Happiness on Layaway

Anyone who moves to New York City with the hope of finding happiness is a fool.  I should know, I was one.

Unlike any other city in the world, New York offers the promise of unlimited success, constant excitement, thrilling romances and any other dream that lies unfulfilled in your heart.  Nothing is impossible or unattainable in the City of Bright Lights and Big Dreams.  With this notion pumping through my veins and carrying a restless anticpation to my heart, I packed my bags in Tampa, loaded my Chihuahua into my Nissan Sentra and headed North.  It was a bold and fateful decision.

A few months after my arrival, my predominant belief was that my life began to flourish when I came to New York.  I had opportunities to act on stage and, at the very least, audition for well known casting directors that I did not have in Tampa.  I met a wonderful man within months of my arrival in the city, whereas I lived for years in Tampa without so much as a casual relationship.  My social life had improved tenfold and there was never a dull moment to be spent in the city.

So why do I believe that anyone who moves to New York in search of happiness is a fool?  Because I realized that I had the same opportunity for happiness in Tampa, England, Paris, Venice and every other city that I had the chance to rest my head.  Happiness was not dependent upon location, it was dependent upon choice.  I placed my happiness on a  lay-a-way plan.  I decided that I could not be happy, could not write, could not act, could not date effectively anywhere in the world except New York.  How wrong I was.

The choice to move to New York was a good one.  Undoubtedly, there are avenues available for me to travel down here moreso than anywhere else in the world.  But if I had a chance to relive the past few years of my life, I would live it fully in the moment, now, here, today, where ever that place might be, instead of placing my happiness on hold.  Because for many, the future is a destination that never arrives.

Make a conscious choice to be happy today.  Tomorrow is promised to no one.