Pivot. Roots.

2010: Year of the Pivot.

First six months of the year, I owned my own company and was fantasizing about moving to New York. I was on a plane 4-6 times a month, money was tight, I was a stressed out basket case.

Then Along Came June.

At the end of June, as I was getting on a plane to go to Israel, I accepted an out of the blue offer to join a tech start-up.

Since then I’ve started riding my bike regularly, stopped talking about work (because I can’t) and went into a bit of a sabbatical from being busy. As the year is ending, things are picking up again, but I’m in a totally different place than I was a year ago.

2011: Year of Roots.

I’ve been trying to leave Chicago since two weeks before the economy crashed in… what was it, 2008? I had my condo on the market, cried as I signed the dotted line to list it. Selling my condo meant that I could move to Israel.

Then the economy went in the shitter. The real estate market crashed. I quit my job, started a company and tried not to be in Chicago. I spent almost three months in Israel on business and personal trips, I went to New York weekly and occasionally found myself in Austin.

I hated my condo for becoming a ball and chain, keeping me in a city that I’d gotten over living in. I saw myself anywhere but here.

Then in 2010, the pivot. A job that commits me to Chicago for three more years. A new hobby (cycling) that intimately connects me to Chicago. A new friend from LA who needed a tour guide.

I stopped hating my condo. I stopped trying to leave Chicago. The next step is to put my roots back down. If I’m going to be here, I’m going to Be. Here.