I’m back fresh from a week in New York. It was a great trip filled with family and sightseeing. For those of you who don’t know, I was born in New York and raised in Brooklyn until the age of 11. I’ve been back a number of times since then, but I feel like this is the first time I’ve walked in with my eyes wide open.
New York is supposed to be the land of hopes and dreams, where anything is possible, but I can’t help but notice the fatigue on people’s faces. The long hours, the hustle and bustle the undercurrent of factionalism and an almost tangible racist divide. It’s sad stuff, but New York is also filled with promise, a sentiment that anyone can achieve anything (through hard work, happenstance and luck).
Anyway, as much as I enjoyed the week- playing tourist and catching up with family and old friends, I can’t help but feel a sense of gratitude for the life my partner and I have carved out for ourselves here in London. If you know me, you’d wouldn’t be shocked to find out I live in a bubble. Yes, we work hard, but we can afford the basic necessities of life and then some.
The whole experience has reminded me that my darkest day is a best day to someone else. That said, it has also renewed my need to do even better. This life has so much to offer, I don’t even me materialistic things. If only we can all take a moment out of our day to stop and reflect on someone else’s struggle, we might actually see the beauty that is human will. Be it parents working overtime to send their kids to school or an employer who understands the need for work life balance. It’s the little things that really make a difference.
I believe the key to happiness is to focus on the present, but with intention for the future i.e what does your best life look like and what can you do to live elements of that now. I often get stressed, then spiral in to a pit of self-pity. My thoughts are something along the lines of, if only I had X or why does X always happen to me, or why do I have to do X etc…
It’s all just unproductive noise in our minds really! The answer to most of my self-pity questions is simple- it’s life; there are only ever two options, “do something” or “do nothing”. More and more, I’m choosing the latter.
The noise is our ego telling us that we are too good for a given situation, and that the best way out of it is to rebel- that’s a lie. The best way out is to accept it for what it is, do it to the best of your ability, working quietly on your passions, until you can say, thank you next to the thing you want to change.
Every experience, good or bad is for a reason. If we always come from the perspective of gratitude, thinking, what is there to learn here, life might make more sense. So before we feel sorry for ourselves we should remember, productive thoughts require action e.g. what am I going to do about X. If the answer is nothing, then we know the outcome.
I could ramble on about the machinations of my scatty mind, but I’ll leave it there…
T
Outfit Details: Leather Jacket – All Saints | Dress – Zara, bought in store | Bag – Skinnydip London | Shoes – Marshalls, bought in New York
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