Hope you are feeling better soon, Venus.
Question: Have you ever spent extended time in Prague? (Or maybe even another sizeable city?) I lived for years in.. let's call them "low population" places, and when I'd get time to go somewhere, it would be to the city. Very energizing for sure. (Haha, the first time I met up with my BF, it was here, and between already having been hypo for a few weeks, the city and new love, I was pretty much bouncing off the walls. )

Anyhow, having moved here a few years ago, I've found, that like any place, things do tend to become more "everyday" and routine after awhile. Which isn't to say boring, just to say that it gets tempered by the day in/day out of actually living somewhere. As a boss of mine said once, "I guess no matter where you live, you're still going to have to clean the toilet". What a way with words, eh? But the concept is true.

As for shopping... maybe there are more locally owned shops than first appear to the eye? Those oooh la la "big name" stores are eye-rollingly craptastic in my book too, get you on that. Farmer's markets? Thrift stores? I have no idea what's available there, but ... something to look into.

Speaking of which, I've got to go get going to meet/pick up BF at a thrift store. Then we are going to another (in our new neighborhood -- so excited to check it out!), then coming back to work on painting a table that was out on the street for free (yeah, cleaned the bejeezus out of it, but that's me ). So... yeah, we're in the city, but we're not exactly contributors to that overbearing mega-consumerism thing. Guess it depends on the local resources available, but it can be possible.