@@kellywade8275 my ex brought them into the relationship. I loved them for years and considered them my pets, but it was right for them to stay with him. My ex also had to give up our dog so she could stay with me. I don't know what to tell you, people have to split up pets all the time in breakups 🤷♀
I was born in Brooklyn and raised in the city. I left 2 yrs ago after 55yrs there. The city is no longer the same. Us New Yorkers know that. I also dream of the days when I lived a few blocks from Central Park. Just a dream. Thank you for sharing. All the best.
For those who leave New York City, whether it is to move on for better or for other reasons, is like the end of a relationship. It is a break up. The city that held so much promise, now can be seen for what it really is, for myself a very lonely isolated city. I moved off the Island in 2005 and still revisit my apartment in Astoria in my dreams regularly. Much of these dreams I try to convince my now husband and child that we could live in this place again. The life I have now was is what I wanted then. But, the reality is-if it weren’t for moving off, they would have never come into my life.
all comeemtns have same feeling. You were all looking for a dream maybe you saw it on m movies or in books so on...For that dream you need a lot of money and the money which comes from your rich parents..
The city is gritty and better now that theres more crime and decadence as in the 70's. The perfect suburban housewife from Minnesota that came here and wanted it to stay sterile and corporate is moving away, and for us tough street guys we say good riddance
Lifelong new yorker here - i love this video so much... I've made friends with so many who have come and gone from the city. It seems like a pit stop for so many, but its always been the people who have made this city great including all the ones who only stay for a little while.
Thank you for phrasing it like this. I moved to New York when I was 18 and escaping an abusive childhood. It's been 20 years now. The city and the people I have met here, whether they have stayed or gone, saved me. And thanks to Kate for a beautiful video about moving on when a much dreamed for situation is no longer what you need. It doesn't mean the city is suddenly a terrible place, just that it's no longer right for you right now. It hurts to hear others disparage the city or what it has become. The constant in New York, much like in life, has always been change. Some changes are better, some changes are worse, but we persevere. And you're absolutely right that the people make the city great, whether they stay or pass through. Leaving doesn't have to mean that you've given up on the city or malign it's current state. What we don't like, we can hope to make better, in big or small ways, even from afar.
I cried in shared nostalgia for those days in NYC, and then I cried in solidarity with rebuilding somewhere else. You're not alone. Thank you for this video.
Agreed. This is an incredibly brave thing to do, to put your life out there like this. I share a similar sentiment to saying goodbye to London a year ago. Good luck in life fellow human! ♥
OMG, I feel this too, but we’re all bold and fearless when we’re young and our dreams are so big. The good thing is that even though you’re not that person anymore you’re a more mature, knowledgeable, person who has gained wisdom and experience. It’s like money in the bank.
New York is not where you rebuild, New York is where you live your dream, and then you leave to recover from every bit of life that has been sucked out of you from experiencing the greatest time of your life. That’s New York City. You’re grateful that you have been there, proud to wear that like a badge of honor, filled with all of the strength, sophistication, resilience and empathy that New York City fills you up with, and then happy to know that you have something left inside of you to get on with the rest of your life.😂
New York was just a dream to this young lady, shattered abruptly by adulthood. I worked twice in NYC, and always thought it was a dump where raising a family was never even a thought.
I have a very similar story. I went back to school in my 30’s and lived in Manhattan for 7 years. I left in 2019 for Atlanta. For the first 3 years I had recurring nightmares but then I started to settle in and find pockets of neighborhoods - Atlanta’s uniqueness. Now I have my dream job here and I’m never going back to live in NYC. Our story is very very similar. Now I’m 47. I have wonderful memories but my time there is complete. ❤❤❤.
Atlanta is no comparison to NYC. I'm from NY, lived in Atlanta for 25 years. I'll take NYC any day over Atlanta’s traffic, bad mass transit system, ignorant and unsophisticated people.
Such a heartfelt, beautiful video! I started undergrad at NYU in 2016 and was in New York at the height of the pandemic. I had said all my life that I wanted to move to New York and loved my life there. My mom is a native New Yorker and much of my family still lives there. But during and after Covid, something about the city died. The pace of the city changed and it still hasn’t recovered. I moved to LA in August of 2020 and moved back home to Chicago in late 2021. I’ve been back to New York several times since, but the fun and spontaneity of the city is gone. I’m glad I got to experience it at its peak right before Covid, but you’re not alone when you say you fell out of love with the city.
I was there the weekend before COVID hit, in March 2020. I thought then, I would move back to Brooklyn in a heartbeat-if I could afford it!! Then I visited last year and then again this past September and each time it seemed so dark to me. And I appreciate gritty and realness but the amount of mentally unwell people and junkies on the streets was shocking to me this time around. I hope it will recover. NYC needs to kick out Mayor Adams first!
I grew up in a small Californian suburban town, then moved to NYC when I was 20. I spent 5 years('89-'94)in that beautiful city. The experience has welded itself into my very soul. I'm an old 55 year old man, back in an even smaller rural town, but NYC will never leave me.
What a beautiful video and testimony! I also thought my life was over after leaving Manhattan and the fashion industry. I did so anyway, found a new identity, taught both middle and high school, lived abroad in both Belgium and France, decided to go to graduate school, got a PhD, and landed in Philadelphia. The universe is very funny in the fact that I now live a short train ride away from the city when I need to get a scratch of it, and then come 'home' to a more manageable version of the city in Philly. I too knew when it was time to leave, though I still love it (there is no place like it)! Thank you for this reflection.
Thank you so much for sharing, I think we have so many little common threads in our stories 💜 also I love Philly so much. Funny enough, it's also where I wanted to move next when I was still in NYC. Like you said, just a short Amtrak ride away to the city 😊so glad you've landed in the right place!
Thank you so, so much for making this video. Your words mirror thoughts in my head I've had a hard time expressing in my own life. For you, it was Toronto and NYC; for me, it was San Francisco and Los Angeles. It has taken me a long, long time to accept that L.A. was a beautiful, perfect city...once upon a time. It's not for me anymore, because I have changed so much (for the better). The early years of the pandemic also saw me lose an engagement and get very sick. I eventually moved back to the Bay Area, a place I had been in such a hurry to flee as a teenager, and I've spent the past few years actually getting to know this land. And while I still feel uneasy living here full-time...I can't deny the deep peace I've experienced. I miss who I was in L.A., and I terribly miss how it felt to live in that city - but that person and those experiences simply don't exist anymore. I was actually just back in L.A. to attend a wedding for the first time in over a year - and it was a bittersweet experience, because the moment I arrived, my heart just knew I wasn't home anymore. I was just visiting. This video really comforted me and helped me process my very similar journey. I hope you continue to evolve and find deeper levels of peace wherever you land in the future.
You are wise beyond your years. Life is a continual series of goodbyes, I am just learning this at 53. This felt graceful and dignified. I wish I could have let go like that. Best of luck wherever your road leads you.
New York always felt like a game to see how far they could push the bounds of how much you'll accept in living standards but still never breathe a negative word
I have a similiar-ish story, but I still live in NYC. I left Toronto in 2009 at age 18 and moved to NYC at 19. I have family here, so I knew the city well before arriving (I still needed US papers, though!), so I wasn't on my own as much as most newcomers. NYC is a soul-crushing place at times. It has been home to my best days and very worst. And many times it feels like there's been more lows than highs. I don't think what you experienced is unusual, and now, nearly 15 years into living here, I know that not everyone belongs here. And that's fine. Not every place is for everyone, but it's always worthwhile to explore the world and try to see how new places fit you. My home was never for me, but I've found the closest thing to it in Brooklyn. I've been fortunate to travel the US from coast to coast multiple times for work. I've stepped foot in nearly every state multiple times. At this point, I feel as equally American as I am Canadian. I've lived as an outsider and an insider. But I can say for certain that this country is dying, which is making it harder to live here, especially if you're from somewhere with a higher standard of living, like Canada. If you're from any other Western country, moving to the US is a step DOWN in quality of life. There is no American dream for us. We have that back home. But for others from less fortunate circumstances, it still exists.
Moved here in 2017, this brought a tear to my eye. Wonderfully edited and narrated. It's hard explaining the feel of this city to someone who hasn't lived here, but I feel like you've done a really great job of it. Get ready for this video to blow up on your channel very soon! All the best in Toronto.
You are not missing much. Lived there for over 54 years. It has been left a shell of its former self. I did not know what peace was until I finally left.
I’m an expat New Yorker. I do satisfy my cravings for the City on an annual visit, but also know that both the City and I have evolved and changed. I appreciate where I live now, zwith a new world of friends. I don’t mind, in fact I like, being known as from NYC. In my heart, I have realized that my home is where I am surrounded by those that I care most about. Thank you for your beautiful and selfless story. Your life has many joys in store for you.
Where do you live now? I don’t want to live in the NY metro, it’s not fit for young people and the city is not my pace. I like Brooklyn or Queens but I just can’t get over the awful NY apartments everywhere and cost of living. My brother moved out and it seems fun where he is, I don’t mind being known as the guy from NY either.
It’s the ebb and flow of life. I knew from a child I wanted to live in Manhattan. The skyscrapers, vibe, variety of food and like no other city. I lived there from the eighties until 2005. It was great but very different after 9/11. I don’t want to move to where I live now but it was a blessing. The city has changed and so have I. I don’t miss New York like I thought I would. My time there came and went and the city will always be changing with newbies moving in chasing their dreams. Thank you for your story and best of luck. I lived there when the city had an authentic grittiness to it before it became too sterile and overly kitschy.
