Why everyone should move out of their home city!

Indexed: 2026-05-15

[00:00:01]Setting up the house is going on in Goa.

[00:00:07]Just going to lay out my bookshelf by wiping all the books, putting them.

[00:00:13]It's been exactly 1 week. Welcome.

[00:00:16]Welcome to my YouTube channel. I'm Ankit.

[00:00:19]Be good, people. I hope you're doing well.

[00:00:22]It's been 1 week since uh I moved from Bangalore to Goa, my brand new home base. And uh Oh, man. There's so many experiences which are amazing.

[00:00:35]Well, so in this video I'm going to talk about top reasons why you should voluntarily yourself uproot yourself from your home city and uh go set up home base in a completely different city.

[00:01:01]Um there's construction work going on.

[00:01:04]DD's cleaning the house. I'm wiping the books. So, don't mind the mess.

[00:01:11]I understand you might say, "Ankit, what you're suggesting is not for everyone."

[00:01:15]I get it.

[00:01:17]I get it, but uh the upside to moving your home from one city to another uh far outweighs, in my opinion, the challenges or the shortcomings, difficulties.

[00:01:38]My uh Ashtanga Yoga textbook, teachers training manual from Samyak Yoga.

[00:01:45]It's been over 2 years.

[00:01:49]Have to refer to the notes. I've fallen out of my practice also.

[00:01:56]The first is neuroplasticity.

[00:02:01]What is neuroplasticity?

[00:02:03]Your brain loves predictability.

[00:02:08]The human brain neurologically is wired to do things without expending spending too much energy.

[00:02:18]You know, because the brain also consumes a significant portion of energy for all cognitive functions.

[00:02:27]So, think of it like Google Maps. When we are traveling from point A to point B, what does Google Maps try to do? It tries to take the shortest route.

[00:02:42]So, the human brain is also a little bit like that. It tries to look for the most efficient route.

[00:02:50]And efficiency in our life, while it is great for living a set pattern life, efficiency can lead to lack of dynamism.

[00:03:06]People who work corporate jobs, they're used to efficient systems and processes. But someone who's a lot more creative, free-willed, enjoys autonomy, enjoys independence, and can handle and deal with that autonomy and independence. Like Uncle Ben said in Spider-Man, with great power comes great responsibility.

[00:03:31]Everybody claims to want freedom.

[00:03:34]But, are they ready for the additional responsibility that comes with the freedom? So, which is why I said, becoming Goan, I understand it's not for everyone, because it comes with a lot of additional responsibility.

[00:03:55]But neuroplasticity is to engineer for experiences to choose for experiences that are beyond and outside your comfort zone so that you learn new things.

[00:04:10]You are exposed to completely new settings, situations, people, places that expand your understanding of yourself, of your abilities, of your limitations, of people, of behaviors.

[00:04:30]So as we grow older we are set in our patterns.

[00:04:34]Our near and dear ones know things about our personality and they're like Oh, Ankit he's like that only. [clears throat] But growth doesn't come from he's like that only. Growth comes from newness.

[00:04:51]Growth comes from challenging situations.

[00:04:57]And so many scientific journals talk about this that as we age, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, the health of your brain depends on how many new things you're learning.

[00:05:16]And that newness is cultivating or building neuroplasticity.

[00:05:23]And what better way there is to cultivate newness than to leave your home base and find a new home in a brand new city.

[00:05:34]You see, I've lived in Mumbai most of my life, about 35 years.

[00:05:38]And I've lived in Bangalore for about 5 years.

[00:05:41]Delhi for about 2, 3 years in different different um what do you say?

[00:05:48]Durations, different different years.

[00:05:54]And I found myself getting too comfortable in Bangalore.

[00:05:59]Multiple reasons why I chose to leave Bangalore.

[00:06:01]I've covered this in another video already when I was talking about literally a month month and a half ago I was talking about Should I move to Goa? That's literally the title of the video you'll find it here.

[00:06:19]As a city Bangalore is phenomenal. The amount of energy it has, the amount of ideas it has.

[00:06:26]But uh it runs at a pace, a speed which is not of my liking.

[00:06:36]It is too fast.

