Is the grass really greener?
The mentality of never being satisfied or content with the present despite its obvious goodness is known as “grass is greener syndrome”.
When they first meet me, people usually ask which country I enjoy more. Since my move from France to America, my old friends and acquaintances have emailed and messaged me, curiously considering if they should also make a bold move.
We live in a time when anything is possible. Communication and transportation have never been more advanced. You can go anywhere at any time, as cheap and fast as it has ever been. Moreover, when the dust settles after an intense period of turmoil, people tend to be hungry for the thrills and pleasures of life that they have seemingly missed out on.
Someone once told me that if you walk up to any stranger on the street and say “I heard about your problem,” they might be surprised that a complete stranger knew something about them, but they won’t reply with “I don’t have one.” The philosophy is that you can always find someone with some problem at any given time. There is no such thing as a problem-free existence.
So when people ask me to share my thoughts and compare the two countries, I make a joke of the question and say “there’s no comparison. They are simply different. But when it comes to where the grass is greener, I will say that my home in France had a natural lawn of real grass, whereas my current home has an artificial lawn of synthetic turf. So it turns out that the grass is greener on the other side.”
They usually look at me either puzzled or annoyed.
You see, ever since the installation, I can’t stop bragging about my synthetic lawn. Despite what you may think about California, fake greenery is quite common in Lake Forest. We have great soil and sunlight, but our state is quite dry. Synthetic grass helps us conserve water in a drought.
I often hear about how rude Americans think French people are. I’m not sure why. But I will say that I think Americans are more open-minded and laissez-faire towards homemaking. My French mère might faint if she knew my home had anything fake disguised as being real. She believes in placing the most elaborate bouquets in extravagant vases and pots indoors.
Movies romanticize France as a romantic, exquisite, and glamorous fairytale while making America out to be hyper-productive and hyper-focused. I will say that I am quite surprised at how welcoming people here are to anything new on the market. When I first began exploring grass alternatives, I was surprised to discover that plenty of residential and commercial properties in my area had already adopted synthetic turf through NoMow Turf installation. I now live in a home that is surrounded by green grass all year round, and I never have to worry about mowing, trimming, watering, or weeding.
The grass on the other side might not be real, but it certainly is greener.
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