Living in NYC was the greatest experience of my life. But the city can turn on you very quickly, especially when there is a transit breakdown or bad weather. Then it becomes a monster.
20 year old New Yorker here since i was born and this video couldn’t have articulated my thoughts about the city any better. the city will always be home but i hate how psychologically cold and mentally draining it is. it’s overwhelming especially at the age of 20 when you’re trying to find your own footing in this world. i’ll be very sad when i see eastern queens gentrified someday
From My Dinner With André(movie). He said, “I think that New York is the new model for the new concentration camp, where the camp has been built by the inmates themselves, and the inmates are the guards, and they have this pride in this thing that they’ve built-they’ve built their own prison-and so they exist in a state of schizophrenia where they are both guards and prisoners. And as a result they no longer have-having been lobotomized-the capacity to leave the prison they’ve made or even to see it as a prison.”
@KChauhan909 why do you say so? geniuenly interested. im from a small town in the middle of nowehere in Croatia (Europe) and have always dreamed of living in NYC
What a relatable and emotional piece. I got my first job in NYC when I was 23 back in 2015. I lived in Bushwick, and during that slice of life, I felt so alive. I underwent monumental changes, and today, I'm a far different person from who I was in my early 20s. Went through love, and saw it come to an end. Made friendships with good people who I value. Lived many new experiences. Traveled abroad with friends. Spend those lazy weekend mornings strolling through Maria Hernandez Park, with a bagel from Knickerbocker Bagel in hand. It saddens me to say that I too will be leaving the city. Even though much of its vibrance has returned, it's not the same from my pre-COVID life. I'm not sure that'll ever be the same. And even though I'm leaving, I know that it's not "goodbye", but rather, "see you later".
What a beautiful video essay Kate. In six minutes you summarised almost six years of your life. A snapshot if you will. Fantastic storytelling. I hope you are in a good place now and that your love in NYC will return stronger than ever.
I'm in my 4th year in med school, lived in the city (BK-BedStuy for 1 year and UpperEast for 3 years and counting) and I've experienced my lowest of lows here but I'll never forget the amount of strength I got from living here because it taught me to be independent, driven, and challenged. It definitely traumatized me but I grew.
The algorithm brought me here, I'm glad it did, this video feels like old youtube-honest and true. As a native NYer I always wonder what it would be like to look upon The City with new eyes and feel what it's like seeing her for the first time, it wasn't until I started traveling the US that I realized how different she truly is. As a native I have also seen so many friends come and go, The City has a way of bringing people in but it's so hard to stay, most left cause they missed family, wanted more space to start a family, or just couldn't keep up with how expensive it is, even my friends who grew up here, most have left. P.S. Happy you met Brooklyn and Queens, most rarely make it out of Manhattan. Cheers!
I grew up in New York my whole life. My lifelong friends all knew that I was always meant to leave NYC. It was never an ‘if’ but a ‘when.’ And when that time came they celebrated our lives together and the future that awaited me in the west coast. Even the west coast isn’t end game for me. I miss Mew York all the time if I think about it too hard for too long. Nostalgic for a life that will never exist again. But I know that I have taken everything and learn all I could learn from my city. So now when I go to see my friends and my family (that still remain, most of them also left New York), it feels like I can just devote my time to filling my heart with as much as I can to hold me over. But I do find the city exhausting now every time so only a few days at a time 😅
This. You said it so beautifully. Knowing when you have taken everything and learned all you could from the city. This was so lovely to read, thank you for sharing 💕
Thanks for sharing ....I too fell out of love after a hefty 40 year realtionship with the City that never sleeps ...it's not the same vibe anymore ...LA took a while but I eventually got used to it ...but in my dreams I am still roaming the streets like it was the 90's/200's ..All the best to you !
This video is so beautiful and thoughtful. I just appeared in my feed and something drew me in, telling me to watch it. When you move somewhere and a place feels like home but after a few years it doesn't anymore - and you return back home - it might take some time to grieve that loss. It's like a relationship you are mourning for ending, and you know you have to take the time to heal. But eventually you will appreciate all the memories - the good and the bad - and you will be proud for the adventures you embarked on in your youth. Life rarely turns out how we expect it, but there is something beautiful about that. I really felt this in your little film, I could totally relate. Thank you for sharing this with the world.
Wow thank you so much for this lovely comment. I think you captured it perfectly, this was really the time in my life when it became abundantly clear that life just does not go as you planned and you kind of just have to roll with it - but that can be really beautiful! It's scary at first but now it all just feels like a big, strange, exciting adventure 💗
I lived in NYC and worked midtown from 1994 to 2015. A lot of experiences and feelings. But the world is a big place and it’s important to keep moving.
Lived in NY for 55 years and worked in the city for 30 years. I had many wonderful years and experiences there, but eventually couldn’t get out fast enough. I learned, in retrospect, that there are lots of very intelligent people in NYC, but there is an extreme shortage of wisdom! 😢 PS: 🙏 and wish you well.
This life is hard. And the last 5 years has been something unprecedented that no one deserves. Keep charging forward. The best really is yet to come, believe it.
Unless you read, write, speak and understand French I’d move to Toronto or points west if I were you. Quebecers are “tres snobby” if you’re an English speaker.
@@timslater566 When I worked for the federal government I was sent up to work on the border at Lewiston, NY for a couple weeks. One of the Customs officers told me she had problems with some of the commercial drivers coming from Canada. She would ask them "what's your citizenship?" They won't respond because she is speaking in English. She motions and tells them to park over there. After a while they get the message they could be there all day. and they got a shipment to unload so they come back speaking English saying they're French Canadian. Meanwhile I had a French friend from Paris I stayed at her apartment a few times. She had never been to Quebec. And never considered them French. Their spoken French has not evolved but trapped in a time era They actually passed laws in Quebec that English cannot be used for certain things like commercials or be fined..
I remember the NY that she's describing, however, it's not the same after 2020. It has a fraction of the energy it had that made it so iconic. I've been here for 30+ years, and parts of this city give off run-down San Francisco California vibes, there are pockets of emptiness throughout the city that weren't there before. Intersections that were once busy with thriving businesses that were essential to the community (Walgreens, local banks, tailors, laundromats, restaurants, and gyms GONE! due to current policies). There was a standard that we NYers lived by because we lived by the rules, yes occasionally people would run red lights and not pay their fare on the subway or bus, but now it is much more commonplace to see it.
I’m a born and raised New Yorker and the city has been change since maybe the late 2000s and changed drastically after 2020. I’m sad for all the things that have changed and seems like it will never be the same again. What keeps me here is family, but I know that in the very near future I will leave. Will always love NY though!
Totally agree with you. NY is not the same after COVID19 The vibe, the people the atmosphere no longer feels like that vibrant NY I once knew, but you know what...many big cities in the world are like that now, this is not exclusive to NY.
@@bluerose2682I know what you mean. There is no longer any sense of “place” anywhere. There are no longer any places; Merely geo-coordinate “locations” full of people staring into phones.
For m the 1990s were the golden era. The City was still full of mom and pop businesses, edgy in just right ways and receiving some new love and energy. Sept of 2001 was a turning point and all the focus on safety changed the mood. I left in 2010 and accept that the version of the City I experienced and loved in the 1990s is gone. I grew up near Toronto and know it well. Hope you enjoy it.
Wow, i got my first job in the city in early 2018 too and have been here ever since... through pandemic and after! Now realizing I may at the end of my time here also, for real this time. It's totally bittersweet but I'm just ready for an easier, softer life! Philly bound. Good to luck to you!!!!
Ugh I feel this deep down. I've left NYC twice, once for a move to the west coast in 2013, and then again in spring 2021 after suffering through the same COVID drama that you detailed here. It's been hard both times. This last time felt like the end with my career being derailed, global pandemic, wanting a better life for myself, partner, and dog, etc. I'll always go back to NYC and have fond memories but I really don't think I'll ever live there again, and I've grown to be OK with that. It is VERY loud, especially if you live near the BQE in Brooklyn. All we could hear were sirens for the first 8 months of 2020. I hope the city never has to experience something like that pandemic again.
Oh man thank you for sharing, I felt this comment in my soul. My spot in South Williamsburg literally overlooked the BQE lol 😭 And at the start of the pandemic, we were living just a couple blocks from King's County Hospital, it was such a horrible time. I'm so glad you've settled in a new place that works for you and your fam!
I stayed in New York for a couple of weeks by myself last year doing all things tourists do. Although I LOVED every moment of it, I knew in my heart that the city can never be my home, ever.
Hey beautiful stranger on the internet, sending you greetings from Manhattan. I just completed a decade in the city and think about all the friends who left the city during this time, this kind of out into perspective time how we change and how the city changes us. Props to you for having the courage to up and leave when the time was right.
