Anything Could Happen

Once upon a time, there was a young, 17 year old girl living in Staten Island, New York. This girl loved her home city and all of her family and friends that lived there with her. She wanted to spend the rest of her life in this city, surrounded by all of her loved ones. But this, was not to be the case at all.

The girl was about to be torn away from all of her family and friends, and her beautiful city. She was moving to Sugar Land, Texas with her parents, brother, and sister. It seemed as though her world was falling apart.

On July 5, 2012, the girl said her goodbyes to NYC and all of the people in it, hopped on a plane with her little sister, and flew to the far away land of Texas.

The first 2 months were the hardest for the girl. This place called Texas was like an entirely different world from what she had know back home. There were no buses to chase, no subways to ride, and nothing was of walking distance. Not only that, but she had no friends in this new home. The girl spent her first 2 months here crying herself to sleep. If only she knew how her life was about to change..

Before moving, the girl was quite close minded and would never stand up for herself or voice her opinion. All she wanted to do was blend in and follow the crowd. If she thought something was cool, but her friends did not, she would change her opinion to match theirs. The girl started to become miserable. She started fighting with her family all of the time and started doing terrible in school. But she was only doing it to herself. The girl had the power to change her life; she just didn't know it yet.

But after about 6 months of living in her new home of Sugar Land and being away from her old, toxic life, the girl started to realize how much of life she was missing out on. Since being away from all of her friends and family back home, she started to become very independent. She was learning that she did not need to follow a crowd, or change her opinions so that others would agree. She was becoming herself; who she was meant to be.

Dreams were being shattered, while new dreams were forming. The girl was making a life for herself all on her own. One day, she decided to make her new dream of traveling the world a reality.  Since opening herself up to a brilliant, new way of looking at life, the girl didn't want to waste on more second of her life not striving to be the happiest version of herself possible. And she knew that to be her happiest self, she had to follow her heart, and her dream. She was going to travel the world. Alone.

So, she told her family of her plan to quit her job and travel the world on her own. At first, they were not very comfortable with the girl traveling on her own. But the girl knew that she could handle this on her own. She wanted to do this on her own.

So, she started her journey of planning a year to herself. During her planning, she looked back on her New York self and realized that if she would have never left, she would not be chasing her dream and following her heart around the world. The girl probably would have stayed in New York for the rest of her life. She would have went to college (something that she realized she didn't have to do, so she never went), got a job, maybe would have got married, had kids, and played the game of life. If it wasn't for moving to Texas, her heart and mind would have never opened up. She would possibly still be that same girl she once was. Who knows where her life would have led her. All the girl knew at that moment was that she would not be as happy as she was now. Even though she had to leave her family and friends, she was still happy. At the time, that was exactly what the girl needed. She needed to be independent. On her own. Happier.

And so, while the girl still misses her family and friends, she could not be happier that she had no choice but to leave her home. If there is one lesson that the girl took away from the past 3 years of her life, it's this: sometimes the worst of situations seem like an absolute nightmare, but turn out to be the best thing to ever happen to you. Always have an open heart and mind. Never doubt yourself. You write your own story. Go live your adventure.

xx
"Look how far I have come without anyone holding my hand ... There's still so much to learn, so many dreams to earn, but even if I crash and burn ten times a day I think I'm here to stay, I'm gonna find my way"

Lessons Learned From NYC

*Photo credit to my cousin, and awesome photographer, Kacie Horstman. Check out her links!!!
Kacie's Twitter, Instagram, YouTube

The city that never sleeps, the melting pot, the Big Apple, the city so nice, they named it twice.

New York City.

Having been born and raised here, spending almost 18 years of my life here, this city will always be my first home and my first love. It's a place where you can find everything you ever wanted, eat some of the best food there is, and meet the most interesting people. Some people can thrive here, while others can't make it.

Living here, you get to be more exposed to the world then a lot of other places. You just never know what you may see when you step out of the door! So of course, I was bound to learn quite a few lessons from this superb city.

