We are the culmination of our experiences. Our experiences are the result of our choices. Our choices are the product of our temperament. Our temperament is a gift of birth.
10 Cities / 10 Years has been my purpose (in so many ways) for the majority of my adult life, and to that end I have focused all of my energy and drive. I've sacrificed so much on that altar...
I am where I am because of the choices I made nearly a decade ago. Which is to say, after a long and winding road, I am finally in the city I wanted to live in when I was 17-years-old.
With exactly one month until my New York City year begins, 9 years of traveling, moving, working, writing and living are coming to their payoff.
The most frequent questions I used to get were about how I picked my cities or how I found an apartment or job, or if it were lonely doing what I do. Now, though, with only one city left, the question I get most is, "What's next?"
All things being equal, change is always the better choice. We all have a finite amount of time to store up life experiences before we enter the void, so why not try to make them as diverse as possible?
This is a pretty common bit of wisdom that gets handed down from the old and wizened to the young and wide-eyed. It's excellent advice, too, if only because inertia is a powerful force, and the longer you put off your crazy, impractical dreams, the harder it will be to ever accomplish them. It's also a trap.
10 Cities / 10 Years is a travelogue, but it's not about physical travel or getting my picture taken in front of landmarks. There are thousands of people writing those kinds of books and blogs, and 99% of them do it better than I could ever hope to. I don't necessarily mean the market's saturated, but I would say that my input in such a genre would be insignificant at best.
