Happy Post-Thanksgiving.  Move on.  You aren’t special.  Gezuz.

I wonder, where is your favorite place to live?

I get asked that a lot, especially when I’ve first moved to a new city (or moved relatively recently).

“So, how does ‘City Z’ compare to the other cities you’ve lived in?”

Each city has its own personalities.  And the fact is, I could live my entire life in one city and not experience everything there is to experience in any given city.  Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco?  These cities have too much to offer for me to succinctly summarize them in a year’s time.  Likewise, anyone who thinks their experience of a city is ‘full’ is a moron, no matter how much time they have spent there.

I experienced clubs (gay and straight), random house parties and numerous bands in the year I lived in Philadelphia, but that doesn’t mean I know the city.  Meanwhile, a person who lived in Philly all their life will go to their grave having missed out on innumerable experiences.  Life is too varied to ever believe you’ve ‘seen it all.’

After all I’ve seen, my favorite city is still the one I’ve never officially lived in: New York City.

I will die having never experienced everything that NYC has to offer.  Even once I’ve lived there for 10 years, I will not know all the positive aspects of the city, nor will I know all the negatives.  So much of what a person experiences (in a  city, relationship, job, etc.) is based on expectations.  I have lived so much of my uninformed life believing in the unseen promise of the great NYC.  But the kicker is that, no matter what happens to me in life, I will likely always think of New York as the Promised Land.

Good.

Maybe my belief is based in naiveté, but who cares?  I’ve had some great times in that city, and I’ve seen some unprepared bumpkins be completely overwhelmed by it (there is a reason I prefer to travel to New York by my lonesome).  It makes me happy to know that, despite all the poison reality will try to inject, New York City will forever remain the home I was meant to find.

So where is your Canaan?  Where do you wish to be?  Not just physically, but in general?  Name the place/career/relationship/home you wish was yours.  Some will dismiss this kind of hope as silly optimism, but living for the Promised Land is a powerful motivator.

If it weren’t for NYC, 10 cities in 10 years would be a pathetic, suicidal dream.  My endgame makes every part of my stupid goal worth it.

So, what is that goal in your life?  What is the one thing in front of you that makes taking a risk worth it for you?

And what if you don’t have a reason to take a risk in your life?  What’s the point?

Life without risk is a rotten fruit.  Do you have a reason to live?

Pursue it.