Tag: New York City

creativity

In the pause: The surprising truth about pursuing our goals

Christa Avampato
My friend, Alex, sent this quote to me and it resonates with me so deeply. This idea is what prompted my move back to New York City and this change in career direction. I could have kept moving ahead on a corporate path. I could have continued to climb in title and compensation. Except that I really couldn’t do that and be true to myself. I have turned down jobs and projects not because I couldn’t do them but because they weren’t rooted in how I want to spend my time. This is a tough thing to do.
 
We tell ourselves all of the convenient reasons we need to keep doing what we’ve been doing even though it may not be what fires us up. It makes today easier at the expense of our tomorrows. What I’m doing is making my today more challenging because I want my tomorrows to be more fulfilling. It’s all a gamble. I don’t know how it’s going to go but here’s what I do know—if I didn’t follow this path I’m on now, I’d always wonder what might have been. And I didn’t want to wonder; I wanted to take my best shot and manage whatever happens next. It may not be the best choice for everyone, but it’s certainly the best choice for me.
creativity

In the pause: What I’m doing in New York

Christa Avampato

“What are you going to do in New York?”

It’s a logical question when you move to a new city. My neat and tidy answer catches people off guard: love every minute of my life. Someone cracked me up yesterday when they responded, “No, really. What are you going to do here?” My answer stands.

I do have some more specific answers for more specific questions. For work? I’m looking at many avenues that bring together my passions and my talents. For love? I’m dating. For my writing? I’m promoting my first novel, writing the prequel chapter by chapter, writing my second novel that is the next in the series about Emerson Page, and pursuing freelance nonfiction writing. For fun? Phineas and I will be enjoying our long walks in the park. I’ll be spending time with my wonderful friends here, and making new ones. I’ll be at the theater, in the museums, listening to live music, creating art, and following every interest I have. I’m hoping to teach writing classes, mentor young people, and volunteer in my community. I’m going to try to learn to play a real song on the piano.

Anything can happen here in New York City, and it often does. While the city has a reputation for making people hard and tough, I think it’s much easier, and more enjoyable, to be a little soft. People can be gruff and self-absorbed. You have to stand up for yourself and then shrug it off. This city moves fast and carefully crafted plans have a way of disintegrating at the most inopportune times. Flexibility is key. If your dream today doesn’t work out, tomorrow you’ll have a new one. That long night of disappointment in-between is a tough thing to endure but you have to endure and persist and be determined to keep rising in spite of it all. New York is a tall order, and it’s the only one that really fits me.

creativity

In the pause: A magical New York City beginning

Christa Avampato

The move into New York City was a pretty magical day. As stressful as these past few months have been, there were so many incredible moments in this move when I felt everything going in the direction I needed. I had fantastic movers. The ride up was perfect without an ounce of traffic. Phineas was an angel traveler. My friends Moya and Dan helped me get the contents of my packed car into my apartment. The super, manager, and neighbors in my new building have all been lovely. Within our first 30 minutes in the neighborhood, I met Vinny, a man who lives just a few doors down who runs a doggie daycare and dog walking service out of his garden apartment. (Phin loved him immediately!) Now my internet is humming along thanks to insanely good customer service from Time Warner, and I’m getting my handful of belongings in place while I wait for the rest of my things to arrive in the next few days.

In the meantime, Phin and I are taking in the park and visiting all of our old haunts in our neighborhood. It feels good to be home.

creativity

In the pause: The magical combination that brings success

Christa Avampato

What if we could think about life from a place of abundance instead of a place of scarcity? What if we could see not getting what we want as a way of making room for something even better?

When I was first looking for a new apartment, I was approaching the process from a place of lack—time was running out on my existing lease, the vacancy rate in New York City is very low, and I was sad and disappointed about being priced out of my old neighborhood.

I was sulking around that old neighborhood on my trip there, feeling so at home and wishing that something there would work out with little hope of that happening. And then after a bit more searching, it materialized. From there, everything else fell into place as long as I kept working to make it so.

Working hard and having a positive mindset is a magical combination. We need both, not just one or the other. My luck turned around once I decided to not be discouraged. Instead I decided that whenever something difficult happened, I’d double down and figure out the next best plan.

As I make this next transition, I will try to hang onto that lesson. It’s tough to do in the moment, but I will make sure to post reminders around my new home so that every day I’ll be reminded to keep my head high, my eyes focused forward, and my sleeves rolled up.

creativity

In the pause: When your dream calls, answer

Christa Avampato

“I’d have to be at the interview in two days! What do I do?”

This is what a friend of mine said to me yesterday. She called because a dream job she applied for contacted her. The dilemma? She’d have to buy a flight and be in New York City for an interview in 36 hours. My response? Get on a plane, go to New York, and get that job. Take your shot.

