If I had stayed in my “valley,” I would not be living in New York City today. I first moved to the city in the mid-nineties, fresh out of college. Long on attitude and short on experience, I wasn’t truly prepared for life in the Big Apple, and I left after only two years.
I decided to try my hand in smaller markets (“peaks”). I made my way to Washington, DC for a few years and I had some success there, but after awhile I became complacent and knew I needed to make a change. I left Washington, DC and moved to Philadelphia. I expected to achieve the same level of success there as I had enjoyed in Washington, but I didn’t have the same luck and didn’t do the legwork, and I struggled. It was a disappointing time.
Eventually, I was offered an opportunity to move to a small town in Vermont. I ended up spending three years there, making ends meet and living in comfort. But, with no prospects for advancement, I realized that it was time for me to leave that “plateau.” Knowing I had climbed (or tried to climb) smaller peaks in my past, I knew that the time had come for me to climb the biggest peak again. So, with much better preparation and support, in 2008, I returned to New York City.