商品簡介
In the spirit of Gretchen Rubin’s megaseller The Happiness Project and Eric Weiner’sThe Geography of Bliss, a journalist embarks on a project to discover what it takes to love where you live
Austin, Texas, was supposed to be the city where Melody Warnick and her family stayed forever. But soon after moving there, they packed their belongings and, like millions of restless Americans, ventured cross-country again, to their fifth state in thirteen years. This time, though, she had an epiphany. Rather than hold her breath and hope Blacksburg, Virginia, was her perfect town, she would figure out how to fall in love with her new home.
Warnick’s journey to find out what makes us love our towns and cities, and why it matters, is at the heart ofThis Is Where You Belong. She dives into the body of research around place attachment—the deep sense of connection that residents sometimes feel with their towns—and travels to towns across America to see it in action. She speaks with people who are devoted to improving their cities and finds out what draws highly mobile Americans to the places we live and what makes them stay. The best ideas she imports to her adopted hometown of Blacksburg for a series of Love Where You Live experiments designed to make her feel more locally connected. Dining with the neighbors. Taking a hike. Meeting the mayor. Shopping Small Business Saturday. Marching in the town Christmas parade. Can these things make a halfhearted resident happier? Will Blacksburg be the place she finally stays?
What she learns is good news for anyone who’s ever felt stuck in a not-perfect place: You don’t have to be in your dream city to have a great life. You just have to love the place you’re in to be healthier, happier, more socially connected, and more resilient.
作者簡介
A freelance journalist for more than a decade, Melody Warnick is a regular contributor to the Everyday Heroes column inReader’s Digest, where she profiles people around the country who do heroic things in their communities. She has also written for a number of other major magazines, includingO: The Oprah Magazine, Redbook, Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies’ Home Journal, Woman’s Day, Parents, and American Profile.