A decade - you've made it! I love how you put that, "how we change and how the city changes us" - this captures so much of my feelings about nyc. Thank you for sharing 💜
I was born in Korea, but I had the opportunity to live in NYC for a year last year when I was 15. It was probably the best and worst year of my life. It completely changed who I am as a child person, mostly for good because of all the stuff I had to overcome while living there. It was the first time I ever felt like I had found my community, a sense of purpose and a HOME. While I moved back to Korea three months ago, I miss the city dearly. The first 14 years of my life pale in comparison to what I experienced in a year in the city. I miss the energy of the city, I miss the friends that you are lucky to meet once in a lifetime that I made there, and I miss the person I became there. The fearless and kind and unique and unstoppable person I became the last few months of living in NYC. I’m so scared that I’m going to retract back into my shell here in Korea and undo all the progress I made in trying find out who I am as a person. But I also know that I will find my way back. Everywhere I go I still think of myself as a New Yorker. ❤
This resonated powerfully with me. I haven't teared up at a TH-cam video in a very long time. Two moments in my life that I'll never forget are the times when I saw clearly what the city was and my place in it. One on a rooftop in lower Manhattan and the other walking home from the subway. I knew the spell had been broken and it was time to go. Both of those times, it was the right decision. The chemistry still exists though. I've broken up with the city twice now and it still beckons me with it's siren call.
Thank you for sharing your story. I’m glad you enjoyed NYC for a while, at least. There are people who truly love it, but I’ve never seen NYC as a place to live. To occasionally visit with friends who know the place, but never to stay. We each have our own places to call home and I’m glad you have returned to yours. ❤
This was such a touching video. I have to say healing after deep hurt is difficult and I’m happy you have peace to begin anew. I didn’t realize how much connection meant to me earlier in my life. I was chasing my career aspirations but because I wanted security (financial) but felt isolated when I needed support (after a break up, etc.). Best wishes to you! 🌻
Omg spooky 😱we had parallel experiences but me with London. Moved to London from Ottawa in 2018. Loved it, I had an amazing time, great friends and met my boyfriend. Spent covid there and moved in with my boyfriend in 2020 during the peak of covid. We got engaged in 2021. I found a new job that seemed was gonna sponsor me but couldn't sponsor me 😭 My fiancee could not give me citizenship eaither so I had to leave. It was heartbreaking because I loved my life there. I was depressed for a year. Silver lining is that I got married to my boyfriend. We lived in Dublin now. Sometimes I still miss London and I kick myself for trusting my old job to get me a visa but your video reminded me everything happens for a reason and it was simply my time to leave.
the most gut wrenching part for me was you saying goodbye to your 2 cats. People will always bounce back but there is not guarantee like that for cats sadly.🐱😸
Something about NYC that draws a nostalgic response or love longing\love lost from multiple generations through waves of its history. The city has gone through these dark periods in the past that ultimately led to urban and social revivals and renaissance periods pulling in new dreamers and settlers from far and wide. The 2020s is a dark period for NYC right now and this down period is likely to last for another ten or 15 years. The city will rise again but it will be something altogether different from what we knew it as. For later generations it will be the dream place to be, to shape, to love, and then maybe to leave on their own terms in some future time. My time growing up in the city was the 1970s-1980s, and that was the last period of decline the city experienced. However, the city had a rich social, cultural, art and music scene that was a great time for a youth to grow up in. It was way more affordable and accessible for most people in a way that it hasn't been in recent years. Even though I left the city 30 years ago for the suburbs I still visited the city several times a year through the 1990s-2010s, and even worked in Manhattan for some time during those years. It was a new golden age for NYC and I'm glad to have seen that kind of rise in my lifetime. Now as a senior, I am very nostalgic for what NYC was during my youth, and even before my time (the 40s-60s, now that was a golden age!). I am now in a different part of the country, but I sometimes have dreams about the apartment I grew up in and schools I attended in Queens, the family and friends mostly gone now, and, in some cases, the (more) innocence of times past. Its sad to see NYC decline like it has. I know I could never move back there, but I have wonderful memories, and know that future generations will have their wonderful memories too.
This was lovely......as a long-time NYC-er I completely understand every part of your journey. I applaud you for having the courage to leave; take the leap of faith and take care of yourself. Well done ~
Your storytelling talent is EXQUISITE. What a beautiful montage this is and an authentically raw journey. My god I gasped when you said “end of my engagement”. I’m crying when you said when your dad got sick all you wanted to do was be near home. You really are an incredible human being. Thank you for sharing your story and I am looking forward to seeing where your life rebuild takes you. So much love to you my friend ❤❤❤❤❤
I’m so glad you made this, this is truly art. And it’s wonderful to know that I don’t feel so alone in this experience. I moved to San Diego from Malaysia back in 2017. As a little girl growing up far away I had dreamt of moving to the US and California for so long, and I did at the ripe age of 18. It did take sometime to adjust at first but I fell in love with it slowly then all at once. After finishing school, I ended up getting a job, the “love of my life” moved in, I had a great circle of friends, and I was in the place with the best weather a 7 min drive from the beach. This was supposed to be paradise. But things deteriorated- my relationship fell apart and to say I was broken is an understatement. Many of my friends moved across the country for career opportunities and the ones who remained I fell out with. I was left very alone in the city and realized how much I hated my job but didn’t have many options being international. I felt stuck. Alone. The days dragged on and felt endless and the same. I’d wake up cursing another sunny day. When I realized I couldn’t go on like this for another 40 years, it was the lightbulb moment that it was time to leave. I had fallen out of love with this life I had here in sd. And just like a relationship I had so much love for the memories, I was trying to fight this heavy feeling of dread but it was no use. I loved, but wasn’t in love w this place anymore. So march this year 2024 I finally plucked the courage to leave and return home. I was absolutely terrified and never thought I’d move back, and this wasn’t what I thought I wanted, but I knew this is what my soul needed. And it was the right move! Fast forward 6 months I’ve finally healed from a lot of things. I’ve reconnected with old friends and spent much more time w family. I feel like I’m becoming me again. But a better healed one. I still have so much love for SD and who knows I might find myself back there in the future but for now I’m finally at peace with letting go and recognizing it’s time to close a chapter and begin a new one. I have no idea where life will take me next but I’m excited :) thanks again for making this video and wishing you all the best with your future endeavors!! I know your next chapter will be a great one too!
This is a beautiful heartfelt personal video so well crafted/scripted,, photographed and edited. As for your romance with New York City, the Greatest City in the World, “ ‘Tis better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.” Thank you for sharing your story.
What a beautifully told story and video. I met my husband in NYC in 1997. We lived in Brooklyn Heights and worked on Wall Street. He introduced the city to me and got me to like it. Left in 2001. My husband passed away in2019 and i have never been back. There is no need to.
There are 8 million stories..... I'm glad yours was filled with the best the City has to offer. Everything else you could have experienced in any city. Breakups , job loss. housing dislocation , illness ,the whole sheebang . But to be young and in the City is an incomparable experience. Wishing you peace and happiness. You are an extra ordinary young lady.
Thank you so much for posting this video. As someone who was born in Flushing, NY, and who fell in love with NYC, despite living in Pennsylvania, by spending summers there growing up and regularly visiting there as an adult, I have always dreamed about living in NYC full time. Recently, I earned my Master's Degree in Theology and started seeing NYC as my calling and to be able to live my true life so to speak. Your video emphasized the challenges of remaining in love with NYC and to continue forward as to what I believe is my calling. Your one comment about needing the quiet and peacefulness to refocus your life - As someone who lives in a very small town in Pennsylvania with no opportunities or the potentialities that comes with NYC - I see NYC as a place for me to be reborn and be able to live my second half of life. I wish you well as you embark the next phase of your journey. Thank you again for sharing!
I love this so much, that's exactly how I felt about New York City when I moved there, that it was the exact right place for my next chapter, and it more than delivered. Wishing you all the best with everything that comes next for you! ❤
I am so very moved by this poignant (and beautifully filmed!) video. It is like an entire autobiography told in the span of six minutes. I had a very similar experience. Although I am a native New Yorker I grew up in one of the outer boroughs. I spent 40 years working Downtown and loved every minute of it. But when I lost my job during the pandemic I decided to retire and return "home," and Manhattan had simply lost its luster for me. I really relate to your story! Thanks for sharing.
Wow thank you for taking the time to comment and share your story, I'm touched that it resonated at all knowing the experiences can be different for transplants and natives. Wishing you all the best with your retirement and this next chapter of life! 💓
How beautiful. I too lived in New York for 4 years in my 30s, but left after having our baby. I will always miss New York, too, but we are so incredibly lucky to have lived there at all. Your dream did come true! You will never forget that time in your life. But good for you for moving forward.
Yes! I will always be grateful for my time there and I think anyone who is lucky enough to have spent even a brief stint in nyc is incredibly fortunate. So glad you have also now landed in the right place for you and your family 💕
Great video! Very relatable, it reminded me of my time living in London. I too eventually fell out of love with that city. It’s difficult moving on, leaving your life behind and starting a new - especially if you’re a single woman in her 40’s.
The thing is, London is very easy to fall out of because people are horrible there and it’s extremely toxic. London doesn’t accept you in the way NYC does. London wants you to become passive-aggressive. London wants you to be quiet. London never wants your feedback. New Yorkers are great. Direct, blunt, funny, friendly if you know how to take them … Londoners are only “friendlier” when they binge drink … every expat I talk to says the same “the city is nice, people/locals are horrible”.
