With so much change happening in Nashville, and at such a quick pace, many residents are excited about “New Nashville,” but also wary. Are these changes positive? Will Nashville continue to be a unique city that reflects its diverse range of residents? Will people continue to look you in the eye when walking by and say “hi”? Will we continue to be a city that buys local and supports local when so many people are new to the city? Well, as Adrian Saporiti’s sign says, ‘I Believe in Nashville.’ Not only can we do that, but we can also evolve and grow better, which is part of what has always made Nashville Nashville.

There are so many adjectives that help to define Nashville, but seven that certainly define Music City’s spirit and aspirations are: entrepreneurial, creative, friendly, quirky, charitable, forward-thinking and neighborly. With Nashville’s growth, the real angst from residents seems to be that Nashville will grow into a city that doesn’t resemble what has made Nashville ‘Nashville.’ At StyleBlueprint, we have always focused on the positives in our community. We welcome growth with open arms, but we sure hope that when we wave someone into our traffic lane, they wave back as if to say “thanks;” that we continue to have residents who are loud and passionate about our trees and our older historic buildings; that we support our local businesses and residents and find ways to allow them to survive and thrive with growing rents and property taxes; that we continue to strive for ways to make our people grow and succeed — all of our people — in ways that match our city’s growth.

Affordable housing, infrastructure, and education are the big three that Metro can work on and will likely be the big three talked about each election year for the foreseeable future. But, as individuals, we can each support both new local businesses and the ones who set the stage for this historic growth, we can wave thanks in traffic, pull over for a funeral procession, introduce ourselves to the owner of the restaurant and tell them we enjoyed our meal, attend local music shows, make time for our neighbors, support our colleagues, take time to visit other areas of town outside of our own personal bubbles, pick a local charity to get involved with, make a point to know our neighbors and continue to say “Lafayette Street” in our own unique way … This is Nashville, and these are things that have nothing to do with Metro or elected officials. This starts with each one of us.

Look for a renewed focus at StyleBlueprint highlighting local, innovative ideas, Nashville’s creative spirit, our friendliness, our business community, our neighborhoods and our quirky self as we stand tall and say: Let’s grow; let’s continue to welcome new people of many different backgrounds; let’s rejoice at all the delicious food available in our city and embrace that we have greenways to walk it off; let’s continue to always strive for a better tomorrow. But, let’s remember there’s a reason that people wanted to move here in the first place. Let’s remember to Keep Nashville Nashville: entrepreneurial, creative, friendly, quirky, charitable, forward-thinking and neighborly. We’re calling this renewed focus our “This is Nashville” series.

Does this mean we turn a blind eye to the negative parts of Nashville’s current state and history? Not at all. We definitely have things to improve upon and always will, but that shouldn’t diminish our ability to be proud of our many accomplishments and amazing attributes. By continuing to showcase people and businesses from all sections of Nashville, our goal is to build bridges as we accept each other as equal people, regardless of gender identity or race or religion. Striving for a better tomorrow for all … This is Nashville. At least it’s the ideal we all wish from ourselves and each other.

Hey Nashville, we love you! Thanks for being our city.

#thisisnashville #keepnashvillenashville #lifeisbetterinnashville