We all have dreams. I want us all to chase them down like the badasses we are and bring them to life. There’s no right time. The world isn’t interested in what’s convenient for us. If we want something, we have to go get it. Now.

Time isn’t ours to waste; it’s ours to use. So use it. Wisely. Passionately. Completely. Create the life you want.

creativity

In the pause: When stress arrives, take the long view

Christa Avampato

“Three months ago, things seemed a little bleak. But to be honest, everything worked out in the best way possible.”

I said this to my friend, Ria, this weekend. She stopped me and said, “Christa, that’s what always happens to you. And I’m saying this to you, making sure you know and understand that whenever you hit tough times, it does work out. So don’t freak out. It is always going to be okay. Okay?”

A couple of days ago, I mentioned that I was stressed about my move. How was I going to see all my friends before I go? How was I going to get this place packed up? Which movers could meet my timeline for a good price? (To be fair, a few were a little annoyed with me that my timeline is rather tight, but hey, that’s finding an apartment in New York City. It’s a just-in-time market!)

Today, I got a quote for half of what I thought it would be. I am able to rent a small SUV to drive some things up to DC myself for nearly the same price as a compact car. My building in D.C. can accommodate my move date and my building in New York is very relaxed about move-ins (and doesn’t charge a fee either!) It really is all going to be okay. Really.

Yes, I have work to do. A lot of sorting, packing, and cleaning. I’m going to get to spend time with friends here in D.C. before I go. Dinners, happy hours, coffees, and walks. And then I’ll drive up to New York with little Phin. We’ll move into our new place and it will all be fine. Everything will be better than fine.

In the moment, it can be difficult to remember to keep a longer perspective. What’s right in front of it feel so urgent and pressing. And it is, but we’ll get through it the way we always get through it: one step, one moment at a time.

creativity

In the pause: I’m moving back to New York City

Christa Avampato

It’s official: I’m set to move back to New York City next month. There have been so many synchronicities in this move: from my friend, Ria, telling me not to feel pressured into taking what would have been a terrible apartment because I thought that was the only option to finding my new place completely by chance with a building manager willing to show it to me via a Whatsapp video call before turning around a lease overnight. It’s on the Upper West Side, my very favorite neighborhood in the world where so much of my history lives and breathes. I’ve got many preparations to make, much to be grateful for in D.C., and much to look forward to as I return to New York. I’ll be reflecting on all of that in the coming days, weeks, and months. For now, I’m just smiling and feeling so thankful for this journey.

Phineas and I are excited to visit all of our old haunts in Central Park, and spend time with our New York friends—human, canine, and feline! Phin’s particularly looking forward to Dachtoberfest this Fall when hundreds of dachshunds from all over the New York area congregate at Washington Square Park to celebrate their breed. (More on that later.) New York, here we come!

creativity

In the pause: Making a writer’s life on the streets of New York City

Christa Avampato

In New York City, I find inspiration on every corner. My novel is set on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and deep below the streets of New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, and the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History figure prominently into the story and serve as powerful settings for the events that unfold for Emerson and the other characters. This weekend, I walked through areas of the Upper West Side that inspired bits of dialogue and the actions of the story. I could feel them as I walked down those streets. I could see scenes play themselves out. Being a writer is the best virtual reality system there is—all of a sudden the world becomes a stage and you create every detail of the players who move through it. I wonder what stories are still waiting for me on those magical streets.

creativity

In the pause: Supporting refugee businesses

Christa Avampato

Entrepreneurial-minded friends, I read this story about Syrian refugees in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn who started an online bakery out of their small kitchen. If you are considering starting a business, I hope their bravery, resilience, and love for their work will inspire you and wipe away any sense of fear or doubt that you may have. That’s certainly what it did for me. I also just placed an order on their website at http://www.sweetrefuge.com. I feel that supporting their business is one of the best ways to help! I hope you’ll join me in supporting this new chapter in their lives.

creativity

In the pause: Thinking of Lady Liberty

Christa Avampato

When I worked at Amex from 2008-2012, I would sneak away from my desk for a few minutes, go up to the 50th floor, and look out the big bay windows at New York Harbor, one of the busiest harbors in the world that has very strong currents and tides.For me, New York Harbor was then and is now a powerful allegory to our nation’s circumstances. A few minutes with that view kept me sane and calm in times that were anything but. Seeing the Statue of Liberty and Governors Island reminded me that no matter how troubled the waters of our nation are, we would be okay if we could all hang together and support one another.

I’ve been thinking about that view a lot lately as we face times that seem just as uncertain and frightening with the executive orders regarding immigration and the battle now being waged around financial regulation. How can we disagree so vehemently and remain united? How do we move forward when there is such fundamental disagreement on a human level? These are questions I will continue to consider in the coming months and years. I’ll let you know what I find.