attempting to profit off the endangering of others”. I had only taken the show because two of my bandmates were literally out of work and desperately needed the money the bar was paying us to violate stay at home orders. As a result, they booted me from a group and scene which I had spent a lot of time and money helping support, promote, and grow, even going so far as to open my house as a free place for touring bands to stay and using my backyard as a music venue much to the chagrin of my neighbors and the homeowners association.

I pretty much only feel good when I am avoiding my job and responsibilities through escapist activities like travel, tv, video games, etc. That’s the whole reason I’m ever on this site. For that reason, I feel I can take anything I enjoy and turn it into work. I can take any job and turn it into drudgery, and make any local a depressing hell-scape worth escaping from. I am a problem that only vaguely wants to fix itself whilst having no real will or capability to do so. In that way, Louisiana, as a state, fits me to a tee. I am, Frankly, Louisiana personified

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I’ve thought about selling my compound on Lake Travis and finding a few acres around St. Francisville

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What kind of sick joke is this

This whole thread is depressing. Half of it is people saying the greatest thing they ever did was leave and the other half is people complaining about living here. I guess I need to fricking move to be happy with what I have in my life.