[00:06:39]At some point Bangalore used to be a nice sleepy retirement paradise.

[00:06:43]Now it has just become Bombay 2.0.

[00:06:46]Nothing wrong with that.

[00:06:48]If you're early in your career, in your 20s and your 30s, you want to be in a place where things move fast, your career can advance.

[00:06:58]You can socialize with a certain kind of people.

[00:07:03]So it's fine.

[00:07:06]It works when it works.

[00:07:12]But as you grow older, you require different things from life.

[00:07:19]You know, human beings are dynamic. We don't want the same things from life all the time.

[00:07:27]Mhm, but are we creating room?

[00:07:39]Please.

[00:07:48]>> So, like I was saying, as you grow older and you're set in your ways, you have to make sure that you engineer for experiences where you're getting to try new things. People say you make less friends as you grow older. No, that's not true at all.

[00:08:11]As a 43-year-old, I'm making more friends than I've ever made in my entire life.

[00:08:15]Because I'm actively putting myself out there in places, with people, in activities and settings where I meet a lot more people around shared common interests, and we make new friends.

[00:08:31]Nothing wrong with not wanting to make new friends, but don't put it on like your age or condition.

[00:08:39]It's a personal choice.

[00:08:41]I was watching this video by uh of Andre Agassi, the tennis legend, married to another tennis legend, Steffi Graf.

[00:08:50]And he was talking about how both of them are in their 50s and how after a life of being a rockstar tennis player couple, uh they are now making so many new friends because they're playing pickleball.

[00:09:03]And how a new project, a new skill, a new sport is introducing them to completely new set of people that they'd never met.

[00:09:16]Neuroplasticity is learning new skills, exposing yourself to new people, new groups, so that your brain stays flexible.

[00:09:28]One of the greatest books ever by William Hart.

[00:09:34]So, first, if you care about your brain health as you grow older dementia, Alzheimer's, all of these, you want to keep them away.

[00:09:46]Engineered for neuroplasticity.

[00:09:50]Number two.

[00:09:53]Or I don't know which number this is.

[00:09:55]Just the amount of learning you understand about yourself.

[00:09:59]Who you are.

[00:10:01]You see, human beings are relational beings. You know what relational beings are, right?

[00:10:06]We understand ourselves in relation to others.

[00:10:12]Two of my favorite-ist notes that I made for the first antar retreat August last year, the first kick workshop in November last year.

[00:10:22]Bangalore's given me so much.

[00:10:25]And I have given Bangalore so much.

[00:10:28]It's symbiotic.

[00:10:31]You understand so much about yourself when you are in a new place and you try new things.

[00:10:36]Just how in Bangalore I've always built IPs, but content digital IPs, Bangalore was the first place where I built offline IPs, antar retreat, kick workshop.

[00:10:49]And so much of it I give credit to Bangalore itself.

[00:10:56]You know, as a city, it made me get out of my comfort zone and reinvent myself. I love this artwork, fluid art made by my daughter.

[00:11:07]Had I not moved to Bangalore I don't know if I would have I really don't know if I would have explored aspects of my personality which now I take for granted.

[00:11:24]Places matter.

[00:11:26]They help you bring out a whole different part of you. You know why?

[00:11:29]There's also no baggage. There's no like I have to be only this way.

[00:11:35]I love a blank canvas. A new city is a blank canvas.

[00:11:41]It lets you paint whatever brush strokes you want on it.

[00:11:49]That can be extremely liberating for someone who feels stuck or someone who just wants to try new things.

[00:12:01]Another aspect.

[00:12:06]If we were meant to be in just one place, we would be trees and not human beings with two legs and mobility.

[00:12:17]I don't know. I sincerely feel that we should move a lot because that's what ancestors did, right? They of course foraged, so they were hunter-gatherers.

[00:12:31]They went from one place to another.

[00:12:33]We have a lot more option.

[00:12:36]We can go to a place for better job prospects, more money, for love, for relationships, for friends, or just for the joy of pursuing a passion because any particular city is better suited for it.

[00:12:53]That's part of the reason why I moved to Goa.

[00:12:59]I want to build Ananta Wellness into a full-blown wellness offering.

