Why I Left Irvine for New York

Happy Sunday.

I mentioned in Wednesday's newsletter that I moved from Irvine to New York City. A few of you wrote back asking why. Irvine is a great place to raise a family, great weather, safe, clean. Why leave?

Fair question. I've been thinking about how to answer it honestly.

I grew up in Sacramento and lived in Irvine for the last 10 years. Suburbia is all I've ever known, and for a long time I loved it. Everything was new when I first moved down there.

Over time though, the novelty wore off and I couldn't tell one week from the next. Nothing was wrong, and that was kind of the problem. I wasn't being pushed or uncomfortable. I was just comfortable, on repeat.

So I sold everything in about two weeks last May. No real plan, just a lease signed in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and I knew almost nobody out here.

The first few months were rough, I won't sugarcoat that part. I'd walk around trying to figure out where to eat, where to work out, where to exist.

Then slowly things started clicking. In Irvine, I had to manufacture friction. But in New York, friction is built into the day.

I run into a friend at the gym I didn't plan to see, stumble into a conversation at a coffee shop, or walk past a dachshund and end up talking to the owner for ten minutes. The weather changes, the energy on the block changes, and Tuesday genuinely feels different from Wednesday.

I found community spots like Vital and Othership, and I'm looking to join a creator campus soon. Started climbing three times a week, lifting four, sauna four. Got into the best shape of my life and made more friends in eight months than I did in five years in Irvine. I even became friends with the bodega guys and their cats.

The business doubled in that same stretch and I don't think that's a coincidence. When I started asking better questions about my own life, I started asking better questions about everything else.

I'm not knocking Irvine, it gave me a lot. But consistency and repetition aren't the same thing, and I confused them for a long time.

Enjoy your Sunday.

- Raymond

P.S. Ask yourself, are you happy with where you are?