New York - Land of Drowning Unhappiness? •

On my recent trip back to New York, I was shocked by my run-in with reality. I needed to do an errand at Whole Foods in the middle of the afternoon. I entered, but it was so crowded that I decided to return at a less busy time. I found myself on the sidewalk looking downtown, then uptown, and feeling completely lost. I caught this thought in my mind:

“I have no errands to run, there is nothing I need to buy, it’s a beautiful day, what should I do?”

I suddenly realized that my life in New York, outside my apartment, seemed to be a never-ending batch of things I had to get done, buying things I didn’t really need, and doing stuff. It was a constant stream of spending money, and, really, the only meaningful part of that money spent was time with my friends and family. Is New York just so focused on money and shopping that if you aren’t focused on either there’s nothing to do but go to Central Park? I ended up going home and watching TV – selecting from more channels than any human being really needs, so I didn’t have to focus on how there didn’t seem to be anything else to do.

I don’t feel this way in other countries – in fact I feel inspired to walk aimlessly, discover, talk to strangers….and I don’t even watch any TV when traveling. I can go entire days spending money only on food. When I told a friend my feelings, we talked about how many people in New York are unhappy and the perfect way to drown out and ignore your feelings is therapy shopping, catching sales, and spending money. The problem, for me, is that I’m realizing I don’t feel like drowning my unhappiness. Instead, I’d rather do what makes me happy.

2 Comments

Donna V. on May 8, 2018 at 09:33

Why not get into the “tourist” mind set in NYC. There are countless things to do here besides shopping and errands. And with 8 million+ people, lots of strangers to start conversations with, as you would on a foreign holiday. So I don’t think the problem is really NYC. Just a thought….