This video found its way to my feed this evening after I was feeling very sad all evening. I'm currently in the process of saying good bye to Los Angeles (a city I do not love, but once had sincere hopes for) where I'd moved a month before the pandemic from Upstate, NY. I'd also lived in Brooklyn for years, and now I'm moving to my home town to be closer to my siblings and our parents who are at the beginning of the end of their lives due to chronic illness. I have peace about moving to my home town, and yet I struggle with a complexity of emotions, the anticipatory grief of not knowing how much time I have with my parents, and around how difficult the last several years have been since the onslaught of pandemic. So many of our lives did not at all turn out as we'd so sincerely hoped they would, people lost loved ones, the world went awry, and beyond all of it, I still just have my own experience of it. I can relate to the melancholy sense of disappointment and the quiet grief of something ending in ways you'd never expected. I also haven't lived in my home town as an adult since my early twenties, and now I'm 41, single, no kids, wondering where all the time went, though I am also realizing it can be an entirely different experience if I allow myself to be open to it. Thank you for the posting your video. It unexpectedly means a lot.
Great story. I lived in NYC twice. My best memories are in Prospect Park and living right next to the park in Park Slope. I loved the dive bars and neighborhood bars and eateries and just the life of the city. I'd never go back.
Thank you for making this. I've been feeling so many similar feelings about New York lately and found your journey both comforting and inspiring. Best of luck in Toronto. ❤
I .... Rarely comment but this was, so beautiful and sublime. I also have dreams of new york yet unfulfilled. I hope wherever your path or rebuilding takes you, it is interesting and full of wonder and joy. Thank you for telling your story.
You’ve just gained another subscriber, dear. I am in a season of transition myself, having lost my job and trying to figure out the next step. I, too, am falling out of love with the place I chose to call home. Despite my desperate attempts to cling to it, I am slowly accepting that my slow dance with this city, a very large town, may be ending. It is no New York, and I, too, have loved it for that. But, perhaps soon, I’ll be trying something new myself. I wish you all of the best as you continue to heal and rebuild. Peace from Missouri. May God bless you tremendously. 😊
I was raised in NYC and have always been in love with my City but the last couple years I've grown tired of it. It's changed so much, I no longer recognize it. It's lost it's shine, it's lost it's electric energy. The City feels like a burden on me, where before it felt like part of my identity. When I eventually leave it, I'll grieve for a long while because I still love it and my heart breaks for it's demise 😔 🗽 🏙️ 💔 And thank you for sharing your journey 🌹
NY is brutal. The unwavering, unforgiving, sometimes frightening city. I still remember when I was in Central Park and I thought, they want 8k a month for my one bed apt. It was over then lol
The railroad flat I grew up in on the UWS , (the one with the Marshal’s notice on the door) is now $3500 a month …must say they did rehab the building.
You left New York but New York will never leave you, it never does for anyone. I love your thumbnail. Good luck in Canada and good job listening to your gut.
I've been living in the city for 13 years. NYC has giving me all that has to offer. Im grateful, but looking forward to a new chapter in my life. Thanks for sharing your story.
This is such a beautiful video that brought tears to my eyes. I recently moved out of nyc after 8 years there for similar reasons to you. Now I’m living on the west coast and two months in, I’m starting to really miss parts of it while I’m being so glad I don’t live there anymore. I really now understand why people go back after moving away from nyc
Thank you for that. Ex-New Yorker here… and I will never be the same, because living in NYC was the best and worst five years of my life. I miss it all the time, but it’s not my NYC anymore. I belong somewhere else now and so that’s where I’m going, but I’ll never forget Manhattan and my UWS apartment and how a dream came true.
Never been to New York but grew up outside of Chicago. As a guy whom is almost 39 and never married and has moved a lot as well, this video spoke to me. Fantastic work and has made my day for sure.
Understand and can relate. One thing for sure -- There is no place like NY and as they say, its not only a place, its a feeling... Spent 3 weeks in NY this Aug and given all the downsides (safety, crazy cost of living, etc) its still one of the best places to live...
Finally a positive comment about NYC. All the comments in this video are so hateful towards NYC. Am I the last New Yorker that still loves NY no matter what? She’s my soulmate.
Beautiful and very moving. It really touches on how I feel about New York which was really the love of my life--especially Brooklyn. I had to move out because I could no longer handle the constant struggle and being poor while working all the time. I lived there from 1991 till 2007. For years I had longed to move back and then the last 2 times I visited it just felt like the love was gone. It had changed and I had too.
This made me sad! I’m a Canadian who had his era in New York. I’m also going through a breakup and this brought all the feelings to the surface. Glad you saw the light on the other side. -All my best
Never saw a video of yours until today, I’m literally crying, I felt so much of this, I’m glad you’re finding peace and just hope you know Jesus loves you too! This really was a beautiful visual diary ❤️
Brilliant and riveting. Superb storytelling: content, writing, expression, visuals, music, and editing. Of course, there is NYC in the title, but this video is launching your channel because it’s compelling. Well done, Kate!
The challenge that comes in life often beacons us to move on to a new place so that we can understand the past life. For me, Chicago to Atlanta, a place I thought I would never live. But my memories make me smile about that past adventure.
“New York State of Mind” by Billy Joel is what comes to mind when I saw this video. NYC never leaves you, although you leave her. Such good memories. All seasons come to pass, but those memories are nice to revisit every once in a while. Thank you so much for sharing this memoir. Cheers to your new chapter!
Love from San Francisco! Your video hit like a freight train. Similar experiences. Just the West Coast version. I have to get out of here and find my way home too. It is the spark I needed. Thanks for posting.
wow that really means so much to me, i'm so glad it resonated and thank you for sharing your story 💗 wishing you all the best in this next chapter of life!
This video has profoundly touched me on many levels. It feels as if I could've made it. Gorgeous and heartbreaking experience I also had. Wow.....thank you for sharing. This is absolutely stunning and very similar to my experience. I am from NYC but moved away when I was young. Moved back in 2019. It was magical in every way. I basically had the same experiences mentioned. After covid it all changed. I can't describe how I feel. I too moved away to another city in the Midwest.
Even though I never lived the exact same situation especially in NYC, I felt the urge to cry ...at the bottom of our hearts we know what can and can't really work for us... .I always loved NYC . Best of luck especially health wise; the most important one.
Wow Kate, I'm just seeing this video now, sorry for putting this one off. You damn near gave me tears. I really felt your pain and loneliness. I understand on a deeper level now your journey. Thanks for sharing, and also an amazingly edited video. I bet yours is one of many living in the Big Apple, but your testimony is important. You're a great story teller. I'm glad you're on TH-cam. Much love from Paraguay, and take care up there in Canada!
Why did you have to give up your cats? I hope they went to a good home. But it looks like you still have your doggie?
They stayed with my ex! In very good hands :)
@@kateismostlygoodwmoney Ok but why did you have to give up your cats? 🤷🏾♀😿😿🗑
@@kellywade8275 my ex brought them into the relationship. I loved them for years and considered them my pets, but it was right for them to stay with him. My ex also had to give up our dog so she could stay with me. I don't know what to tell you, people have to split up pets all the time in breakups 🤷♀
I was wondering the same thing.
Keep your dog, its the only unconditional love your ever habe, speaking from experience , wishing you the best from Barcelona
I was born in Brooklyn and raised in the city. I left 2 yrs ago after 55yrs there. The city is no longer the same. Us New Yorkers know that. I also dream of the days when I lived a few blocks from Central Park. Just a dream. Thank you for sharing. All the best.
No place stays the same forever
No place has changed so rapidly. Gutted by global corporatization
NYC was such a dream to live in, and is now a nightmare for so many classes of people.
Born in Brooklyn and still live here but I agree it doesn't have the same kind of energy. I'd love to move somewhere else but where?
@@gianniclaud Not for white people with money. ☝🏾🙆🏾♀
For those who leave New York City, whether it is to move on for better or for other reasons, is like the end of a relationship. It is a break up. The city that held so much promise, now can be seen for what it really is, for myself a very lonely isolated city. I moved off the Island in 2005 and still revisit my apartment in Astoria in my dreams regularly. Much of these dreams I try to convince my now husband and child that we could live in this place again. The life I have now was is what I wanted then. But, the reality is-if it weren’t for moving off, they would have never come into my life.
Wow this is beautiful, thank you for sharing 🥹
all comeemtns have same feeling. You were all looking for a dream maybe you saw it on m movies or in books so on...For that dream you need a lot of money and the money which comes from your rich parents..
Also have dreams
The city is gritty and better now that theres more crime and decadence as in the 70's. The perfect suburban housewife from Minnesota that came here and wanted it to stay sterile and corporate is moving away, and for us tough street guys we say good riddance
@@edmundmcgrath213 seasons
Lifelong new yorker here - i love this video so much... I've made friends with so many who have come and gone from the city. It seems like a pit stop for so many, but its always been the people who have made this city great including all the ones who only stay for a little while.
I love this so much. New Yorkers are one of a kind and are what made my time there so incredible. Thank you all for the hospitality 😉
Thank you for phrasing it like this. I moved to New York when I was 18 and escaping an abusive childhood. It's been 20 years now. The city and the people I have met here, whether they have stayed or gone, saved me. And thanks to Kate for a beautiful video about moving on when a much dreamed for situation is no longer what you need. It doesn't mean the city is suddenly a terrible place, just that it's no longer right for you right now. It hurts to hear others disparage the city or what it has become. The constant in New York, much like in life, has always been change. Some changes are better, some changes are worse, but we persevere. And you're absolutely right that the people make the city great, whether they stay or pass through. Leaving doesn't have to mean that you've given up on the city or malign it's current state. What we don't like, we can hope to make better, in big or small ways, even from afar.
