Would You Choose It Again?

By Neil Solomon · 2 min read

Picture a couple named Nora and Pete at month eleven. The lease on their apartment ends in thirty days, and the landlord has asked whether they would like to renew. They had planned to decide later. Later has arrived.

They sit at the kitchen table with a sheet of paper and three columns: what we love, what we tolerate, and what we would change.

Nora and Pete’s page (an illustration)

Then they ask the question that helps them most. If we arrived here today, for the first time, knowing what we know now, would we choose it?

Pete says yes right away. Nora takes a day. Her answer is yes, with one change.

They decide to stay a second year. They sign for twelve months and not three years. They will move to a quieter street two blocks away, and they have already seen an apartment there. They add one thing to the year: a weekly class in the local language.

The first year gave them information about the place. It did not commit them to a second. The second year starts from what they now know, and it feels different from the first. The streets are familiar and the questions are smaller.

They know that they could also have said no. If they had, the first year would have been worth it too. Learning that a place does not suit you also shows what would.

You might say a second year is just more of the first. It can be. The difference is that you choose it with eyes open, and you can change one or two things on the way in.

You could make your own three columns a month before your lease ends. You could ask the arrival question: knowing what I know, would I choose it today? You could write one change you would make in year two, and then see how it feels.

Our calculator shows what a year costs in a place. The second year often costs a little less, because you know where to shop and what to skip.

How did you decide to stay a second year, or to leave? Tell us in the comments. Someone reading may be eleven months in.