To New York City, With Love (1 year out) Part 2

In case you missed Part 1...

Fast forward to today: 1 year later.

A friend asked me last week if I'd like to change careers and I quickly retorted "Nope!" On that particular day, I had taught ballet to 2-4 year olds, followed by taking class myself. That afternoon I had a rehearsal to choreograph a new piece that is going up soon, and that evening I rehearsed for a show I'm performing in. "I'm living the life I want to be living," I told him. "You should too."

I realize I'm blessed. Somehow, I've been afforded the luxury to live the life I want to live. I have been blessed with the gift to speak into existence the things I want to come to fruition... and they do. I live my life on faith. Every day I hope, I dream, I wish, I pray. Mostly though, I just prepare for possibility and take chances.

I can't think of too many other cities where there are millions of others just like me. We all come here for just this reason. We are hustling to prepare for possibility, putting ourselves in the right places at the right times to make it happen. We openly discuss our ambitions, and work together to make them reality. As E. B. White wrote in 1948:

There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born there, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size, its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter--the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. Of these trembling cities the greatest is the last--the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York’s high strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements. Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion.

I am one of the many settlers whose passion drives them to be here. On the brightest of sides, somehow the very dreams that we each seek to achieve within the space of the city, make it a place all the more worth the while despite the major costs for us to be here. We make due by living in ridiculously small spaces, throwing away our life savings to landlords coming out on top like the fat rats that run the city streets.

And yet, we don't want to run a way anytime soon. I'm not running away anytime soon. When I see the rats I either close my eyes or change my view. I charge harder in the uphill battle to stand on my own two feet, while doing what I want to be doing. Rather, what I am supposed to be doing. Too many doors have opened for me on this path for me to deny that this isn't just a wish and a want, but it is purposeful for something greater.

I am convinced that my deep desire for life. in New York City. Dancing. will unfold something greater than I can imagine. That's just how God works.