asie:
ex2:meltingnoise: kissdonttell: tweexcore:
“New Yorkers think an interesting life is more important than a happy life. What you really pay for with the exorbitant cost of living and the hard lifestyle is to be surrounded by strong performers, huge ambitions, and constant need for change and innovation. To live in New York City, you have to trade happiness for this. To most New Yorkers, it’s a no-brainer. They would take that trade any day. To most people outside of New York City the trade-off is crazy.”
I deride the loaded word choice of “happiness” in this paragraph, but I won’t pretend I haven’t been pondering some variation on the theme lately. Having been in NYC for about a year and a half, I definitely feel like I’m sacrificing some calm and comfort. It’s like the top of a mountain - the air is thinner, there isn’t as much leg room, and the fall looks more threatening.
But to say I’ve sacrificed “happiness” is to ignore how age and the increase in responsibility to myself and others it involves plays a part in my perception of happiness, and to forget really just how “happy” I was before moving. Does anyone honestly believe they’ve sacrificed their “happiness” when they move here? Do locals think they were born without it? What about commuters from New Jersey?
That country-mouse calm I miss felt a little more like stasis when it surrounded me, and some people wouldn’t feel happy if they didn’t climb that mountain. Also, visiting old friends lately - friends I miss far more often than the towns themselves - it’s clear the economy is pulling the ground out from under everyone. I understand why anyone would reconsider their decision to live here these days, but people owe it to themselves to dig a little deeper than this.
