Hey friends, it’s Reesa. I’m sitting down to write this one a little differently than usual, because 2026 marks five years since I made the spontaneous decision to pack up my life in Texas and move to New York City. Five years. Somehow, both the fastest and the fullest five years of my life.
If you’ve been following along since the beginning, you know this wasn’t some long-planned, five-year, color-coded-vision-board move. It was a leap I took after months of hustling, applying to what felt like every job in the country, and finally landing an opportunity that felt right. I remember telling myself it wasn’t “blindly impulsive,” even though deep down, it kind of was. And honestly? Best impulsive decision I’ve ever made.
Where I Started
I came into this city as a solo traveler who had fallen in love with New York on trips for NYFW and to visit friends. I didn’t know then that those visits were quietly building a case for the move I’d eventually make. I came in as a Houston girl who thought she could handle northeastern cold weather. I did not.
Those first few months were humbling. I spent my first Thanksgiving here alone, which felt like a gut punch at the time but ended up teaching me something important: that this city takes care of you if you let it, even when you’re far from home and doing the holidays solo.
What These Five Years Have Actually Held
When I think back on everything that’s happened since that first winter, it’s honestly a lot:
- I built an entire creative career here as a content creator, going from a solo blog to partnering with brands I actually love and believe in
- I found my footing in a completely new career that allows me to have more balance with my personal time and loved ones
- I’ve been chipping away at graduate school, because it turns out I couldn’t fully let go of that part of me even after switching careers
- I explored more of this city’s parks, restaurants, and hidden corners than I ever thought existed, and I’m still finding new ones
- I got engaged, married, and moved again to a new neighborhood in Queens, which I now call home
- I traveled even more to places I hadn’t been to and experienced new sights and landmarks around the world
None of that was on my radar five years ago. I moved here in search of a job and a change of scenery. I didn’t know I’d be building an entire life, and I definitely didn’t know music would keep finding its way back into it.
Music Made Me Evolve
One of the parts of this chapter I didn’t expect was how much this city would hand music back to me. I came to New York with a small dream to make music be a part of my life in some aspect. But New York doesn’t let you box yourself in that easily.
Between building my career in music from the ground up, catching ballet performances at Lincoln Center whenever I can, and finding little pockets of live jazz tucked into the West Village, this city has quietly rebuilt my relationship with music on my own terms. Not as a job I needed to leave behind, but as something I get to weave back into my life the way I want to now. There’s something poetic about that. I moved here to start over and ended up circling back to the thing I love most.
What NYC Has Taught Me
This city has a way of humbling you and expanding you at the same time. It taught me how to be alone without being lonely. It taught me how to advocate for myself, whether that was negotiating job offers or learning to say no to things that didn’t serve me. It taught me that community doesn’t have to look like the one you grew up with. My found family here, my husband, my coworkers, the people I’ve met online, they’ve become home in a way I didn’t know I needed.
It’s also taught me to slow down and notice things. Some of my favorite New York memories aren’t the big iconic ones. They’re the quiet ones: a walk through Astoria Park on an ordinary Tuesday, a bowl of something warm at Bersi Ethiopian on a cold night, sitting in the Conservatory Garden just to be still for a minute in a city that rarely is.
To the Next Chapter
I don’t know exactly what the next five years will hold, but I do have great ideas up on my sleeve. More stories to tell here on the blog, hopefully more creative pursuits woven into my everyday life, and no doubt a few more spontaneous decisions that end up mattering more than I expect. But if the last five years taught me anything, it’s that the best parts of this life aren’t the ones I planned for. They’re the ones I said yes to.
Here’s to five years, New York. Thank you for taking a Texas girl in and making her one of your own.
Until next time, Reesa
