Here for a Year

We have lived in Connecticut for just over a year. This year has flown by!!! I’d say it’s gone by too quickly, but I think it went so fast because it was filled with so much good. It feels like living in the city was a lifetime ago. I remember feeling a little apprehensive about moving, which now, looking back, I can attribute solely to my fear of change. I was actually completely ready to leave city living behind and try to find a more “normal” lifestyle. (I think normal is relative and, for me, living in NYC felt more like a fun challenge than a normal life.)

I soaked up the fun-ness that is New York in the summer and packed all the memories up for a change of pace. And it’s been amazing.

Now I feel like I have the best of both worlds: a slower, more relaxed (totally more convenient) life, but also being able to pop down to NYC for a day of meetings. There is no greater feeling right now than getting on a train and leaving behind the crazy city and being back to a quiet home an hour later. I thought I’d want to go into the city often, but it’s funny now because I almost dread it at times– especially if it’s too hot or raining!

Onto the good stuff:

1. 1. I just love Connecticut. I really don’t think I had spent much more than a few hours in Connecticut at a time before moving here. Luckily, I love it. I don’t really know what it is that I love the most, but there’s just so much to do and the convenience of being able to travel around easily is great. We live in Stamford and the centralness to the surrounding towns plus the city, great rental properties, and fun restaurants make it perfect for where we are in life right now. The dream would be to find a house in Westport, but I think it’ll take a couple more years of saving before finding the “right” house! But really, I couldn’t ask for more right now. I’m just so happy.

2. Having a car makes life so much easier. Not a day goes by where I don’t give my car a little praise. I’m so grateful for a car after living in places where one wasn’t needed. Every time I put groceries in the trunk, or load the pups up, or go on some kind of adventure, I’m a happy girl. Probably the happiest girl. The car is nice not only for everyday life, but it makes me feel a little less trapped. If we wanted to leave Manhattan, it was at least an hour just to get out; whether we went by train or car or bus. Now Gar and I can load the car up and be on our way basically within minutes. We’ve clocked a ton of miles on my Subaru and I couldn’t recommend a Forester enough!

3. The pace of life also has had a dramatic affect on my life. I definitely get caught up in feeling like I’m on a hamster wheel from time to time, but overall, life is so much calmer. I feel like I need to rush around to four events a night or wear heels every day. I always felt frustrated by things in the city and let the frustrations (about delayed/crowded subways, terrible traffic, loud construction, you name it) spill over into how I felt about life. And while I know life will always have its frustrations, I don’t find CT ones causing me headaches. (I’ll take I-95 traffic over Fifth Ave traffic any day of the week.)

I also find myself a little bit more focused on myself. I don’t feel isolated at all– I have more friends out here and most of my city friends have moved elsewhere too– but I definitely have found that I don’t compare myself to others quite as much. I don’t know what it was about NYC, but I was always looking around sizing everyone up and seeing how I compared. I think it’s a combination of being out of that dog-eat-dog world myself, but also being surrounded by other people who have “opted out.” It’s refreshing.

I’d definitely love to live here for as long as possible, but who knows what the future holds. I think we’re at least here for another year while we wait to see how a few things pan out… but the bottom line is that life is really, really good out here.