If I Can Make It Here I Can Make It Anywhere.

I realize that it may be tempting to take this announcement with a grain of salt, completely my fault since my future plans have been a bit reminiscent of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, but I am moving to New York!

Really. Seriously.  I am.

I have had some pretty big ideas in the past, moving to Maui, moving to South Africa.  Hmm...and here I am, still in Arizona.  It's been hard to leave.  This is my home, all I have ever known, where all my lifelong friends are and most importantly, my family.  The same reasons I don't want to leave are probably the same reasons I should.  I know it is time to break out of my comfort zone, take some chances and start paving my own path.  It is pretty clear I am not on the whole marriage/babies plan, and Gilbert is just getting really, really small. 

Something happens to me when I travel.  I realize that the world is manageable.  It always seems really big and scary and impossible, but people are people everywhere and even though things can be different or challenging, they are still manageable.  Traveling gives me confidence and a drive to reach further than I have before. 

My credit card is very unhappy with me since my last holiday, but this trip came at the perfect time.  For those of you who know me personally, you know that this year didn't start out very well, certainly not as planned.  It was an extremely rough time in my life, probably the worst, and I had been in a pretty decent rut for the good first half of this year; unhappy with most aspects of my life and just feeling like I was not where I wanted to be. I could chalk this up to a quarter-life crisis, a lovely new phenomenon in this shitty economy, but it's my fault.  I haven't been proactive, I haven't pushed, I haven't challenged myself.

Last summer I saw a different side of the city when I visited my friend Stephanie.  I had been a couple years before for the first time and did the tourist thing, it was of course amazing.  But my second trip opened my eyes to the "real" New York; the neighborhoods, the walk around the corner to the market, the take-out right across the street, the restaurants open all night, the mix of people. It is alive. 

I was fortunate enough to get to visit Stephanie again this summer on the way to Ireland and Amsterdam.  New York is a special place, indescribable, really.  It's everything you think it will be and nothing you think it will be.  The city is filled with smart, motivated young people with a world vision that is hard to find here. There is so much activity and so many types of people; it feels like the center of the world.  And contradictory to what you might expect, all the craziness puts me at ease.  I feel like a new person; a creative, outgoing, and happy one with a sense of calm and a burst of confidence.  If all these other people can make it in New York City, why can't I? 

I have been so fortunate since I have started making my plans to have the support of my family and friends.   I know some fabulous people in New York City who I hope to become even closer with as this adventure continues and have been presented with a really great opportunity that, GASP, will actually make some use of my four and a half years at ASU.  It is going to happen this time. I can feel it!