I used the days to settle into my second home and to acclimatize to the big city.
I began the new week in New York and in the depths of winter. In a different time zone and with the jet lag that comes with it. The change of location is always an exciting moment in my life. When everyday life is shaken up a bit and everything seems new for a few days before you settle in and get into a new rhythm. Over the years, New York has become a second home for me. The tougher, louder, more extreme home. But at the same time, the livelier, more colorful, and more diverse one. I look forward to the people. The neighbors, the friends, the people on the street. The smells, the food, the atmosphere. Olafur Eliasson comes to mind and his statement that daylight is different in every place in the world and we only notice it when we really become aware of it. There are some things that are different here and that the subconscious senses. Besides the light, there’s also the air, the wind. And the crowds and density of people, which create a completely different energy that hangs over the city. At first, all of this makes everything feel different, feel new.
Feeling good to be back
Free your mind
This in turn suggests that you can achieve anything you want. That you are free from burdens and prejudices and can do what you have wanted to do for a long time. Something you could actually have every day, but you are not aware of it or make excuses not to do what you would like to do. The human psyche is sometimes a little inscrutable.
On a run in snowy Central Park
Subtle differences
Since I haven’t felt snow under my feet this winter, one of my first activities was a walk in Central Park. The park is also one of those things. Familiar yet different. In certain places, it seems like an endless forest. Well-known, but not quite the same. At second glance, the trees are completely different from those in the forests over in Central Europe. And a few yards further on, the towers of the big city reappear through the crowns of the leafless winter trees.
Ice and the city
Being just myself
I like these contrasts and the almost infinite variety in everything that exists here. And how you can take what you like from this big picture without worrying about the rest. Without judging, condemning, or suppressing it. That’s what makes New York unique for me and still one of my favorite places, even though great parts of the country are drifting in a completely different direction right now.
Upper West Side walls
