Losing My Love for the City

By: Vanessa Gresely
This past summer, I did a fashion public relations internship in New York City. It truly had not felt like I had been in the concrete jungle for two months, but time flies and suddenly I was at the end of it. Coming to New York I would have never thought I would feel the way I do now. It turns out my love for the city wasn't as always true as I thought it was.

New York is beautiful. The possibilities are endless, there is something on every corner and the connections you can make there are amazing -- but the city life is not for me. After living in the city, the one word that comes to my mind is hectic. Trying to grocery shop, walk down the street or get to work or class feels a lot more tiring trying to go about daily your life. I'm not saying I am not willing to put in the work, but that all that kind of work isn't a part of the life I wanted. My whole life I dreamed of being a city girl where I would work in the fashion industry and make waves. Now, I think I would rather make waves in a different way.

The fashion industry is intense and so are the people, but I am not. Everyone is often stressed and I have seen this stress dealt with in the wrong way. Now, I understand that not everyone's the same, but here in New York, everyone is trying to get to the top and I am just not in this life for a competition.

I never would have thought I would feel this way, but I think I am just made for a simpler life. One that doesn't involve corporate or even the fashion industry. I love fashion but I think I just may be more into wearing it than working in it. I don't surround myself with fashion media, or media in general. I realized I don't keep up with fashion news as timely and I'm not interested to do so. Everything is so fast paced and I just want to live my life at my pace. Everyone is different and I believe in the law of attraction, and I have the choice to make my life anything I want.

I come from a place where people farm and grow their gardens and I always thought I would never want that but now I earn for that. I think I would be much happier living that way than the city or corporate way. I don't want my work life to be my whole life.
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The cons of living in the city have outweighed the pros for me. I just like to breathe and for me, I can't find that there. I don’t hate New York in anyway and I still love fashion, but my mindset has has changed a lot from my experience. I was given a great learning opportunity and now a new mindset to look into different work endeavors. 

Contact Vanessa Gresely, intercampus liasion, at vgresely@kent.edu