Tabula rasa

Some of you may—and others may not—know the extent to which life has changed for me over the last year. And I do not know that anyone—even me—has grasped the full extent of these changes and how they will shape my years to come. So, in an effort to reflect on this myself, and bring you up to date, I wanted to share my lens on the last year.

To set the context, return to spring 2021. After spending 6 months in Michigan quarantining with family during the first winter of the pandemic, I returned to San Francisco and life no longer felt right there. I was restless. Since the pandemic started, I was reshaped, my city was reshaped, and my relationships reshaped. I considered buying a car to bring once close but now far relationships closer, but realized with that same budget I could instead make a change I had been flirting with for over a decade: move to New York.

I made the plan to rent for a year to try it out, while keeping my place in SF if I decided it wasn't right. I set a budget and started the timer. Little did I know how complex it would get.