A Philosopher

I arrived at NYC little less than two weeks ago. The city truly has a charm of its own, from the buzz of the Lower East Side to the sophistication of the Upper West Side. Amidst the excitement of moving to a new city, I got to experience the blues of being uprooted from all my friends again. Many talk up the thrill of starting fresh and reinventing oneself, I think that is overrated - at least, once is more than enough. 

It struck me today that I am officially at the cusp of adulthood, for anything that may happen to me no longer follows a pre-ordained script. I have heard it before, my upperclassmen complaining about searching for jobs or worrying about finances. I am lucky in that I landed myself a pretty sweet tech job which brought me to the city in the first place. My (ungrateful) turmoil concerns more the question of why --- having no friends to witness, and no family to return to at the end of the workday, I feel untethered and devoid of motivation for doing my work.

Yesterday I got to experience what new york had to offer -  a 'networking' meetup at the Houndstooth Pub's basement that was packed to the brim with people in their 20s. Lots of interesting characters were there at the pub, an air traffic controller, multiple data analysts/software engineers, people from Russia, Brazil, a philosopher from Staten Island. I like that people from all walks of life converged here, I am sure some of them will soon be having the time of their life in this city. 

I am learning to be more patient about things. I had a conversation with a friend the other day - we met somewhere else but he stays in new york, and what he said really stuck with me: things take time. I should cut myself some slack when it comes to meeting my new group of friends, or in pushing things forward in my career. For the first time in my life, I have no long-term deadlines to catch, no set timeframe for what to do (except perhaps retirement in 30 years!). I am completely free to take my time, to enjoy the flow of life. I am not gonna lie, it is terrifying to some degree, but now that I articulated it I also feel a tinge of excitement for where this may lead. My journey in this wonderful has just begun.