Chapter 25 is still being written, and I only have two and a half months left to fill the pages of this number, but so far I only beam excitement for what more lies ahead. Today I say farewell to my East Coast life and make the big move to Los Angeles, CA. I did not wake up one day and suddenly decide that today will be the day I pick up my entire life and move across the country to a city that I hardly know on the opposite coast of NYC. I always said that I would eventually do it. Eventually is now.
New York City has been and always will be my home. In fact, for the last 25 years, I never left it and I never moved away from it. It is where I was raised, where I learned how to walk and talk, where I navigated an unreliable transit system, met some of the strongest and most influential people, got my bachelor's degree, landed my first job straight out of college, and it will always be the city that allowed me to dream as big as possible.
Leaving behind everything you know is the toughest part, and though this has just begun, I already know what an impact this decision will have on the rest of my life. Whenever I thought about leaving NYC, I always thought of all the reasons for me to stay behind. They weren't excuses at the time because they were reasons within comfort. It is exactly this moment that I feel comfortable stepping out of it, too. I am very fortunate that the time to leave now is entirely my decision— unhindered.
Have you ever had that feeling where everything leading up to this moment felt exactly right? Well, this move feels exactly that way, where every bone in my body knows it is good for me. It feels right and I can't look back. LA might not be what I imagine it to be, but I will never know the answer to my "what if," if I do not take this chance, this opportunity, and move there.
I don't know what lies ahead, and I don't know who I will meet, what I will encounter, who I will become, but I head there knowing that I will latch on to what I believe in and overcome any obstacles that come my way. This is where two roads diverge, and I choose the one headed west.
Love,
Laura