Beautiful sentiment
I cried in shared nostalgia for those days in NYC, and then I cried in solidarity with rebuilding somewhere else. You're not alone. Thank you for this video.
Agreed. This is an incredibly brave thing to do, to put your life out there like this. I share a similar sentiment to saying goodbye to London a year ago. Good luck in life fellow human! ♥
😥I miss the City... but mostly I miss the person I was back then... naive, bold & unafraid. Thank you for sharing your story, friend.
Oof I feel this comment so much - naive, bold & unafraid 🥹
ahh how well put. you mşss yourself ...not the city. city is still there you could go time to time if you are still inUSA .
OMG, I feel this too, but we’re all bold and fearless when we’re young and our dreams are so big. The good thing is that even though you’re not that person anymore you’re a more mature, knowledgeable, person who has gained wisdom and experience. It’s like money in the bank.
💥
NY peaking in mid-2010s. So much optimism that is NYC. I just got back from a 2 week trip and it is a crime laden hellhole. Looks like 1989 NY
New York is not where you rebuild, New York is where you live your dream, and then you leave to recover from every bit of life that has been sucked out of you from experiencing the greatest time of your life. That’s New York City. You’re grateful that you have been there, proud to wear that like a badge of honor, filled with all of the strength, sophistication, resilience and empathy that New York City fills you up with, and then happy to know that you have something left inside of you to get on with the rest of your life.😂
No. NYC is home.
Literally this.
@@rebeccaphelps3351 ❤️🙏
@@barbarjinx3802 Exactly❤
VERY well said!
New York was just a dream to this young lady, shattered abruptly by adulthood. I worked twice in NYC, and always thought it was a dump where raising a family was never even a thought.
100%
I have a very similar story. I went back to school in my 30’s and lived in Manhattan for 7 years. I left in 2019 for Atlanta. For the first 3 years I had recurring nightmares but then I started to settle in and find pockets of neighborhoods - Atlanta’s uniqueness. Now I have my dream job here and I’m never going back to live in NYC. Our story is very very similar. Now I’m 47. I have wonderful memories but my time there is complete. ❤❤❤.
Atlanta is no comparison to NYC. I'm from NY, lived in Atlanta for 25 years. I'll take NYC any day over Atlanta’s traffic, bad mass transit system, ignorant and unsophisticated people.
@@tiago3272bboth cities suck…NYC is done.
Such a heartfelt, beautiful video! I started undergrad at NYU in 2016 and was in New York at the height of the pandemic. I had said all my life that I wanted to move to New York and loved my life there. My mom is a native New Yorker and much of my family still lives there. But during and after Covid, something about the city died. The pace of the city changed and it still hasn’t recovered. I moved to LA in August of 2020 and moved back home to Chicago in late 2021. I’ve been back to New York several times since, but the fun and spontaneity of the city is gone. I’m glad I got to experience it at its peak right before Covid, but you’re not alone when you say you fell out of love with the city.
I wish I could've seen NYC in the 70s or 80s I have no desire to see it now
I was there the weekend before COVID hit, in March 2020. I thought then, I would move back to Brooklyn in a heartbeat-if I could afford it!! Then I visited last year and then again this past September and each time it seemed so dark to me. And I appreciate gritty and realness but the amount of mentally unwell people and junkies on the streets was shocking to me this time around. I hope it will recover. NYC needs to kick out Mayor Adams first!
@@wanderingweh405 The 90's were fantastic, I have to say.
I grew up in a small Californian suburban town, then moved to NYC when I was 20. I spent 5 years('89-'94)in that beautiful city. The experience has welded itself into my very soul. I'm an old 55 year old man, back in an even smaller rural town, but NYC will never leave me.
This is lovely, thank you for sharing. I feel like it will always stay with me too 💜
What a beautiful video and testimony! I also thought my life was over after leaving Manhattan and the fashion industry. I did so anyway, found a new identity, taught both middle and high school, lived abroad in both Belgium and France, decided to go to graduate school, got a PhD, and landed in Philadelphia. The universe is very funny in the fact that I now live a short train ride away from the city when I need to get a scratch of it, and then come 'home' to a more manageable version of the city in Philly. I too knew when it was time to leave, though I still love it (there is no place like it)! Thank you for this reflection.
Thank you so much for sharing, I think we have so many little common threads in our stories 💜 also I love Philly so much. Funny enough, it's also where I wanted to move next when I was still in NYC. Like you said, just a short Amtrak ride away to the city 😊so glad you've landed in the right place!
@@kateismostlygoodwmoney Thank you for responding; I feel honored!!!
Such a nice journey, so glad for you!
Oh that is ideal! To be able to visit easily but not be in it all the time. Greetings from a Belgian in the USA!
Thank you so, so much for making this video. Your words mirror thoughts in my head I've had a hard time expressing in my own life. For you, it was Toronto and NYC; for me, it was San Francisco and Los Angeles. It has taken me a long, long time to accept that L.A. was a beautiful, perfect city...once upon a time. It's not for me anymore, because I have changed so much (for the better). The early years of the pandemic also saw me lose an engagement and get very sick. I eventually moved back to the Bay Area, a place I had been in such a hurry to flee as a teenager, and I've spent the past few years actually getting to know this land. And while I still feel uneasy living here full-time...I can't deny the deep peace I've experienced. I miss who I was in L.A., and I terribly miss how it felt to live in that city - but that person and those experiences simply don't exist anymore. I was actually just back in L.A. to attend a wedding for the first time in over a year - and it was a bittersweet experience, because the moment I arrived, my heart just knew I wasn't home anymore. I was just visiting.
This video really comforted me and helped me process my very similar journey. I hope you continue to evolve and find deeper levels of peace wherever you land in the future.
You are wise beyond your years. Life is a continual series of goodbyes, I am just learning this at 53. This felt graceful and dignified. I wish I could have let go like that. Best of luck wherever your road leads you.
❤
Life is a continual series of goodbyes. Wow. That might be the saddest line in the English language.
@@kathyhenry2362 gotta build up patience and not give up.
New York always felt like a game to see how far they could push the bounds of how much you'll accept in living standards but still never breathe a negative word
I have a similiar-ish story, but I still live in NYC. I left Toronto in 2009 at age 18 and moved to NYC at 19. I have family here, so I knew the city well before arriving (I still needed US papers, though!), so I wasn't on my own as much as most newcomers.
NYC is a soul-crushing place at times. It has been home to my best days and very worst. And many times it feels like there's been more lows than highs. I don't think what you experienced is unusual, and now, nearly 15 years into living here, I know that not everyone belongs here. And that's fine. Not every place is for everyone, but it's always worthwhile to explore the world and try to see how new places fit you. My home was never for me, but I've found the closest thing to it in Brooklyn.
I've been fortunate to travel the US from coast to coast multiple times for work. I've stepped foot in nearly every state multiple times. At this point, I feel as equally American as I am Canadian. I've lived as an outsider and an insider. But I can say for certain that this country is dying, which is making it harder to live here, especially if you're from somewhere with a higher standard of living, like Canada. If you're from any other Western country, moving to the US is a step DOWN in quality of life. There is no American dream for us. We have that back home. But for others from less fortunate circumstances, it still exists.
This made me so grateful to have experienced NYC before 2020. Sad what it’s become
I agree with it
Moved here in 2017, this brought a tear to my eye. Wonderfully edited and narrated. It's hard explaining the feel of this city to someone who hasn't lived here, but I feel like you've done a really great job of it. Get ready for this video to blow up on your channel very soon! All the best in Toronto.
Thank you so much! NYC is truly indescribable but I'm so glad this conveyed even a small taste of it 💜
I am in tears. What an extraordinarily raw, beautiful piece of art.
You are not missing much. Lived there for over 54 years. It has been left a shell of its former self. I did not know what peace was until I finally left.
I wish I could have gone to NYC in the 80s to be honest, better culture, American movies and music weren't dead.
I'd love to know your thoughts on what caused the city to change so much.
Native New Yorker here. I never experienced that "first time in New York" feeling, but through your lens and narrative at least I got a sense of it!
This means so much to me, thank you!
I’m an expat New Yorker. I do satisfy my cravings for the City on an annual visit, but also know that both the City and I have evolved and changed.
I appreciate where I live now, zwith a new world of friends. I don’t mind, in fact I like, being known as from NYC. In my heart, I have realized that my home is where I am surrounded by those that I care most about. Thank you for your beautiful and selfless story. Your life has many joys in store for you.
Where do you live now? I don’t want to live in the NY metro, it’s not fit for young people and the city is not my pace. I like Brooklyn or Queens but I just can’t get over the awful NY apartments everywhere and cost of living. My brother moved out and it seems fun where he is, I don’t mind being known as the guy from NY either.
It’s the ebb and flow of life. I knew from a child I wanted to live in Manhattan. The skyscrapers, vibe, variety of food and like no other city. I lived there from the eighties until 2005. It was great but very different after 9/11. I don’t want to move to where I live now but it was a blessing. The city has changed and so have I. I don’t miss New York like I thought I would. My time there came and went and the city will always be changing with newbies moving in chasing their dreams. Thank you for your story and best of luck. I lived there when the city had an authentic grittiness to it before it became too sterile and overly kitschy.
This is absolutely beautiful. I left NYC after 23 years. Covid ended my love of NYC too... Thank you so much for sharing.