[00:13:04]And to be able to do that, I couldn't convince myself that I could build this in Bangalore or Delhi or Mumbai, which are the other big cities I've lived in. Sure enough, a lot of the people who will attend Ananta retreats, residencies, programs will be from these big cities.

[00:13:26]But to build the foundation of Antar, I wanted to be in a quieter place, a slower place.

[00:13:35]Because you see, if you're building the kind of business that is Antar, it's not a raise money fast from VC and do all the cash burn, uh do performance marketing. It's not that kind of a business.

[00:13:52]It's a very soulful business.

[00:13:56]The soul of Antar is also an extension of who I am.

[00:14:03]And it's not a business that you build from high cortisol, which is a stress hormone.

[00:14:10]It's an enterprise, an ecosystem that you build from a place of high compassion, high centeredness, groundedness.

[00:14:22]Very quiet, away from the hustle and bustle.

[00:14:28]But I still chose to live in Panaji, the biggest city here in Goa, because I'm still a city boy. I've only lived in three big cities in the entire country, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore.

[00:14:40]I've never lived in a small village.

[00:14:43]I've never lived somewhere where, you know, the house is literally on the street. At some point, I'll get there, uh but for now, I didn't want to shock my system completely.

[00:14:56]I'm used to a certain kind of creature comforts, conveniences, which as someone who lives alone, I don't want to alienate myself from.

[00:15:09]Maybe in a couple of years, I'll move to the northern or the southern extreme of the city, who knows.

[00:15:16]But for now, Panaji is great because it's got access to the markets, the places that I want to socialize in. I'm new to the city. I want to make new friends. I want to go out.

[00:15:28]Panaji is perfect for that. And I've got a vehicle, so anything north or south is maximum up to an hour.

[00:15:37]Which, as a Mumbaikar, I'm used to.

[00:15:40]It's funny, locals say, "Oh my god, that's very far." I'm like, "How far?"

[00:15:43]"1 hour." I'm like, "Huh."

[00:15:45]I'm used to 1-hour commute my entire life.

[00:15:50]So, I really feel everyone should try and get out. I'm not remotely saying everyone should come to Goa.

[00:15:58]Goa is not for everyone.

[00:16:00]No place is for everyone.

[00:16:02]What works for me, what works for someone else wouldn't necessarily work for you.

[00:16:08]You have to, of course, try it. You have to check it. Will it work for you?

[00:16:13]The only way out is through.

[00:16:16]The only way to find out if it works for you is by trying it.

[00:16:21]So, try it.

[00:16:24]There is no downside. There's only upside. Sure, maybe some money will go.

[00:16:29]Some money will come.

[00:16:32]But, the upside far outnumbers the downside. The upside is so much discovery about yourself.

[00:16:39]Because we are relational beings. We understand who we are only in relation to our circumstances, our company, people, their behavior towards us.

[00:16:52]So, that's what this new chapter of Goa is all about.

[00:17:00]It's about discovering aspects of my personality that I may not have yet come face to face with.

[00:17:09]It's about understanding what it takes to build a wellness business in an ecosystem where, you know, there's so much already in place from practitioners to teachers to coaches to physical resorts.

[00:17:26]And it's about uh not knowing what's coming next and being okay with that.

[00:17:36]This whole I like controlling my circumstances, my situations, my surroundings, the people I talk to, the people I meet with.

[00:17:46]It's very the ego is high in that sentence, in that sentiment.

[00:17:53]Going to a new place, being nobody is also letting go of that ego, detaching from your old identity.

[00:18:00]>> [snorts] >> Are you willing to detach? Are you willing to let go?

[00:18:05]Moksha is not about some great samadhi, some great achievement. Moksha is all about letting go. These micro letting go moments, actions that we can engineer for throughout our life.

[00:18:20]And I feel each one of us needs to do a better job of creating such circumstances, engineering for such situations that allow us to let go, detach, and through detachment we build so much emotional strength.

[00:18:42]All right? That's what this video is about.

[00:18:45]I'm going to set up my bookshelves, and you'll hear a lot more from me and see my Goa life a lot more.

[00:18:52]Like, share, subscribe, and stay tuned for my settling into Goa journey.

[00:18:57]Thanks so much for watching.