My Joy List
December 3rd-9th: playing tourist in NYC, being local in NYC, reuniting with people I love dearly, and the continuum
You’re reading a newsletter from Syd, an NYC-born gal who quit her “golden handcuffs” job and moved to Amsterdam to follow her heart’s calls for a path less traveled. Here, I share the challenges and wins of my own journey from people pleasing & perfectionism to authenticity, balance, joy, & freedom. Beyond this page, I coach fellow high achievers along their own journey. You may find comfort, empowerment, inspiration, and/or community. Welcome 🫶🏻
Good morning my sunshiney souls!!
I’m proud to report I spent this whole past week in NYC without feeling confused about my values and/or feeling that my values are less than because they are different from some of the values I sense in NYC’s aura. This feels like evidence of what I told you I was hoping for last week: “I can be around and appreciate NYC’s ‘hustle’ energy without confusing the energy as the ‘right’ way to be.”
Right now, I’m thinking a lot about how we intellectualize space and time: how we seek to define where we were, are, and will be so we can feel a sense of certainty about this whole “life” thing, when really there is never any certainty at all. When really this whole “life” thing is a continuum.
But certainty feels so safe, safety feels so comfortable, and comfort is so seductive. Isn’t it?
Other thoughts/ideas I’m mulling:
isn’t it crazy how all these people are walking around on the street in their own little world of millions of thoughts bouncing around?
And now, let’s get on to the list. Happy joy spotting! <3
(p.s. yesterday, I felt very irritable about some plans gone awry. It put me in a funk. But later in the day, when I started pondering what I wanted to add to my joy list, my initial frustration with spending so much of the day focused on the bad that I missed all the joy melted into recognition of the many little joys that really did exist in the nooks and crannies. The moment I acknowledged them, I started exiting my funk. Joy spotting and joy list making are magical things.)
Joy spotting: the practice of noticing little moments of joy surrounding us all the time (more)
The girl whose face lit up when she saw me reading A Thousand Mornings
the fabulous Salatim at Laser Wolf
the view of manhattan from Laser Wolf
seeing the guy with all the golden doodles
seeing A light up while looking at and playing the guitars at Rudys
The way moms face lit up showing us her swatch watch collection
Spontaneously swinging by ems apartment to start the day
a spontaneous bite at the PJ Bernstein counter
a middle-of-the-day movie theater moment with A to see A Real Pain
Realizing my dental hygienist’s daughter goes to Duke and seeing a photo of her at a basketball game the prior night
a spontaneous scallop hand roll at Noz Market’s standing counter during their hand roll “happy hour”
Mom saying “butt touch” when her and A bumped butts in the kitchen
Walking down a quiet 5th Ave at night sharing headphones with A and listening to phish
the quote on the flag in the park about Central Park
a spontaneous after dinner skate with A at Wollman rink
The moment I saw A ordering a hot cocoa for us at Wollman rink
skating while surrounded by the NYC skyline
Mom chatting up a storm with our cab driver
having lunch with mama at avra
my favorite marouli salad from avra
mom chatting up the women next to us at lunch
Catching up with Andrea over my haircut
feeling back in high school over din with em at mezzaluna
my first pollanca salad from mezzaluna in so long
playing word games with mom
loving, supportive texts from Justin
taking steps toward opening doors for my future self
The archway of lit up trees on 73rd btwn 2nd and 3rd
That holiday decorated townhouse on 81st btwn 3rd and lex
the big tree holding on to its leaves on the sheep meadow field in central park
daily morning walks and coffee with A
reuniting with the best gnocchi in the world at Sette Mezzo
hugging als and layn tightly
A attempting some standing pilates poses at a bench in the park
Meeting phoebe and david’s favorite tree in Central Park
Taking phoebe and David into the ramble
The warmth of the sun on us during the chilly giants game
seeing A’s Grandpa
seeing A’s Grandpa walk up and down a large, long set of stairs
Sending you so much love and light for the week ahead. Don’t forget: it’s all on a continuum. Not everything needs to be so black and white. Not everything needs to be rationalized.
Love,
Syd