Living in NYC was the greatest experience of my life. But the city can turn on you very quickly, especially when there is a transit breakdown or bad weather. Then it becomes a monster.
20 year old New Yorker here since i was born and this video couldn’t have articulated my thoughts about the city any better. the city will always be home but i hate how psychologically cold and mentally draining it is. it’s overwhelming especially at the age of 20 when you’re trying to find your own footing in this world. i’ll be very sad when i see eastern queens gentrified someday
From My Dinner With André(movie). He said, “I think that New York is the new model for the new concentration camp, where the camp has been built by the inmates themselves, and the inmates are the guards, and they have this pride in this thing that they’ve built-they’ve built their own prison-and so they exist in a state of schizophrenia where they are both guards and prisoners. And as a result they no longer have-having been lobotomized-the capacity to leave the prison they’ve made or even to see it as a prison.”
I send that clip to people.
The algorithm doesn't like it.
I'm surprised this showed up.
This could apply to a lot of things.
@KChauhan909 why do you say so? geniuenly interested. im from a small town in the middle of nowehere in Croatia (Europe) and have always dreamed of living in NYC
@@mhmm29 It's a big bogus nightmare city.
@@mhmm29 I dream of escaping to a small town in the middle of nowhere in Croatia😊
What a relatable and emotional piece. I got my first job in NYC when I was 23 back in 2015. I lived in Bushwick, and during that slice of life, I felt so alive. I underwent monumental changes, and today, I'm a far different person from who I was in my early 20s. Went through love, and saw it come to an end. Made friendships with good people who I value. Lived many new experiences. Traveled abroad with friends. Spend those lazy weekend mornings strolling through Maria Hernandez Park, with a bagel from Knickerbocker Bagel in hand.
It saddens me to say that I too will be leaving the city. Even though much of its vibrance has returned, it's not the same from my pre-COVID life. I'm not sure that'll ever be the same. And even though I'm leaving, I know that it's not "goodbye", but rather, "see you later".
What exactly changed aside from places being understaffed and unenthusiastic now that they know white collars fart around all day..
Native New Yorker here, lived my first 28 years here left 8 years ago. Best move of my life. Don't get caught up in the NY BS! That city is over.
What a beautiful video essay Kate. In six minutes you summarised almost six years of your life. A snapshot if you will. Fantastic storytelling. I hope you are in a good place now and that your love in NYC will return stronger than ever.
Thank you so much 🥹 life is indeed very good again and I am so happy now!
I'm in my 4th year in med school, lived in the city (BK-BedStuy for 1 year and UpperEast for 3 years and counting) and I've experienced my lowest of lows here but I'll never forget the amount of strength I got from living here because it taught me to be independent, driven, and challenged. It definitely traumatized me but I grew.
What traumatized you?
beautifully written and spoken, thank you for sharing a piece of your journey ❤🩹
The algorithm brought me here, I'm glad it did, this video feels like old youtube-honest and true. As a native NYer I always wonder what it would be like to look upon The City with new eyes and feel what it's like seeing her for the first time, it wasn't until I started traveling the US that I realized how different she truly is. As a native I have also seen so many friends come and go, The City has a way of bringing people in but it's so hard to stay, most left cause they missed family, wanted more space to start a family, or just couldn't keep up with how expensive it is, even my friends who grew up here, most have left. P.S. Happy you met Brooklyn and Queens, most rarely make it out of Manhattan. Cheers!
I grew up in New York my whole life. My lifelong friends all knew that I was always meant to leave NYC. It was never an ‘if’ but a ‘when.’ And when that time came they celebrated our lives together and the future that awaited me in the west coast. Even the west coast isn’t end game for me. I miss Mew York all the time if I think about it too hard for too long. Nostalgic for a life that will never exist again. But I know that I have taken everything and learn all I could learn from my city. So now when I go to see my friends and my family (that still remain, most of them also left New York), it feels like I can just devote my time to filling my heart with as much as I can to hold me over. But I do find the city exhausting now every time so only a few days at a time 😅
This. You said it so beautifully. Knowing when you have taken everything and learned all you could from the city. This was so lovely to read, thank you for sharing 💕
Thanks for sharing ....I too fell out of love after a hefty 40 year realtionship with the City that never sleeps ...it's not the same vibe anymore ...LA took a while but I eventually got used to it ...but in my dreams I am still roaming the streets like it was the 90's/200's ..All the best to you !
This video is so beautiful and thoughtful. I just appeared in my feed and something drew me in, telling me to watch it. When you move somewhere and a place feels like home but after a few years it doesn't anymore - and you return back home - it might take some time to grieve that loss. It's like a relationship you are mourning for ending, and you know you have to take the time to heal. But eventually you will appreciate all the memories - the good and the bad - and you will be proud for the adventures you embarked on in your youth. Life rarely turns out how we expect it, but there is something beautiful about that. I really felt this in your little film, I could totally relate. Thank you for sharing this with the world.
Wow thank you so much for this lovely comment. I think you captured it perfectly, this was really the time in my life when it became abundantly clear that life just does not go as you planned and you kind of just have to roll with it - but that can be really beautiful! It's scary at first but now it all just feels like a big, strange, exciting adventure 💗
I lived in NYC and worked midtown from 1994 to 2015. A lot of experiences and feelings. But the world is a big place and it’s important to keep moving.
Lived in NY for 55 years and worked in the city for 30 years. I had many wonderful years and experiences there, but eventually couldn’t get out fast enough. I learned, in retrospect, that there are lots of very intelligent people in NYC, but there is an extreme shortage of wisdom! 😢
PS: 🙏 and wish you well.
That hit deep
Wow this is so sad. Thank you for sharing and I love how transparent you are. New subscriber!
This life is hard. And the last 5 years has been something unprecedented that no one deserves. Keep charging forward. The best really is yet to come, believe it.
🥰
I was born and raised in NYC and I want to move to Canada so badly. I went to Quebec City 3 times this year and fell in love.
Aww I love to hear this. And seriously, Quebec City is one of the most enchanting places in the world so I totally get it! 💗
Unless you read, write, speak and understand French I’d move to Toronto or points west if I were you. Quebecers are “tres snobby” if you’re an English speaker.
@timslater566 Yeah, I heard about that before. Thanks for the tip!
@@timslater566 When I worked for the federal government I was sent up to work on the border at Lewiston, NY for a couple weeks. One of the Customs officers told me she had problems with some of the commercial drivers coming from Canada. She would ask them "what's your citizenship?" They won't respond because she is speaking in English. She motions and tells them to park over there. After a while they get the message they could be there all day. and they got a shipment to unload so they come back speaking English saying they're French Canadian. Meanwhile I had a French friend from Paris I stayed at her apartment a few times. She had never been to Quebec. And never considered them French. Their spoken French has not evolved but trapped in a time era They actually passed laws in Quebec that English cannot be used for certain things like commercials or be fined..
@@timslater566That would be false. 🤦🏻
I remember the NY that she's describing, however, it's not the same after 2020. It has a fraction of the energy it had that made it so iconic. I've been here for 30+ years, and parts of this city give off run-down San Francisco California vibes, there are pockets of emptiness throughout the city that weren't there before. Intersections that were once busy with thriving businesses that were essential to the community (Walgreens, local banks, tailors, laundromats, restaurants, and gyms GONE! due to current policies). There was a standard that we NYers lived by because we lived by the rules, yes occasionally people would run red lights and not pay their fare on the subway or bus, but now it is much more commonplace to see it.
I’m a born and raised New Yorker and the city has been change since maybe the late 2000s and changed drastically after 2020. I’m sad for all the things that have changed and seems like it will never be the same again. What keeps me here is family, but I know that in the very near future I will leave. Will always love NY though!
Totally agree with you. NY is not the same after COVID19 The vibe, the people the atmosphere no longer feels like that vibrant NY I once knew, but you know what...many big cities in the world are like that now, this is not exclusive to NY.
@@bluerose2682yes. Same for Paris and London.
i love SF....i know it could do better but it has a unique electricity to it.
@@bluerose2682I know what you mean. There is no longer any sense of “place” anywhere. There are no longer any places; Merely geo-coordinate “locations” full of people staring into phones.
I am Canadian, went to school there, spent 9 years there. So glad I left. The city is being destroyed. I still have my memories.
For m the 1990s were the golden era. The City was still full of mom and pop businesses, edgy in just right ways and receiving some new love and energy. Sept of 2001 was a turning point and all the focus on safety changed the mood. I left in 2010 and accept that the version of the City I experienced and loved in the 1990s is gone.
I grew up near Toronto and know it well. Hope you enjoy it.
Wow, i got my first job in the city in early 2018 too and have been here ever since... through pandemic and after! Now realizing I may at the end of my time here also, for real this time. It's totally bittersweet but I'm just ready for an easier, softer life! Philly bound. Good to luck to you!!!!
Welcome to Philly! I lived in NYC for 12 years. Happy there. Happier to depart.
Wow I am so incredibly touched by the quality of your video. Thank you so much for sharing your life with us.
Ugh I feel this deep down. I've left NYC twice, once for a move to the west coast in 2013, and then again in spring 2021 after suffering through the same COVID drama that you detailed here. It's been hard both times. This last time felt like the end with my career being derailed, global pandemic, wanting a better life for myself, partner, and dog, etc. I'll always go back to NYC and have fond memories but I really don't think I'll ever live there again, and I've grown to be OK with that. It is VERY loud, especially if you live near the BQE in Brooklyn. All we could hear were sirens for the first 8 months of 2020. I hope the city never has to experience something like that pandemic again.
