Surely I’m not the only girl in her late twenties who, for some inexplicable, unbeknownst reason, has romanticized moving to New York City to embark on a brand new chapter of her life. Surely not! There’s too many movies and books that follow that exact of plot line. In them, our young, bold, creative, slightly naïve heroine goes through a series of hardships and challenges, celebrations and victories, resulting in new friendships and lessons learned. She also probably falls in love.
Consider this an up-close and personal, real life, unfiltered, raw dawg version of what I hope to be a fresh, coming of age, rom com of my own life. Emphasis on the “rom,” fingers crossed.
My mom has always said I should write a book, so here I am writing a blog.
In exactly ten days, I’ll be moving to NYC to follow my big city girl dreams. It sounds cliché, and it probably is, but clichés are clichés for a reason — there’s always a little bit of truth to them. Also, cliché is such a great word to say over and over. Makes you feel smart.
Anyway. Lots of people have been wondering how I’m feeling about my move. Of course the obvious answer is “excited,” and the second obvious answer is “sad.” Excited to start something new. Sad to end something good. While both are absolutely true, neither of those answers touch on the depth of my full emotions. The truth of the matter is I’m feeling… wide open. I feel vulnerable, unsure, and expectant, while also, un-expectant. For the first time in my life, I’m going into a phase where I have absolutely no idea how things will play out. I don’t know who I’ll meet. I don’t know what my job will be like. I don’t know if I’ll stay a year. I don’t know if I’ll stay forever. I don’t know if I’ll even like the city as much as I think I will (although I think I will). All in all, there are so many “I don’t knows,” which is way too many for a control freak like me. But shockingly, I seem to be okay with it all.
Another thing people have been asking me is “Why?” Why do I want to move? Why NYC? Why don’t I want to stay in sweet South Carolina? My best answer here is “…because I like it.” Normalize doing a few more things in life simply because you have a gut feeling. I have a gut feeling that the city will grow me, shape me, and mold me into a better version of myself simply because it’s new. No, I don’t have family there, and no, I don’t have many friends there either. No, my job isn’t forcing me to move. But, I like it there. So, I’m going.
Anyway. All this is to say, I’ll be here on substack.com documenting my feelings, memories, thoughts, stories, and nuggets of wisdom. Stick along if you want.
Lots of love,
Stef
and the City