“I didn’t ask you for what you think is convenient, I asked you ‘what do you want?'”
He asks playfully, yet sternly, after I’d answered:
“What I really want is an Irish coffee..or an iced coffee really. But I guess I’ll have a beer — anything but vodka to keep going.”
“Get what you want, not what’s convenient,” he said before disappearing down the dark, crowded Manhattan bar. I was visiting Gaby and mingling with a group much like ones I’d go out with in Los Angeles or Sydney; I’d quickly made new friends in the Big Apple.
He returns to the bar with an iced coffee from the cafe next door, and so there I am, sipping my large iced latte at 8 PM to reboot for (another) bougie booze night with local New Yorkers.
And although we were talking about a drink, his words stuck with me.
Go after what you want.
Never Settle
Despite many trips around the world, it’s my first time in New York City. Prepared to explore a la Carrie Bradshaw, I set myself up for eight days. That should be enough, shouldn’t it?
Five days to hustle. Two to live like a local. One as a tourist.
I can’t seem to get enough rest as I attend a series of events and meet with colleagues face-to-face for the first time.
Monday: Travel Massive NYC where I win a trip for two to Bali because of the #TravelBreak Twitter. I finally meet travel blogger veteran Nomadic Matt, editors at Yahoo Travel, and a series of other travel industry professionals. Well played, Jessica Parker.
Tuesday: After catching up with one of my favorite photographers, Instagram influencer Kevin Lui, I speak at NYU on the topic of digital branding and how social media changed my life.
Wednesday: I make time for Restless Legs and meet the Lost Girls and David Farley.
Thursday – Monday: It’s one after another — publicist and editors at Thought Catalog, Mashable, Thrillist, Mandarin Hotel Group, and more. I find myself frolicking with the co-founder and editors at Elite Daily for an entire afternoon.
More often than not, ending the night bougie, or rather boozy.
New York City: where you work hard and extend your adolescence.
New York City: where you go after what you want and never settle.
New York City: where you manage another meeting, another coffee, another cocktail.
New York is charmed by “one more,” by the strength to keep going, by the means to have it all.
Visiting New York, a concentrated hub of talent, ambition, and lifestyle, I’d like to revisit the concept of motivation.
Yes, sometimes when we swim towards paradise we are just short of drowning. It’s only through the hustle, through the extra mile, through one more meeting, that we make our dreams into goals.
Thank you New York, for reminding me to work, drink, and never settle.
Check out some photos from my trip:
Perky in Central Park!
Photo Credit: Gaby Cisneros
Fight for Street Art | Brooklyn
Finding Color in the Cold | Central Park
Classic and Contemporary: New York
Lady of Liberty
Views from the Mandarin Oriental NYC
Special thanks to my friends in New York City:
Gaby Cisneros + Jess, Jessi + Steph, Danny Robertson, Lee Abbamonte, Professor Scott Galloway, Tyson Patterson, Jared Kleinman, Tara DeWarsop, and the above mentioned peeps within the article. I LOVE NEW YORK.
xx, Steph
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