Oh man thank you for sharing, I felt this comment in my soul. My spot in South Williamsburg literally overlooked the BQE lol 😭 And at the start of the pandemic, we were living just a couple blocks from King's County Hospital, it was such a horrible time. I'm so glad you've settled in a new place that works for you and your fam!
I stayed in New York for a couple of weeks by myself last year doing all things tourists do. Although I LOVED every moment of it, I knew in my heart that the city can never be my home, ever.
❤
Hey beautiful stranger on the internet, sending you greetings from Manhattan. I just completed a decade in the city and think about all the friends who left the city during this time, this kind of out into perspective time how we change and how the city changes us. Props to you for having the courage to up and leave when the time was right.
A decade - you've made it! I love how you put that, "how we change and how the city changes us" - this captures so much of my feelings about nyc. Thank you for sharing 💜
Such a beautiful video. Brought me to tears. Thank you for sharing your story 💚
I was born in Korea, but I had the opportunity to live in NYC for a year last year when I was 15. It was probably the best and worst year of my life. It completely changed who I am as a child person, mostly for good because of all the stuff I had to overcome while living there. It was the first time I ever felt like I had found my community, a sense of purpose and a HOME. While I moved back to Korea three months ago, I miss the city dearly. The first 14 years of my life pale in comparison to what I experienced in a year in the city. I miss the energy of the city, I miss the friends that you are lucky to meet once in a lifetime that I made there, and I miss the person I became there. The fearless and kind and unique and unstoppable person I became the last few months of living in NYC. I’m so scared that I’m going to retract back into my shell here in Korea and undo all the progress I made in trying find out who I am as a person. But I also know that I will find my way back. Everywhere I go I still think of myself as a New Yorker. ❤
This resonated powerfully with me. I haven't teared up at a TH-cam video in a very long time.
Two moments in my life that I'll never forget are the times when I saw clearly what the city was and my place in it. One on a rooftop in lower Manhattan and the other walking home from the subway. I knew the spell had been broken and it was time to go. Both of those times, it was the right decision.
The chemistry still exists though.
I've broken up with the city twice now and it still beckons me with it's siren call.
Thank you for sharing your story. I’m glad you enjoyed NYC for a while, at least. There are people who truly love it, but I’ve never seen NYC as a place to live. To occasionally visit with friends who know the place, but never to stay. We each have our own places to call home and I’m glad you have returned to yours. ❤
This was such a touching video. I have to say healing after deep hurt is difficult and I’m happy you have peace to begin anew. I didn’t realize how much connection meant to me earlier in my life. I was chasing my career aspirations but because I wanted security (financial) but felt isolated when I needed support (after a break up, etc.). Best wishes to you! 🌻
Omg spooky 😱we had parallel experiences but me with London. Moved to London from Ottawa in 2018. Loved it, I had an amazing time, great friends and met my boyfriend. Spent covid there and moved in with my boyfriend in 2020 during the peak of covid. We got engaged in 2021. I found a new job that seemed was gonna sponsor me but couldn't sponsor me 😭 My fiancee could not give me citizenship eaither so I had to leave. It was heartbreaking because I loved my life there. I was depressed for a year. Silver lining is that I got married to my boyfriend. We lived in Dublin now. Sometimes I still miss London and I kick myself for trusting my old job to get me a visa but your video reminded me everything happens for a reason and it was simply my time to leave.
the most gut wrenching part for me was you saying goodbye to your 2 cats. People will always bounce back but there is not guarantee like that for cats sadly.🐱😸
Rest assured, they are living the life with their dad, they couldn't be in better hands!
Something about NYC that draws a nostalgic response or love longing\love lost from multiple generations through waves of its history. The city has gone through these dark periods in the past that ultimately led to urban and social revivals and renaissance periods pulling in new dreamers and settlers from far and wide. The 2020s is a dark period for NYC right now and this down period is likely to last for another ten or 15 years. The city will rise again but it will be something altogether different from what we knew it as. For later generations it will be the dream place to be, to shape, to love, and then maybe to leave on their own terms in some future time.
My time growing up in the city was the 1970s-1980s, and that was the last period of decline the city experienced. However, the city had a rich social, cultural, art and music scene that was a great time for a youth to grow up in. It was way more affordable and accessible for most people in a way that it hasn't been in recent years. Even though I left the city 30 years ago for the suburbs I still visited the city several times a year through the 1990s-2010s, and even worked in Manhattan for some time during those years. It was a new golden age for NYC and I'm glad to have seen that kind of rise in my lifetime. Now as a senior, I am very nostalgic for what NYC was during my youth, and even before my time (the 40s-60s, now that was a golden age!). I am now in a different part of the country, but I sometimes have dreams about the apartment I grew up in and schools I attended in Queens, the family and friends mostly gone now, and, in some cases, the (more) innocence of times past. Its sad to see NYC decline like it has. I know I could never move back there, but I have wonderful memories, and know that future generations will have their wonderful memories too.
the 40-60s the golden age when blacks and the swarthy masses knew their place?
Thank you for sharing your experience, I loved reading it.❤
This was lovely......as a long-time NYC-er I completely understand every part of your journey. I applaud you for having the courage to leave; take the leap of faith and take care of yourself. Well done ~
Your storytelling talent is EXQUISITE. What a beautiful montage this is and an authentically raw journey. My god I gasped when you said “end of my engagement”. I’m crying when you said when your dad got sick all you wanted to do was be near home. You really are an incredible human being. Thank you for sharing your story and I am looking forward to seeing where your life rebuild takes you. So much love to you my friend ❤❤❤❤❤
I’m so glad you made this, this is truly art. And it’s wonderful to know that I don’t feel so alone in this experience. I moved to San Diego from Malaysia back in 2017. As a little girl growing up far away I had dreamt of moving to the US and California for so long, and I did at the ripe age of 18. It did take sometime to adjust at first but I fell in love with it slowly then all at once. After finishing school, I ended up getting a job, the “love of my life” moved in, I had a great circle of friends, and I was in the place with the best weather a 7 min drive from the beach. This was supposed to be paradise. But things deteriorated- my relationship fell apart and to say I was broken is an understatement. Many of my friends moved across the country for career opportunities and the ones who remained I fell out with. I was left very alone in the city and realized how much I hated my job but didn’t have many options being international. I felt stuck. Alone. The days dragged on and felt endless and the same. I’d wake up cursing another sunny day. When I realized I couldn’t go on like this for another 40 years, it was the lightbulb moment that it was time to leave. I had fallen out of love with this life I had here in sd. And just like a relationship I had so much love for the memories, I was trying to fight this heavy feeling of dread but it was no use. I loved, but wasn’t in love w this place anymore. So march this year 2024 I finally plucked the courage to leave and return home. I was absolutely terrified and never thought I’d move back, and this wasn’t what I thought I wanted, but I knew this is what my soul needed. And it was the right move! Fast forward 6 months I’ve finally healed from a lot of things. I’ve reconnected with old friends and spent much more time w family. I feel like I’m becoming me again. But a better healed one. I still have so much love for SD and who knows I might find myself back there in the future but for now I’m finally at peace with letting go and recognizing it’s time to close a chapter and begin a new one. I have no idea where life will take me next but I’m excited :) thanks again for making this video and wishing you all the best with your future endeavors!! I know your next chapter will be a great one too!
thank you so much for the warm wishes and for taking the time to leave this wonderful comment
This is a beautiful heartfelt personal video so well crafted/scripted,, photographed and edited.
As for your romance with New York City, the Greatest City in the World,
“ ‘Tis better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.”
Thank you for sharing your story.
What a beautifully told story and video.
I met my husband in NYC in 1997. We lived in Brooklyn Heights and worked on Wall Street. He introduced the city to me and got me to like it. Left in 2001. My husband passed away in2019 and i have never been back. There is no need to.
There are 8 million stories..... I'm glad yours was filled with the best the City has to offer. Everything else you could have experienced in any city. Breakups , job loss. housing dislocation , illness ,the whole sheebang . But to be young and in the City is an incomparable experience. Wishing you peace and happiness. You are an extra ordinary young lady.
Thank you so much 🥹 and agreed! I count myself very lucky to have had that time in the city.
As a former NewYorker this resonated with me soo much, lived In the east Village till 96. Its not the same, and I am not the same.
Thank you so much for posting this video. As someone who was born in Flushing, NY, and who fell in love with NYC, despite living in Pennsylvania, by spending summers there growing up and regularly visiting there as an adult, I have always dreamed about living in NYC full time. Recently, I earned my Master's Degree in Theology and started seeing NYC as my calling and to be able to live my true life so to speak.
Your video emphasized the challenges of remaining in love with NYC and to continue forward as to what I believe is my calling.
Your one comment about needing the quiet and peacefulness to refocus your life - As someone who lives in a very small town in Pennsylvania with no opportunities or the potentialities that comes with NYC - I see NYC as a place for me to be reborn and be able to live my second half of life.
I wish you well as you embark the next phase of your journey. Thank you again for sharing!
