New York, New Year

An email from Urban Daddy (a subscription for emails with the latest steals & deals in NYC):

Lacking Resolve
Introducing Your Anti-Resolutions
Soon it'll be a new year, but what hasn't changed is the fact that you live in a city of excess. A city of temptations. A city of two-gallon cocktails. Here are a few suggestions to help you kick off your season of indulgence, before the nagging desire for improvement creeps in. You must resist it…

Just when I was getting into meaningful holiday spirit – researching charities and volunteer programs; identifying ways I can be a better person to myself and others in 2010 – I receive the message above from Urban Daddy. Is it really harder to be a good person in New York? As New Yorkers, everything is at our fingertips and an “I can do better” affectation manifests itself within each of us – whether it’s a job, price, seat on the subway, relationship, meal, grade, club, performance or any combination of the above (and the list goes on!). In this city of endless opportunity and possibility, we believe there is always something tangibly better around the next corner. So, not only do we want instant gratification (which is remarkably almost always possible in New York) but we want the best of everything. Who else in this country (or the world) lives like this? Is this the fundamental reason that New York has placed dead last in Science magazine’s study “ranking of happiness levels by US State”? Not only are we last, but we are #51 in a country of 50 states. Ok, yes – the study includes Washington D.C. – but 51? That’s just rubbing salt in the wound. Are we the least happy because there’s so much to do, achieve, buy and see in New York that we are perpetually unsatisfied?

And now an attempt to balance the negative with the positive (a personal struggle for me in my day-to-day life): Why are these traits positive and what good has the city of excess cultivated in us as individuals and as a population?

We know what we want when we want it. So nine times out of ten, we will get that promotion or that seat on the subway. The upside: we are perseverant and we achieve our goals (both long-term and short-term).

We live in a city of overstimulation with excessive and intense exposure to everything. Yes, this makes us difficult to please, but the good news is that we have high standards, and for the most part, we are educated, cultured and open-minded.

I could go on but I want you to continue reading my blog in the future.

Regardless of your state of residence, level of happiness and more importantly without regard to whether or not your level of happiness correlates with your state’s ranking, vacation is invaluable. No matter how long, far or exotic, vacation is always refreshing and offers new (or renewed) perspective. Tonight, Liz (a native Texan and one of my very best friends in the world) pointed out that New York is one of the few places you can go entire day (and sometimes multiple days) without having a single conversation with anyone. Occasionally, this is awesome. Other times, incredibly depressing. New York is one of those places that you are almost always surrounded by people, and these crowds of people can range from twenty to two hundred (or sometimes even more). As human beings, we are innately social creatures: nurturing relationships, investing time and attention in others, and allowing others to invest in our minds, bodies and souls. This is one of the most pronounced ways we differ from animals. So to be in such close proximity to hundreds of people and to have little to no contact with any one person can certainly be depressing. Ironically, New York can be one of the loneliest places in the world.

And once again, an attempt to balance the negative with the positive: I AM LEAVING FOR TURKS & CAICOS IN FOUR HOURS! I am looking forward to relaxing on the beach, enjoying the sun, adopting a new perspective and ringing in the New Year. Restarting my most important computer: my mind and body.

I recently read that it is important to write like you are writing for another person because next year, you will be a different person…

See you next year.