Mover's remorse

Do you regret moving to New York? On a WiredNY thread pondering that question, some hate the pedestrian traffic, the Europeans, the noise, the strollers, the people who pay more attention to their electronic gadgets than their surroundings, and the expense, but most have no regrets. Here are a few responses you may be able to relate to:

• I don't regret it. A lot of opportunities have opened up to me since setting foot here. However, it's not the easiest place to live by any stretch of the imagination. NYC is a city you have to have a good reason for moving to, more than any other, I think. Come here with a purpose and a plan, or it can become overwhelming really fast.
• NYC is such an amazing place, a place you go and test yourself. But the intensity gets into you over time, at least I felt that myself. It was pretty cool to be able to almost walk to my work downtown, to live in a little neighborhood where you know all the vendors and can get almost everything within five blocks, but then there are the other things. The way that even walking down the street to get a carton of milk, the pace of everyone walking makes you walk fast, makes you even pass people. There is no such thing as a "stroll" in NY, even when you stroll. NYC is for a time in your life I think, something to do, to feel, to achieve. But it has a way of narrowing your vision too, and makes you forget that it would be really nice to have an extra room in your house/apt where you do nothing but create, nice to see trees everywhere. I found that the best thing, after having lived there big time, is to live connected to it, not IN it.
• I have a love/hate relationship with New York. It's mostly love, but the hate parts are strong at times, like when there's a giant paper shredding truck parked beneath my windows for 2 hours...or when I see a beautiful old building torn down for a junk replacement. I also resent paying 3 times as much for every little thing compared to elsewhere. But somehow the love wins over.
• I moved here from Chicago in 1975. I was 25 but felt like a kid in a candy shop. 35 years later I still feel that excitement in NYC. I have never regretted the move.

(Wired NY)