I love this so much, that's exactly how I felt about New York City when I moved there, that it was the exact right place for my next chapter, and it more than delivered. Wishing you all the best with everything that comes next for you! ❤
I am so very moved by this poignant (and beautifully filmed!) video. It is like an entire autobiography told in the span of six minutes. I had a very similar experience. Although I am a native New Yorker I grew up in one of the outer boroughs. I spent 40 years working Downtown and loved every minute of it. But when I lost my job during the pandemic I decided to retire and return "home," and Manhattan had simply lost its luster for me. I really relate to your story! Thanks for sharing.
Wow thank you for taking the time to comment and share your story, I'm touched that it resonated at all knowing the experiences can be different for transplants and natives. Wishing you all the best with your retirement and this next chapter of life! 💓
Beautifully done! Beautiful. Thank you for sharing your story/your restart.
How beautiful. I too lived in New York for 4 years in my 30s, but left after having our baby. I will always miss New York, too, but we are so incredibly lucky to have lived there at all. Your dream did come true! You will never forget that time in your life. But good for you for moving forward.
Yes! I will always be grateful for my time there and I think anyone who is lucky enough to have spent even a brief stint in nyc is incredibly fortunate. So glad you have also now landed in the right place for you and your family 💕
I moved from nyc in Jan 2024. Will never go back; not even to visit!
Great video! Very relatable, it reminded me of my time living in London. I too eventually fell out of love with that city. It’s difficult moving on, leaving your life behind and starting a new - especially if you’re a single woman in her 40’s.
The thing is, London is very easy to fall out of because people are horrible there and it’s extremely toxic. London doesn’t accept you in the way NYC does. London wants you to become passive-aggressive. London wants you to be quiet. London never wants your feedback. New Yorkers are great. Direct, blunt, funny, friendly if you know how to take them … Londoners are only “friendlier” when they binge drink … every expat I talk to says the same “the city is nice, people/locals are horrible”.
Life changes quickly especially in NYC. Thank you for sharing the journey it is beautiful.
This video found its way to my feed this evening after I was feeling very sad all evening. I'm currently in the process of saying good bye to Los Angeles (a city I do not love, but once had sincere hopes for) where I'd moved a month before the pandemic from Upstate, NY. I'd also lived in Brooklyn for years, and now I'm moving to my home town to be closer to my siblings and our parents who are at the beginning of the end of their lives due to chronic illness. I have peace about moving to my home town, and yet I struggle with a complexity of emotions, the anticipatory grief of not knowing how much time I have with my parents, and around how difficult the last several years have been since the onslaught of pandemic. So many of our lives did not at all turn out as we'd so sincerely hoped they would, people lost loved ones, the world went awry, and beyond all of it, I still just have my own experience of it. I can relate to the melancholy sense of disappointment and the quiet grief of something ending in ways you'd never expected. I also haven't lived in my home town as an adult since my early twenties, and now I'm 41, single, no kids, wondering where all the time went, though I am also realizing it can be an entirely different experience if I allow myself to be open to it. Thank you for the posting your video. It unexpectedly means a lot.
Great story. I lived in NYC twice. My best memories are in Prospect Park and living right next to the park in Park Slope. I loved the dive bars and neighborhood bars and eateries and just the life of the city. I'd never go back.
As a 2018-2022 NYCer, this video about brought tears to my eyes. Thanks for sharing.
This was so well done. I got my NYC stories but this gave me chills. Thank you for sharing. I moved out of the city last year.
Thank you for making this. I've been feeling so many similar feelings about New York lately and found your journey both comforting and inspiring. Best of luck in Toronto. ❤
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to comment, and I'm so glad it resonated with you 🤍
Great story. Wisdom at an early age is a blessing. You get it.
I .... Rarely comment but this was, so beautiful and sublime. I also have dreams of new york yet unfulfilled.
I hope wherever your path or rebuilding takes you, it is interesting and full of wonder and joy. Thank you for telling your story.
You’ve just gained another subscriber, dear. I am in a season of transition myself, having lost my job and trying to figure out the next step. I, too, am falling out of love with the place I chose to call home. Despite my desperate attempts to cling to it, I am slowly accepting that my slow dance with this city, a very large town, may be ending. It is no New York, and I, too, have loved it for that. But, perhaps soon, I’ll be trying something new myself. I wish you all of the best as you continue to heal and rebuild.
Peace from Missouri. May God bless you tremendously. 😊
I was raised in NYC and have always been in love with my City but the last couple years I've grown tired of it. It's changed so much, I no longer recognize it. It's lost it's shine, it's lost it's electric energy. The City feels like a burden on me, where before it felt like part of my identity. When I eventually leave it, I'll grieve for a long while because I still love it and my heart breaks for it's demise 😔 🗽 🏙️ 💔
And thank you for sharing your journey 🌹
NY is brutal. The unwavering, unforgiving, sometimes frightening city. I still remember when I was in Central Park and I thought, they want 8k a month for my one bed apt. It was over then lol
The railroad flat I grew up in on the UWS , (the one with the Marshal’s notice on the door) is now $3500 a month …must say they did rehab the building.
You left New York but New York will never leave you, it never does for anyone. I love your thumbnail. Good luck in Canada and good job listening to your gut.
Um, no. I left NY, and it left me. That city is a dump.
@@bigmacdaddy1234
😂
I've been living in the city for 13 years. NYC has giving me all that has to offer. Im grateful, but looking forward to a new chapter in my life. Thanks for sharing your story.
Thank you for sharing 💗 wishing you all the best in this new chapter of life!
I'm glad you found your way to a better life in another city. I'm a native NYer, and I don't mind telling you, it's not all it's cracked up to be.
This is such a beautiful video that brought tears to my eyes. I recently moved out of nyc after 8 years there for similar reasons to you. Now I’m living on the west coast and two months in, I’m starting to really miss parts of it while I’m being so glad I don’t live there anymore. I really now understand why people go back after moving away from nyc
Thank you for that. Ex-New Yorker here… and I will never be the same, because living in NYC was the best and worst five years of my life. I miss it all the time, but it’s not my NYC anymore. I belong somewhere else now and so that’s where I’m going, but I’ll never forget Manhattan and my UWS apartment and how a dream came true.
Never been to New York but grew up outside of Chicago. As a guy whom is almost 39 and never married and has moved a lot as well, this video spoke to me. Fantastic work and has made my day for sure.
wow that means so much to me, thank you for taking the time to share.
Understand and can relate. One thing for sure -- There is no place like NY and as they say, its not only a place, its a feeling... Spent 3 weeks in NY this Aug and given all the downsides (safety, crazy cost of living, etc) its still one of the best places to live...
Finally a positive comment about NYC. All the comments in this video are so hateful towards NYC. Am I the last New Yorker that still loves NY no matter what? She’s my soulmate.
Beautiful and very moving. It really touches on how I feel about New York which was really the love of my life--especially Brooklyn. I had to move out because I could no longer handle the constant struggle and being poor while working all the time. I lived there from 1991 till 2007. For years I had longed to move back and then the last 2 times I visited it just felt like the love was gone. It had changed and I had too.
I was lucky to have spent my time in NYC and left because it’s just so sadly awful now.
This made me sad! I’m a Canadian who had his era in New York. I’m also going through a breakup and this brought all the feelings to the surface. Glad you saw the light on the other side. -All my best
Never saw a video of yours until today, I’m literally crying, I felt so much of this, I’m glad you’re finding peace and just hope you know Jesus loves you too! This really was a beautiful visual diary ❤️
thank you so much! 💗
Brilliant and riveting. Superb storytelling: content, writing, expression, visuals, music, and editing. Of course, there is NYC in the title, but this video is launching your channel because it’s compelling. Well done, Kate!
thank you so much 🥹
The challenge that comes in life often beacons us to move on to a new place so that we can understand the past life. For me, Chicago to Atlanta, a place I thought I would never live. But my memories make me smile about that past adventure.
This is beautiful. I live in NYC and it can be so hard.
YES it is not a city for the faint of heart 🤣
“New York State of Mind” by Billy Joel is what comes to mind when I saw this video. NYC never leaves you, although you leave her. Such good memories. All seasons come to pass, but those memories are nice to revisit every once in a while. Thank you so much for sharing this memoir. Cheers to your new chapter!
Love from San Francisco! Your video hit like a freight train. Similar experiences. Just the West Coast version. I have to get out of here and find my way home too. It is the spark I needed. Thanks for posting.
wow that really means so much to me, i'm so glad it resonated and thank you for sharing your story 💗 wishing you all the best in this next chapter of life!
This video has profoundly touched me on many levels. It feels as if I could've made it. Gorgeous and heartbreaking experience I also had. Wow.....thank you for sharing. This is absolutely stunning and very similar to my experience. I am from NYC but moved away when I was young. Moved back in 2019. It was magical in every way. I basically had the same experiences mentioned. After covid it all changed. I can't describe how I feel. I too moved away to another city in the Midwest.
Even though I never lived the exact same situation especially in NYC, I felt the urge to cry ...at the bottom of our hearts we know what can and can't really work for us... .I always loved NYC .
Best of luck especially health wise; the most important one.
Wow Kate, I'm just seeing this video now, sorry for putting this one off. You damn near gave me tears. I really felt your pain and loneliness. I understand on a deeper level now your journey. Thanks for sharing, and also an amazingly edited video. I bet yours is one of many living in the Big Apple, but your testimony is important. You're a great story teller. I'm glad you're on TH-cam. Much love from Paraguay, and take care up there in Canada!