NYC reflection

New York has a strange way of reminding me how to be human.

In the city that never sleeps, it’s easy to fall into a uniquely 21st-century exhaustion: living life while narrating it—while watching others do the same.

This week felt especially breathless as I moved between meetings and events, while scrolling through friends’ glamorous posts from glitzy galas, spotlit stages, photo-ops with dignitaries.

What am I missing out on? Who did I not meet? Am I doing it right?! There’s a fine line between inspiration and comparison and yet, as I know—though often forget—comparison is the thief of joy.

But even (or especially) amidst the hustle, New York also reminds me to slow down and pay attention.

My most meaningful moments this week weren’t captured by a camera or shared for likes. They appeared when I remembered to pause and look up.

👀 The receptionist in a Wall Street high rise, methodically gluing rhinestones to a glass bottle: “It keeps me calm,” he said catching my eye.

💛 The waitress in the bathroom crying into her phone about the impossibility of juggling three jobs.

🤯 The dissonance of talking about leadership at the Harvard Club beneath portraits of (still, somehow) exclusively old, white men.

✨ The magic of meeting one of our inaugural Flight School Fellows IRL, and the contagion of generosity her presence inspired.

♾️ The synchronicity of so many new people who already feel like old friends (you know who you are 😉)

To stay steady in the spin cycle, I’ve developed tricks to remind myself that I’m not just a human DOING, I’m a human BEING. Meeting someone’s eyes at each register. Putting my phone away in elevators. Moving quickly without rushing. Looking up to find the sky between scrapers.

I’m heading home exhausted but full – and on fire with a fuel I’ll call burning patience. Love you, NYC. Until soon…..