New Job

Running

While on a run, I reflected on the different sayings we use to describe which direction our lives are going in. While running down a hill in Central Park, I thought about the meaning of the phrase, “Though the road is going downhill now, soon it will go uphill again.” We commonly say this to talk about overcoming struggles or bad days in life, and I think it makes a lot of sense; it is similar to saying that tomorrow the sun may shine brighter than today. Alternatively, as a runner, I see this concept completely differently. When running downhill, you never look ahead toward the hill that will come once you reach the bottom of this one with excitement; you instead see the uphill as a battle waiting up ahead. Therefore, when running, it sounds so much better to say, “With every uphill, eventually there will come a downhill.” As a runner, I see downhills as so much more pleasant. It’s interesting to think that phrases like these can have opposite meanings depending on in which context you are saying them and what activity they are referring to. 

Adulting In NYC

I just started my first full-time job in New York City, with my office located right across the street from the Chrysler Building with a beautiful view of the One Vanderbilt building! I know, you might be thinking, “How did you pull that off?” To which I would reply, “Ask my boss. He may have been drunk when he hired me…”

I do feel a bit terrified of finally being at the stage of life where I am expected to be an adult. The city can be a daunting place for an outsider. I am slowly working my way to financial independence and am learning all the ins and outs of personal financial responsibilities such as taxes. I have attempted to learn how to write things on your tax returns each year. That should be interesting next year when I need to explain to the government that I am writing off a 4ft by 4ft section of my apartment on my tax form, labeling it as my home office since I am occasionally working remotely.

Walking to work in the morning to get to the office by 9 a.m. and leaving at 5 p.m. is something that I am enjoying as it is such a novel experience for me, but of course, I have only kept this up for less than a dozen days now, so it may get old real soon. But I’ll enjoy the euphoric feeling of strutting past Grand Central Station in my slacks and blazer, holding an iced coffee while I’m still a young, wide-eyed girl in a new city of dreams.