Here are 10 lessons I learned from New York City:

1. No matter where you go in the world, you will never, and I mean NEVER find better pizza. If you have ever had NY pizza, then you know exactly what I am talking about. Sorry Chicago, our pizza is the best! And me being from Staten Island, my favorite places to grab a slice are Denino's and Brother's! And in the summers, you go right across the street from Denino's to get some Ralph's Famous Italian Ices (aka where I worked my first job for 4 years (':)

2. Not all New Yorkers are mean and rude. Are we most of the time always in a rush to catch our bus or the subway? Yes, but that doesn't make us rude! The people of New York can be helpful and kind, just catch them at the right time, not when they are in a rush!

3. There is no need to own a car in NYC. I never had my license when I lived here. There is absolutely no need. If you need to get somewhere you can either walk there, take a bus, train, subway, The Ferry, or a taxi.  I really believe that if you live in any of the five boroughs of the city, having a car is a waste of your money! Take public transportation people!

4. Umbrellas are useless. Now, this one may not apply to everyone, maybe just me, really. Being that I took 2 buses to and from school everyday, rain was never my friend. And neither were umbrellas. For some reason, every time it rained and I wanted to use an umbrella, it would be terribly windy, therefore my umbrella would blow over and break. In my four high school years, I probably broke a good 20 umbrellas before giving up and just trying to find a tree to stand under near my bus stops. Thanks for all the times I was soaked all day in school, umbrellas. You taught me it's better to just dance in the rain.

5. There can be beauty found around every corner. In NY, there is so much art everywhere you look. Between the brilliant skyscrapers, the amazing street art, and the talented subway performers, creativity is all around you. This is the reason that so many people are inspired by this city. It shows us that anything is possible and life is full of beauty.

6. Stressing over traffic will not make it go away. I definitely learned this the hard way. The Staten Island Expressway used to make me so stressed out anytime I had to get on it because there is always so much traffic. Most of the time in New York, it does not matter the time of day, there will always be some kind of traffic. Whether it's trying to get over the Verrazano Bridge or trying to get onto a packed subway or bus, stressing out over it is not going to be any help to anyone. You'll eventually get where you need to be, so just chill out, listen to some music, and relax!

7. There is no other group of people in the world who love their city as much as New Yorkers do. Every New Yorker you meet will tell you that there is no place like their city, like home. I can say, first handed, that this is so true. Everyone dreams of one day either visiting NYC or living there. Being in this beautiful city, you soon begin to see that every person, no matter how different they may be, loves their city and will always stand strong with it.

8. There is so much diversity in our world. Living in this city, you get to see more diversity in a day then some people do in there whole lives. You get to be exposed to so many people on so many different walks of life and see how they are all just trying to get through the day. Some of the richest people walk down the same street as the poorest of the poor.

9. You have to work hard for the things you want. Living in New York is expensive. Yet so many people do it. For a lot of people living there, living in that city is a dream. And they are willing to work like crazy to achieve their dreams. Because if you are not working for what you want, you will drown in this city. No one is going to simply give you what you want. Thank God my parents raised my siblings and I like this, because I know quite a few people who were handed everything they wanted while growing up, and now expect that from the world, but are learning the hard way that you have to work for what you want!

10. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. This always seems to give me a boost of confidence. I lived in this city. I made it 18 years there. Leaving this city was one of the hardest things I had to do in my life. But I left knowing that I was prepared to take on the world because of the lessons this city taught me. Leaving NYC was hard, but it was a huge game changer for me. If I never left this city, I would have never realized that I don't want New York to be my only home. I want the world to be my home. And I have New York City to thank for that.

This city made me strong. It made me a dreamer. It made me a New Yorker for life. While I'm sure that I will leave my heart in many cities around the world, NYC will always, truly, have my heart. Thanks for being my home for 18 years. But also thanks for kicking me out and opening up my heart to the world. Until we meet again, New York!

*My old home in Staten Island*

xx