If you woke up this morning to a jackhammer outside your window drilling something into that construction project that won’t end, just to sit in traffic on the Pike and drive around in frustrating circles searching for a parking spot, resulting in a mad rush into work, relax.
Just when the city’s wearing you out, HuffPost Healthy Living comes through with a list explaining why Boston’s a superior city when it comes to living well. Whether or not your late nights, hangovers, McDonald’s runs, and unfavorable habits necessarily agree with this doesn’t matter. This is a real, eight-point list that lives on the Internet, and we’re going to run with it.
The article, titled “What Boston Can Teach The Rest Of The Country About Living Well,” provides us with a perfect Thursday morning opportunity to soak up just how well we’re all living, from the nearby farms, the fresh, young minds, and the obscure laws, to name a few. We’re living so well, in fact, that other American cities should look to us for inspiration next time they want to improve their lesser existences.
So let’s take a closer look at some of the elements of Boston that, according to Huffington Post, makes it a model city for living well. The list starts with the Red Sox, naturally, so we’ll start there, too.
Passionately losing our minds over baseball/football/basketball/hockey is actually good for our mental health.
Between the thrilling highs of winning the World Series and the crushing lows of losing the Super Bowl, we’re all in this together. From the outside looking in, Boston sports fans might seem a little, oh, outspoken, in a word. But we know the real deal: our collective passion actually “boosts self-esteem and lifts spirits,” so keep it up.
Spitting on the sidewalk is punishable by law… so, there.
We may have rowdy fans but we know when to show some respect, thank you very much. Boston knows that if everyone was hocking loogies all over the streets of the city, we would all be worse because of it. You come to Boston and you spit on our sidewalk, you’ll next be coughing up $20, tourist.
Boston’s college kids grow up into post-college super civilians.
As the youngest major metropolis, Boston knows a thing or two about staying “hip,” as the quarter million students who attend the 80+ city universities would call it. And when those students stick around as post-students, the city is better because of it. A few reasons: college kids rely on the government funds less, they go to jail less, they exercise more, and they eventually have healthy kids, according to science and stuff. As a recent Boston University graduate myself, you’re welcome.
Boston is, of course, resilient.
It’s a fact we’ve now come to expect — Boston Strong has become a household slogan, for better or worse. Huffington Post points out that yes, any city would have bounced back from the attacks, but this year, Boston had to in a way that other cities didn’t. No matter how tired some expressions marking that resilience have grown, we can’t look at this picture, featured in the Huffington Post article, and not feel a sense of pride.
So next time you’re stuck underground, between stops on the T for the third time this week, fighting to maintain your sanity, just remember. The rest of America envies how well we’re living, right here in the Hub.
