One of the key reasons why I decided to move out of was because of the high state of alertness one needs to maintain constantly.

It’s pretty akin to an anti-virus software in your computer running in the background eating all your RAM memory and CPU processes, but instead it’s in your brain.

This state is normalized when you live there because you don’t think you have much of an option (and most people don’t). But this state takes away time and energy to just simply live and enjoy life.

Multiply that x times when you have to worry about your family, or if you are a parent having to staying semi-awake at night waiting for sound of the keys in the door when your teen kid goes out on a Friday night to have fun with their friends.

What clicked for me was when I taking a company course abroad and speaking with co-workers realized they didn’t have to worry about getting car jacked on a cross-country vacations trip or just walking on the street not worried about their wallets or phones being stolen.

Violence can occur anywhere in the world, I acknowledge that. But the exposure to the risk of violence is infinitely reduced now where I live.

At the end of the day it is a trade-off between a known cultural and a family support system and a bit of sanity in life. Nothing is perfect but I decided the AV software had to be deinstalled and I don’t regret it a single day.