I’m headed to NYC for a long weekend with my sisters. I was thinking yesterday that I’ve been to NYC a lot over the years*. It’s Christmas there - all decorated, the big tree is being lit at the end of November, and everyone is filled with holiday glee. Awesome.
In 2019, I went to NYC with my friend Robin. She’s a friend from way back in my New Hampshire days. Every five years or so we do a trip somewhere - it was Manhattan at Christmas this time. Specifically, it was the annual weekend of Santa-con. (The 2nd weekend of December). People dress up like Santa and do a pub crawl in downtown Manhattan starting at 7:30 in the morning. My friends in the city were mortified with Santa-con and didn’t understand why anyone would do it. I thought it looked like a ton of fun - it’s now on my bucket list.
I’ve written a lot lately about pushing the envelope and taking risks; thinking out of the box and being creative. Looking at life as a series of opportunities as opposed to a continual black cloud of negativity. Doing stuff that may be initially uncomfortable, but will yield amazing memories. Whether it’s donning a Santa suit and drinking cocktails at dawn or riding hundreds of miles with strangers or trying a new food that has a “weird texture” … look at 2023 as your year that you are going to try/do/eat/be something that is different. If nothing else, it’ll yield a memory.
* “a lot” to me means maybe a couple of dozen times. I first went in 1982 with my high school band. Our band director released us (four big buses of band kids) into Times Square and told us to be back in a couple of hours. This probably wouldn’t happen today. The city has changed a lot in the last forty years. No matter how many times I go - I’m always overwhelmed. Imagine Black Friday at the mall x 1000.
