Posted on 26 Comments on [Reverb10] Action & Aspirations

[Reverb10] Action & Aspirations

[My answer for Prompt 12 is simply no. Please see Prompt 9, 100 mph.]

Today’s prompt? Ohhhhhhhhhhhh, today’s prompt. Scott Belsky asks me about my aspirations and what comes next. It’s like he was reading my mind for the past week while I have been CONSUMED with my next step but couldn’t focus on it due to illness and school.

New York.

The Big Apple.

Concrete Jungle Where Dreams Are Made of.

New York, New York.

I am currently consumed with Operation: Move to NYC in ’11.

Just like my dream to one day live on the west coast, this isn’t an overnight decision.  I talked about how it felt like home and how I’ve been wanting to live there for years. At first, it was just a thought.

“Maybe in my 30s.”

“I need a job there. It’s expensive. I have to get more security.”

Over the last 3 weeks though, something has washed over me.  This urgency and knowing feeling that there is no better time than now.  I applied to a job here and there in New York as a long-shot but then…it just hit me.

It doesn’t have to be a long shot. I’m 25 years old, about to be 26 and if not now, WHEN?

2010 has been all about taking control of my thoughts and actions. It was about owning my feelings and letting go of doubt. It was MY year to grow.

I said 2011 will be about fulfillment.

So why hold myself back?

I have a boyfriend who is so supportive that he will, depending on the situation, take a job up there with me but understands my need to do this on my own. Moving to New York is MY passion.

Moving out and getting a place in D.C. was easy. I’d already been going to school and working in the city. It was familiar and safe.

New York? New York is the challenge that will be worth it beyond belief.

So I’ve been taking action. I’ve been actively applying to jobs up there with an unrelenting passion and hope. (I know this is doubly difficult because I’m competing against all of NYC while I’m down in DC] I’m using my most powerful tool, my love of networking to make connections up there now. [So if you’re in New York and aren’t following me on Twitter, you should go do it now.]

So Scott Belsky, founder & CEO of Behance, guess what? I am turning my ideas & passions into reality. You asked the perfect question for me today. It just might be fate and maybe you could give me a tip or two to make it in New York.

New York, be ready for me in 2011. You will be my home, where I spread my wings and make my passions a reality.

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Prompt: Action. When it comes to aspirations, its not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. What’s your next step?

Posted on 10 Comments on [Reverb10] Moment

[Reverb10] Moment

There’s a reason I haven’t written about my October New York trip. There were no words to capture the feeling I had when I was walking those streets. Sure, I could’ve talked about how excited I was, and how I loved the chaos and the pretty sights but it would’ve felt empty.

Then came today’s #Reverb10 prompt: Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors)

I’ve been wanting to visit New York for a long time and in my mind, I was afraid that the reality wouldn’t live up to how I imagined I would feel.

When my bus rolled into the city at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning, as exhausted as I was, I felt alive. Walking the streets for the first time, I had a strange sense of direction.

I felt home.

The noises of a city waking up surrounding me, I knew that I wanted to listen to that every day.  Walking to and through Central Park, I was in the middle a city that has made millions feel alive, even through the television screen but it was different for me.

There is only one other place in the world that can make me feel like I belong and that is Istanbul.

New York is as close to home as it will get.

The way the streets felt under my feet.

From the smells from the delis and the vendor carts combined perfectly to chatter of those around me to the sights that filled my vision.

When your home is an ocean away, you long for that feeling of belonging.  You search it in every part of the city you live in and you make a home for yourself the best way you know how.  There is nothing that compares to the feeling I have when the plane touches ground in Istanbul.

For the first time in 15 years, however, New York City gave me a hint of that feeling.

The organized chaos of New York made me feel alive for the first time in a very long time this year and I can’t wait to be back there in 2 weeks, taking every moment in and continuing to search for the words to describe the overwhelming calm washing over me.

[You can find these pictures & others at my Etsy shop]