Next month will mark exactly three years since I moved to New York. In many ways I'm surprised I'm still here. Almost two years ago I briefly said "enough is enough" and skulked back home to Atlanta after a topsy-turvy first year in the Big Apple.
Although I'd had a few exciting highs—working alongside journalists I had long admired, my first bylines in a major publication— I'd had quite a few pretty-low lows—permanent intern status, perpetually just scraping by financially. It felt like I spent half my life barely missing subway trains, ducking out of tourists' pictures, or screaming into my cell phone as the world's loudest ambulance/fire truck/police car zoomed by.
Part of the problem was that when I first came here I was secretly expecting to encounter the glamorous Sex and the City Manhattan I'd seen on TV, forgetting that it's not a sitcom or reality show. And my reality, personally and professionally, was very different than what I saw on TV. So I left my mouse-infested, sixth-floor walk-up and went home. I did, however, leave my furniture in short-term storage, an admission that maybe I was too stubborn to say I was leaving the city for good.
HIGH STAKES. It took at least a month in serene, leafy suburbia for me to have enough perspective to see New York in a different light. It was a place that was either kicking your butt or you were kicking its butt. There was no in between. And I had been getting my butt kicked.
I also realized that New York could be an ideal working environment if you were highly competitive and if you strategically approached it as you would a worthy opponent. For journalists, and those in so many other industries, New York is the center of it all. Everything's just so much bigger here. The stakes are higher, the risks are greater. Successes and failures are both huge—and so are the challenges. And how you manage those is what determines success or failure.
For instance, I realized that I was a person who simply couldn't stand coming home to a cramped, run-down apartment—even if it was in hip Greenwich Village. I needed a comfortable, quiet living situation. I decided to freelance more and save enough money so I could afford a calmer living space in a more out-of-the-way area. I now reside in the decidedly unhip, neighborhoody Upper-Upper West Side just south of Columbia University—and I couldn't be happier.
CITY OF SECOND CHANCES. This was just one of the changes I made when I returned to New York. Instead of fighting the frantic pace of the city, I began figuring out how to navigate it better. Some people may thrive on the constant energy of the city, but I often find it draining. I still have some of those frantic, hamster-wheel days but I'm also likely to come in the office on a quiet Saturday and get more done in two hours than I might during a full weekday. And I finally feel like I'm making some real professional progress; the opportunity to write this column is one example of that.
And I have to say this about New York: With the endless new contacts to make and opportunities to explore, it is truly a city of second chances. I think that's partially what keeps people like me coming back despite the many challenges this city poses, especially to those of us just starting out.
My college roommate, Jessica, who recently moved from New York to attend graduate school at the University of Sourthern California, perhaps summed it up best. Even though she admitted that New York can be "frustrating, degrading, and a learning experience about the working world," she didn't hesitate in saying that she'd come back in a second. For Jessica and many others I spoke with, the constant sense of possibility makes New York worthwhile.
TOUGH TRAINING. They have a point. The contacts you make, the companies headquartered here (12 of the 55 organizations in the Best Places to Launch a Career rankings are New York City-based ), and the education you receive because of just how tough it is can be invaluable. I've already witnessed many friends parlay their early opportunities into acceptances into prestigious graduate programs (like Jessica), or leave the city to leapfrog into cushy positions often reserved for those with a masters in business administration.
I, on the other hand, will probably be here for a while. While I can definitely say that I still get knocked down a fair share of the time, this city has taught me how to pick myself up, brush myself off, and get back into the ring much more quickly. And you can't put a price on that. After all, a key ingredient in launching any successful career—anywhere—is resilience.
Gerdes is a staff editor for BusinessWeek in New York
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