The luxury of an outside view.
It’s December 31st. Almost noon.
I recently reached out to a friend of mine from Montreal and how it usually happens to people with a similar soul texture, “So, how do you like New York?” question turned to a 2 hours deep and meaningful conversation about things that matter.
I’ve been living in New York City for more than a year now. As everyone who comes here from a different place, I’ve been fed with all the vibes of the Big Apple that have been translated to me through books, movies, photographs, and theater… Oh, Manhattan! Oh, Soho! Oh, 14th street… My first encounter with New York happened in September 2013, when I had a night (literally a night) to spend there in between the flights. I walked over to the Brooklyn Bridge with my friend. I fell deeply in love with New York immediately. It was that awareness when you know exactly that something is right for you even though you have very little data on what that thing actually is. When I moved here in the summer of 2020 it felt more like coming home rather than moving. I knew I’m gonna love it here no matter what. No-matter-what is probably the key to those relationships that have been set to success by my intention.
“You know, Jonathan,” I said to my friend, – it might sound silly, but every time I walk on the streets of New York, every time I exit my apartment and see the skyscrapers at the end of Amsterdam Avenue.. I pinch myself. Make sure it’s not a dream and it is really happening to me. I’ve heard the same from my other friend, who is a hard-core New Yorker by his mindset (quick, harsh, sincere, hilarious workaholic), came here from Chicago and he shared that he experiences the same breathtaking feeling every time he lets himself to stop and breathe in the moment of being in this city. Amusement, excitement, gratitude, and there is something more that I would add to it.. I would phrase it as an endless victory. I am in New York and it’s the award I receive every given day like for the first time.
“Right?! – Jonathan exclaimed, – people who were born in New York City, they consider themselves as True New Yorkers, but.. there is that idea New You was built on: New York is a city where everyone came to. You are excluded from this luxury of coming to New York, but that’s how it started! City of immigrants, of newcomers! Being a New Yorker meant making it there and milking this energy of achievement. I’m living in the city I dreamt of, if you were born here… you didn’t have a chance to have this dream!”
“It is so.. true – I agreed, – I’m afraid there is also a possible disadvantage: if you were born in New York, you already live in the most desirable place in the world and it might limit someone’s desire to think outside New York, needless to say how big and beautiful it out there.”
“It can offer so much though! And imagine, how much more you can offer by being from somewhere else!”
There is, of course, no right or wrong idea, but for me being a New Yorker is having those chills from the realization that I’m here, and it is real, and I’m here by the choice of my heart, and because my energy matches the energy the place.
This year was very intense and adventurous… And maybe it was the first year after many others when I finally wasn’t thinking of moving somewhere. I was digging deep into the ground of the land I am a part of now. Thank you 2021, I’m taking all of me with me to 2022 and leaving everything that no longer serves me in 2021 with gratitude.
