July 1, 2014 I celebrated my 6 year anniversary to this city. 6 YEARS.
It still feels crazy to me that NYC has been my home for this long. It feels so normal, yet at the same time it feels so surreal. When I was down in Orlando last month a lady at the pool walked up to me and asked to borrow some sun screen. A simple question turned in to a 30 minute conversation when she found out where I was from. She started with all the typical questions that people ask me about living life here, but it turned into more and it quickly had me thinking about some of the significan things I've learned from living life in NYC.
So in honor of beginning my 7th year as a New Yorker (which some say 7 years is the magic number when you can actually call yourself a true New Yorker) and because I've been thinking through these things over the last couple weeks, I give you 7 very big things I've learned in the 6 years I've lived here!
1) Lots of space and lots of stuff is just really not necessary: I live in a bedroom where I can fit a twin size bed, a bookshelf, and a chair. Yes this is my bedroom. I do have a dresser but it fits nicely outside my room in what we call "the butlers pantry". Yes, I live in a maids quarter. No, really I do! It's small and it's unique and it's very adorable. The thing is, when I go to the suburbs I drool over space. I can't get over large bedrooms, and bathrooms, and closets. I can't get over the spaces that people call their own. I live with 3 other people in what New Yorkers would say is a very large apt. But when it comes down to it, I have 2 shelves in a kitchen for my food and the majority of the space in my apt is shared with others. The battle over space has been fought in my heart since I moved here. It's not just living space, but it's everything space. I work closely to others at my office, I sit closely to others on the subway, I work out closely with others at the gym, I walk closely to others on the sidewalk. NYC has roughly 78,000 people for every acre of land. When you are fitting that many people into such a small mass of land, you aren't going to have much space to call your own. BUT here's the thing. i've really learned over the last 6 years that that you actually just don't need that much space. Yes, it's nice to be able to breath without breathing on someone but living life in tight space has taught me to think outside of myself, to live generously, to get to know others on a deeper level that I might have to if I wasn't living life on top of them, And when you don't have much space, you really don't need that much stuff. I've become a minimalist since moving to this city and I actually LOVE it. I love that I only keep stuff that I actually need. I love that I can't run to Target and pick up a whole basket of random items......because let's be honest where is it going to go? I love that I have to think carefully about how many articles of clothing I have because my closet is the size of a shoe box. I love that I can't collect junk because again....where is it going to go? I am naturally a very organized person, but living and working in tight space has upped my organizational skills to the max. Twice a year I do a big clothes switch (i have to keep the opposite season of clothes in a suitcase b/c they won't fit in my closet) and everytime I do it I struggle with my attitude. I struggle with fitting everything into tiny spaces and I dream of what it would be to have a walk in closet with shelves or a queen size bed that would fit more boxes underneath, but at the end of the day after I have my pity party I am reminded how really I am not deserving of the space that I do have and at the end of the day It is incredibly refreshing to live as simply as I do.
2) We really do live in a broken world: There are some cities in this country that it can be easy to think that "everyone is ok". The neediness of people is not in your face and even if things are messy on the inside there is a face of strength on the outside. In NYC the complete opposite is true. Brokeness is on every corner. I don't go a commute to work without someone asking me for money or at least looking at me from the the ground with eyes of pleading. I don't ride the subway without seeing someone with eyes that run deep with years of hurt. Even those who look like their lives are together on the outside are normally very quick to say all the pieces of their lives that are broken. It's a city everyone excels to be the best, yet it's filled with many shattered pieces and an acknowledgement that this life can be ridiculousy hard. Because of this I am daily reminded of the hope that is in Jesus and that one day all the broken pieces will be made whole. Somedays it's the promise of what is to come that gets me through the overwhelming feeling of need that is around me.
