Move to New York City was the highlight of the past year for me. It had been exhilarating not only for the fact that I moved to the Big Apple but also that it was my first job ever. Like ever means I have never been to any industry/internships ever. I anticipated this big change to affect me in a multitude of ways … and it did!

Talking about changes, I have been seeing them quite frequently in the past few years. The biggest was a few years back when I moved from India to Minnesota! Basically, it was as if you have lived 21 years of your life in Florida weather continuously and suddenly you look forward to -25 degrees Celsius of Minnesota winters with of-course an added cultural shock! However since I was studying and there was a less free time in graduate studies, It was still not too terrible. Also if anyone is thinking about moving to Minnesota for studies, don’t worry that much since the major cities are really well equipped for the winters. Just dress warm and things will be okay! (Also, some of my friends in Minneapolis used to say that winters are good for studies since you can’t really expect a lot of outdoor stuff. This makes you sit at home more often and thus will lead to more studying time! Tada!)

Okay, back to the Nyc move. Nyc is a beast. It is big, sprawling, cultural, diverse, old, stinky, beautiful, rich and poor at the same time! And it is very different than the places I have been before. It is certainly more diverse. As a change in life, since I have had enough now (I like to think that even though I am just 24) I think every person goes through a cycle of emotions when dealing with a change.

The stages as per me are

  1. Denial / Skepticism / Resistance
  2. Understanding
  3. Acceptance

Right now, after spending approximately 6 months in Nyc, I can confirm that I was in the 1st stage and I am slowly moving towards the second stage now. There is no set-speed for how one moves through these stages as it is very much dependent on person to person. But certainly, there is no need to fasten this process as it is a complete metamorphosis of our mental and physical being and should take its own course of time.

– To be continued –