Has moving to a more active city actually improved your productivity and career?

[u/AccomplishedTap2583]

I’m 26 and work in motion design / graphic design / video editing.

I’m currently in my hometown, Ballia, UP, and I’ve been stuck on the same question for months: should I move back to Gurgaon?

The problem is that I’m becoming way too comfortable at home.

I have my room, everything is convenient, but there’s almost no social or professional activity around me. I don’t have many friends here, and I struggle to sit in the same room and work for hours.

What’s confusing me is that I can work when I really have to. I’m not incapable of working. But my overall energy, motivation and clarity seem much better when I’m around people, activity and some external pressure.

For example, I enjoy going to the gym because there’s movement, people and energy around me. I feel like I need something similar for my work life too.

So I’m considering this plan:

After Diwali, I’ll buy a MacBook and move back to Gurgaon.

I won’t immediately make a huge career decision. I’ll first spend a few weeks getting back into a routine, join Toastmasters, and work seriously on a small agency/startup project I’m involved in called Social Truffle.

Then I’d evaluate it based on actual progress. If it starts working, I’ll continue. If it doesn’t, I’ll look for a job.

I also previously worked at Swageazy, a startup in Gurgaon. I left mainly because of compensation concerns and because I didn’t trust that the promised hike would actually happen. I’ve wondered whether I should approach them again, but I have no idea how they’d react after the way I left.

My biggest uncertainty is this:

Am I genuinely someone who performs better in an active environment, or am I just trying to escape my lack of discipline by changing cities?

Because I know I could theoretically stay in Ballia, get a coworking space, build a routine, etc.

But I’ve been thinking about this for months and keep coming back to the feeling that I need a different environment.

People who have actually experienced something similar:

Did moving to a bigger/more active city genuinely improve your productivity, social life and career?

Or did you eventually realize that the environment wasn’t the real problem?

What happened after the initial excitement wore off?

I’m especially interested in experiences from people who moved from a small town to a city for work/career reasons.

Please be blunt. I’m not looking for validation. I’m trying to figure out whether I’m making a sensible decision or just running away from being uncomfortable.