“How did I live here for nearly 5 years?!” I thought to myself on the third day of a recent week-long trip back to NYC. I was excited to back in my old neck of the woods but also instantly drained. My life has changed quite a bit in the past 8 months since moving to Denver – in some positive ways and some not so positive ones. The biggest difference I noticed is how much energy it takes to just be in the city.
Today I’m sharing with you my reflections on the good and not so good stuff that’s transpired from moving from NYC to Denver. I know everyone usually starts with the bad to get it over with, but I want to first tell you about the ways that my life has improved.
The Good Stuff
- I made new friends fast! The universe heard me when I said that I was making Denver home, and she introduced me two lovely new girlfriends within a month of moving back to CO. Y’all, it took me 3 YEARS to find one good girlfriend when I lived on the east coast, it seriously was like a girlfriend witch hunt. Plus, my bestie already lives here, so the girlfriend situation has drastically improved, and it’s made me much happier having these female relationships.
- The work culture here in Denver is a 180-degree turnaround from NYC. People work to live, not live to work. Yes, the people I work around and with are brilliant go-getters, but they also value and appreciate their time away from work. For someone like me who has been a workaholic (and felt pressure in NYC to always be “on”), I have fully embraced the “get your sh*t done and go enjoy being home/doing hobbies/etc.” attitude that my team lives by.
- My work commute is currently 8-10 minutes in total. #mindblown Back in NYC, I could never accurately predict how long my commute was going to be – on the perfect day when I hit every bus at the perfect moment, every subway line right when the doors were opening, and the weather wasn’t downpouring/snowing, I could get to work in 50 minutes. However, when there was an accident in the Lincoln Tunnel or a subway delay/stalled train – forget about it. And which scenario do you think happened to me most often? Lolol a 1+ hour commute was always the norm in my former life.
- We got a newly renovated apartment in a GREAT location. Oh the joys in life when you haven’t had any luxuries for years – central AC and heat, a wood-burning fireplace, a spacious bathroom, next door to the community room, laundry, and the gym down the hall – OH, and the property management company is legit the best one we’ve ever dealt with; they have fantastic people working for them. Plus, our neighborhood is incredibly walkable – there are nearby parks, grocery stores, restaurants, and it’s an easy commute to downtown for work.
- Bella LOVES snow and hates the heat. I’m not sure how she would’ve held up with the East Coast’s humidity during the summertime – she was plopping down in the shaded grass after 3-4 minutes outside in dry 85 degree heat here. When it snows, she only wants to walk on the parts of the ground that have snow – she also shoves her snout into the snow and gets it all over her face, it’s the cutest.
- I can thrift shop. Yes, thrift stores exist in NYC, but I was too sketched out by them because of an early bed bug scare that happened the second month I lived in NYC. Nowadays, I can take 2-3 hours on a Saturday and shop at Arc and Goodwill to my heart’s desire.
- Overall, life is less of a “hassle” in Denver. I feel much less stress and anxiety now. #winwin
The Not So Good Stuff
- I gained weight. For awhile, I struggled to understand WHY this was happening, and then I finally realized some changes that happened. Honestly, my day-to-day life did DRASTICALLY change when we moved. First, I sat at home from March until July while I was job searching. Secondly, I didn’t realize how active I was on a daily basis living in NYC until I left. Looking back, I walked between 3-4 miles a day, ran around visiting schools T-FR for my job, and that was 100 percent my normal. And you know what I do now? I work in a gorgeous historic building at a desk with a laptop in front of my face the entire day and barely move. #ughh Yeah soo that’s been a significant lifestyle change and my body is like “WTF Marah?”. I hate how insecure it makes me feel so I recently started to track what I’m eating with the MyFitnessPal app because I also mindlessly snack at work (our office usually has popcorn, trail mix, dark chocolate, etc.) and want to be more intentional about NOT snacking so much.
- Aldi doesn’t exist here. I think my heart broke a little bit more just now when I typed that. I am a HUGE Aldi grocery store fan, and the fact that no Aldi’s exist in the entire state of Colorado blows my mind. The grocery bill has increased significantly because now we’re shopping at Trader Joe’s and King Soopers (it’s like Kroger).
- I’ve felt shame about not being a total outdoorsy type. “But that’s why everyone moves here!” – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this line. No, I don’t ski or snowboard, and before we went camping (my first time ever) it was the most anxious I had felt since moving to Colorado. Yes, I’m down for hiking and yes, I’m down to go camping more next year during the summer, but you won’t see me on any slopes this winter.
- Flights are SO much more expensive. It would cost between $220-275 roundtrip to go home for Thanksgiving from Newark. This year? It cost nearly $400, and we bought airline tickets over 90 days in advance. We were spoiled with competitive pricing due to there being 3 airports in the metro area in NYC, and we’ve had to come to the realization that it’s simply more expensive to travel from Denver.
- An unassuming Denver skyline. I got spoiled with the NYC view – it doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen it, the sight of it is striking every.single.time. Denver’s is mehh.
- Bad Pizza. #RIP. No but seriously, pizza here doesn’t even register on the scale. It’s totally different styles of pizza. New Jersey and New York-style pizza is untouchable.
With all of that said, New York City will always, always have a special place in my heart, and I’m sure I’ll continue to come back and visit for years and years to come. It was exhilarating to feel like a tourist in my own city – I had so much more energy to give while visiting there than I ever did living there.
xx Marah Elizabeth
