Twenty years of good work in one town can matter more than twenty minutes of fame anywhere.

Depth in one place is a real form of success, and it gets underrated because it does not travel. Being the person a town trusts takes two decades and cannot be rushed or faked, while attention can arrive on a Tuesday and be gone by the weekend. We only have loud words for the second kind. That does not make it the larger thing.

If you feel pressure to get out and be seen somewhere bigger, at least work out what you would be trading. Spend an afternoon with somebody who stayed and built something, and see whether their life actually looks small to you. Often it will not.