I think I’ve made it pretty clear that NYC is my spirit animal, if my spirit animal could be a city. So everyone, including myself, was sort of surprised when I said I was going to move back to Houston after just a year in the big apple.
Why leave a place I love so much? Because I decided I love myself more.
It wasn’t because I couldn’t hack it in the big, bad city or because I couldn’t handle New Yorkers and their brashness. In all fairness, there are terrible people everywhere…literally everywhere. But for some reason, when someone in New York is disrepectful or offensive, we like to brush it off and say that’s just the way they are. Personally, I find this justification for being a horrid person repulsive. How about they just suck as a human? Why are we so inclined to give them a pass based on their address? Oh, how I digress.
So if it wasn’t NYC, then what was it that drove my decision? It felt like the right time to me for so many reasons, let me count the ways.
- I had already gone through two jobs in my one year in the city. And while my second job there was totally fine, I wouldn’t say that spending another 35 years doing the same thing sparked what Marie Kondo would call joy.
- NYC is crazy expensive…and contrary to popular belief, the jobs don’t pay more just because of it. I mean, I’m sure some of them do, I just don’t know where they are. If I’m being completely honest, I left NYC still not making as much as I did in Houston.
- I’m about to turn 40, and I’m feeling ready for some sort of change. Part of the reason I’ve been so quiet on this blog lately is because I’m struggling with what exactly this means.
- I did it. I moved to Seattle, I moved to NYC, and I’m still here to tell the tale. So I know that if I decide to make a move again later, I’m perfectly capable.
- I miss being around my family, friends and my baby girl Kona.
Thinking about all of this logically meant that it was time to come back to Houston for some introspection and a reset. So while it would’ve been so easy and expected to sign on the dotted line for another year, it didn’t feel like what was truly best for me right now. It’s hard to stop for a reset in the city that never sleeps. But even if for just a year, I made it there — so I know I can make it anywhere.