Why Does Everything Still Look the Same?

I was in Northern Virgina, near Sterling 5 years ago.

I had gotten a contract to teach resume writing to IT students at NVCC, Northern Virginia Community College. There I held 6 – three-hour sessions over 4 days. They have many campus locations in the northern Virginia area. Some days, I was teaching one session in the morning at a campus up north, and in the afternoon, I was teaching a session in the southern area that they covered.

So, I was traveling within the area every day.

For the past two days, I was in the same Northern Virginia area attending training meetings for my day job as an AGM for a big box retailer. The hotel I was staying in was 7 minutes from the home office. And the restaurant where I got takeout was 5 minutes from the meeting site.

Yet the landscape was such that I could find almost no landmarks.

I soon realized that I was having flash backs to five years ago. Back then, relying 100% on my GPS, I had navigated the area and arrived at each campus in plenty of time. But just as I was finding today, there were very few landmarks on which I could rely. Aside from their orientation to Route 7, it was hard to tell one neighborhood from another.

Everything was built low and predominately hidden by the same type of tree.

Had I not had Google Maps to give me directions, I might still be driving around trying to pick up my dinner. Most of the buildings exhibited the same style of architecture. Most of the intersections looked suspiciously like the intersection I had just passed. And that new intersection generally looked like the last one.

I couldn’t believe that everything still looked the same.

The craziest part, to me, was they had planned it that way. Someone had taken the time and effort to deliberately make the entire area look uniform. I can understand not wanting tall skyscrapers breaking up the skyline. One of the communities near Sterling is littered with skyscrapers. And the feel is entirely different. However, it is clustered around the I495 Beltway, and is several miles closer to Washington, DC.

5 years ago, I completed my contract within a month of my spending 4 days in 5 East, being treated for depression.

I assumed at the time that everything looked the same because I was still clawing my way back from the abyss. It was easy to say that what I was experiencing was just a holdover from my depression. The entire 4 days were a bit of a blur. Plus, my focus was on being 100% in the moment while teaching each session.

My concealed (high functioning) depression made it possible to get through each day.

There was never a thought on my part about cancelling or postponing the teaching sessions. I had made the commitment months ago and was committed to sharing my knowledge with the classes. As with every other depressive episode, I would put on my “let’s make it happen” face, and I would become the cheerleader for the day.

Based on the required feedback sheets from every session, my students learned a lot and appreciated my enthusiasm and knowledge of the subject.

So, my concealed depression did its job. Of course, the cost to me was enormous. I did have 3 nights free to explore. Yet I would grab take-out after the last session of the day, and retreat to my hotel room. I can’t remember watching TV or listening to a book on tape. Afterall, the trip was not about me.

Enjoying myself was not a part of the plan.

Recharging my batteries, so I could be 100% the next morning, was all that I was concerned about. Doing anything else was not something I allowed myself to consider. Of course, letting go, even just a little bit, would most likely have helped me be more approachable. I’m not saying I was stiff, but there is always room to improve. My depression could have been the reason I saw everything the same 5 years ago.

Then why does it all still look the same today?

Why am I seeing large swathes of the community covered in the same trees, with the same style hidden buildings? What makes a group want such uniformity? Has a homeowners association gone viral? And why am I asking so many questions?

5 years ago, I am not sure how much of the uniformity I noticed.

But today, I am having flash backs to that time. And I am remembering the same uniformity I am seeing today. I suppose another way to look at this is to acknowledge that the planners achieved what they set out to do. It is impossible to see this and not see that careful planning went into the final edition.

So, congratulations planners, you achieved your objective.

Personally, I would never live or work in such an area. To me the whole uniformity concept is disgusting. And, for me, the entire area is unsettling. Why would people want to live that way? There must be enough people that enjoy this, because the area is huge, with mile after mile of sameness.

Some see comfort, I see distastefulness.

Of course, when we moved back to Virginia from New Jersey, we deliberately picked out acreage far from town. We are situated near the mountains of Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive. Our neighbors are deer, rabbits, fox, squirrels, and the occasional black bear,

Being in a uniform, deliberate community has never been a priority for me.

Now don’t get me wrong, when we lived in New Jersey, I loved to take the train into the city (New York). Seeing a show, going to a museum, eating ‘real” food, was always a treat. Artists playing in Grand Central Station, and the smell of Annie’s Pretzels near one of the exits give me pleasure just thinking about them.

The difference for me is that at the end of the day, I would get on another train and head home.

I did not live in the city. I did not have to steel myself for day after day of thousands of people wanting to walk where I was walking. Or wanting to go where I was going. I could go and enjoy it, and then get the heck out of there.

In two short days in Northern Virginia, I could feel my depression stirring.

That uniformity was stifling. I felt constrained and very much pigeon-holed. Now I am thinking about those who live and work within this uniformity. I wonder how many subconsciously feel the same. I even wonder if any feel the same? It is a curious thing. The people that I have met in the area seem happy enough.

Maybe they just don’t know there is any other way to live.

Regardless, my personal choice is to avoid areas such as this. Next year, if I come up for this same conference, I will be more prepared. I will remind myself that I am only visiting. I will know that the area will all look the same and I will be relying on GPS to show the way.

Mostly, I will let my depression know that it shouldn’t get too excited, as we are not staying.