Going with the Flo

Thought Catalog and New York City go together like champagne and OJ. I still get chills (and nervous and excited and happy) every time I read “You Should Stay in New York City.” And on the eve of my one year anniversary here, this gem popped up in my Facebook News Feed: “15 Reasons Why People Move to New York City.” 

I picked out a few to connect with why people move here – why I moved here. 

2. We weren’t content living our life somewhere else. We saw what it would’ve been like if we stayed put and we got scared, real scared. (If you grew up in NYC, you probably still live here because the city has made you unfit for anywhere else. It’s as if New York peed all over you when you were born and marked its territory. The little bitch!)

I came for the adventure. 

3. We heard that New York is the one place you don’t ever have to grow up. 80-year-olds walk the street at 2 a.m. looking for a coffee shop, parents still go out and maintain some semblance of a life. The people who live here operate on the pleasure principle. They do what feels good and are wary of having to deal with any sort of compromise.

I came to be carefree. 

8. We have aspirations of being the best in our field. We are hungry, hungry tigers with a serious work ethic. You don’t move to New York to do Nothing. It’s just too fucking expensive. Laying in bed for an entire day costs you like 60 dollars.

I came because it’s the best place for my industry. And why go anywhere, unless striving to be the best? 

10. We want to see faces that tell stories. We want to see passion on the streets, people screaming and crying, and pretend we’re annoyed by the noise but secretly love it, secretly feel like we’ve just been given a shot of adrenaline.

I came for the noise, for the diversity, for the excitement. 

11. We want to make the most of our youth. Treat it like it’s an orange and we’re sucking the pulp dry. Sticky fingers, messy hands, but damn it tasted good.

I came to get my hands dirty. 

14. We are the type of people whose anxieties propel us forward. Anxiety is what forced us to move here, anxiety is what landed us our great job. We’re always moving closer and closer to where we want to be, even if it doesn’t always feel that way.

I came for the challenge.