Resident as Tourist

What are things a person could do deliberately to feel like an apathetic visitor to their own country in the way they might be with limited awareness and feelings when visiting a foreign country for a week?

If you want to cultivate the mindset of an apathetic visitor to your own country—experiencing it with emotional detachment, limited investment, and a surface-level awareness like a short-term tourist in a foreign land—you could try the following:

1. Shift to a Passive Observer Mode

• Walk through your city or town as if you are merely passing through, noticing details but not forming strong opinions about them.
• Avoid engaging in debates, political discussions, or emotional reactions to local news.
• Act as if everything is just a temporary curiosity, not something you are invested in changing or understanding deeply.

2. Limit Emotional Attachments to Cultural and Political Issues

• View local controversies and news with the same detachment you might have for foreign politics you don't fully grasp.
• If people discuss current events, react with mild curiosity but don't take sides—imagine it’s a news story about a country you’ll be leaving soon.
• Deliberately avoid nostalgic or patriotic feelings, treating everything as something transient and slightly foreign.

3. Rely on Surface-Level Knowledge

• Stop consuming in-depth local news and instead skim headlines like a traveler glancing at a foreign newspaper.
• Take a neutral, outsider’s approach to local history, treating it as just another place’s story rather than part of your identity.
• Refer to places in generic, impersonal ways (e.g., instead of “my city,” say “this city”).

4. Act as a Literal Tourist

• Visit well-known landmarks or places you've never bothered to see, treating them as attractions rather than meaningful locations.
• Walk or take public transport without a specific destination, just to observe daily life without participating in it deeply.
• Eat at unfamiliar restaurants or try foods you normally wouldn’t, as if experiencing a new culture.

5. Adopt an Outsider’s Detachment in Social Interactions

• When interacting with others, keep conversations light and avoid deeply personal or local topics.
• Avoid expressing strong opinions, instead responding with neutral curiosity (“Interesting. I hadn’t thought about it that way.”).
• Limit emotional investment in community events, treating them as fleeting spectacles rather than significant occasions.

6. Reduce Personal Involvement in National Symbols and Traditions

• If you normally celebrate national holidays, treat them as just another day or view them from an anthropological distance.
• If someone discusses national identity, respond as if you’re a visitor unfamiliar with its emotional significance.
• Avoid personalizing or feeling ownership over national successes or failures—see them as an outsider would.

7. Disconnect from Daily Routines and Familiar Comforts

• Change your habits, taking different routes, eating different foods, or shopping in different places, so nothing feels "normal."
• Engage in activities that make your surroundings feel unfamiliar, such as staying in a hotel or rental in your own city.
• Avoid thinking about long-term consequences of anything, as if you’re only here temporarily.

By combining these approaches, you might begin to feel like an outsider within your own country—detached, uninvolved, and viewing everything with the neutral curiosity (or mild indifference) of a short-term traveler.