3) Community is totally necessary: Manhattanites are transplants. We move here with a dream and we often come alone. I've always known community was important, but it wasn't until I landed on this island of millions alone that I realized that community was necessary. I think about my community here and I am filled with thankfulness. The Lord provided people in this city to be my family, to know me and to love me. I really believe there is a bond amongst New Yorkers because this city is so stinkin hard to live in. There have been so many days in this city where a friend and I will look at each other and just laugh over the journey that our lives have been. One of the hardest aspects of my life here has been the constant change in my community, but one thing I have seen through all the ups and downs is that the Lord has continued to provide for me and always give me people to do life with.
4) There is true beauty in the city: When people think of NYC they often think of the crowds, the subway, Time Square. And NYC is that! But it's also so much more. The last few weeks I've been getting up early to run along the river or in Central Park and each morning as I run I am struck by the beauty of the city. There is beauty in the rivers, in the city skyline, in the parks, in the millions of people who have incredibly rich stories walking the city streets. It's easy to see the dirt and the crowds, but within all those first sights there is beauty that runs deep. There is beauty in the nations that are represented in this melting pot of a city. There is beauty in the individualism of the people, in the diversity of what this city offers, in the colors that light up the sky. This city may not be what some would be first think of when they think of beauty, but I would have to say it is one of the most beautiful places in the world.
5) Embrace the moment....for it may only be brief: I was riding in a cab across the Manhattan bridge with a friend recently talking about seasons of life. In that conversation I was reminded how often we don't really appreciate something in life until it's gone. I've seen that more than ever while living life in this city. New York is a city of constant motion, transitions, change, and once in a lifetime opportunties. I've lost some of the sweetest seasons of friendship recently and I've realized how brief and sweet these seasons were. I've had some of the coolest moments of my life while living here and I so wish I could freeze some of those moments. The constant change in moments in this city remind me how brief our life here on earth is. I am slowly learning as I live here to embrace every moment, the good and the bad, and treasure it and make a snapshot in my head, because I don't know how long it will last and when it will be gone.
6) I am so desperately in need of Jesus: Living In NYC has been some of the best and hardest years of my life. Living life on this island can hit you like a ton of bricks each and every day. It's so fast paced that as soon as one brick hits you before you know it another brick is hitting you again. Somedays I feel like I'm spinning and I can't get control. One super rich thing that I've learned is that in those moments of feeling out of control I serve a God who is competely in control. He sees my brokeness and the brokeness around me and he has committed to walk through it with me. I didn't know it was possible to feel so alone as I have certain days over the past few years, but in those moments of deep lonliness I have learned to cling to the presence of God and to live in his deep and unchanging love for me. Life here is hard but Jesus is with me and with him nothing is too hard. I've clung to that truth and in the days when it feels the hardest I've silently cried out to Him for help and I've seen him draw near to me and stay close to me. I am daily reminded how thankful I am that I have a relationship with God and that He calls me his own.
7) Where God calls you He is going to provide: It always make me laugh when people say to me "wow that's awesome that you moved to NYC I could never do that" or something to that extent. I mean here's the thing.....If God calls you somewhere he is going to provide. I tell people who are thinking about moving to the city that anyone can move to NYC, you just have to feel called here. It's no piece of cake that's for sure, but at the same time I can honestly say that God has provided for my every need. I pay crazy rent and my groceries are super expensive and the pace of life is faster than a flashing light, but He's provided. He's sustained me, He's given me sufficient grace each day, He's answered my prayers, and He's shown me time and time again that He wanted me here and that He was going to take care of me. It's grown my faith to live here and for that I am thankful.
I write all this knowing that we all could write different experiences and what we've learned from them. NYC is one place to live and there are many others that can teach similar things (and probably very different things). I also write all this knowing that God may call me away tomorrow. This is my home today and this is what I've learned the past 6 years. I know God has much more to teach me in these areas and many more areas. I am thankful for this journey here and the daily reminders of God's place along the way.
Who knows what this next year will bring but cheers to starting year 7 in this crazy city I call home.
No comments:
Post a Comment