walking

I do an extreme amount of walking everyday in this city. For example.......I walk to the dog boutique I work at and it is just over 1/2 a mile. I walk there and back. I also walk to my subway which is about .3 miles several times a day.....my gym is the same distance. Often times when meeting friends for wine or dinner I'll walk a half or full mile to and fro. I think about my life in Gainesville where I would drive everywhere, even to get coffee half a mile away and I laugh. Your body just adjusts here. I went for months getting blisters, etc though until my body and feet adjusted. While this is great exercise, sometimes it's just so HARD and ANNOYING!! LOL. I often get to 75th and Broadway coming home from the subway or grocery, and I have only 2 Avenues left to walk, but they seem so long, and on cold, windy days, those avenues just about kill me!! Speaking of Avenues, to those of you who do not know......NYC is a grid system. From the bottom of the city, to the top, the roads are streets and typically in numerical order going upwards. For example, i'm on 75th and if I want I can walk to say......Times Square which starts around 46th. That is roughly 30 streets/blocks. In NYC 20 blocks is a mile. Going East to West are Avenues and they are twice the length of streets, so 10 Avenues is a mile. Knowing this is wonderful as I'm constantly calculating my distances. And this also has made this city extremely easy to master. East to West/ North to South. Only in the villages or Soho areas do I get confused as the streets begin to have names and go off the grid into little side streets. :)
I'm on the west side and 4 Avenues from central park, but I'm right along Riverside park which runs about 40 blocks along the Hudson. It's a really lovely run.

Anyway, I started this post b/c lately, on the weekends, when going to the studio (that's right. I'm currently in classes at the studio 7 days a week.....so I haven't had a day off in forever) I've been walking. My studio is on 7th and 37th (btw Times Square and Macys'). This is almost 40 blocks and several avenues and comes out to just under 2.5 miles. I started doing this recently not only for the exercise, but also b/c my schedule is incredibly hectic and has me running from work to the subway to school and vice versa, to the gym and home. A lot of my time is spent at the studio or on the Upper West Side, and I start forgetting the city and staying only in my little comfort zones. Life so easily becomes a drudgery here! So on the weekends when I don't have to be in class until 10 or 1030 and don't work before, I get up and walk. Despite that it's a bit cold for my tastes....this practice has been rejuvenating! Sometimes I walk up 8th Avenue after reaching Columbus Circle (this is the corner of 59th and where Central park starts along the West side) sometimes 7th or even 6th. I'm seeing so many great things! Restaurants, bars, cafes, shops---all that i'm dying to try and explore if only I had the time!! Anyway, Saturday is was a warmer morning--like 45--and I walked to the studio with coffee in hand and music in my ears (Pandora tuned to a Missy Higgins station). At one point in my walk, the song 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' by Isaac Kamakawiwo'ole came on the station. At that moment I looked up and the skies were the most magnificent blue with the city just laid OUT in front of me. It was such a perfect moment to me, walking at 9am, with a coffee here in NYC, on my way to my acting studio. I cannot quite describe it!!! These are those moments when I know I'm here for a reason and that my passions will one day be rewarded. I walked the rest of the way, with such an air of confidence I wish I had a picture of it. I felt that nothing will stand in my way and that I had become and am becoming an unstoppable force!!! I was at the studio from 10-5 that day and had such a great day. I had a professor of mine (my Mask class teacher) take me aside and tell me I was a great actress and artist and that I had something special that I needed to continue with at all costs! What a compliment that was to me....here in NYC!  If only I could keep that confidence and momentum! lol. I now know how to find that energy in myself when I need an extra boost of confidence. Even if it's just at a bar or speaking with a stranger--that energy is a valuable resource!  It comes and goes as it does with all......but I believe we need it when pursuing whatever it is in our lives that we are passionate about. And, I encourage everyone to find their passions and pursue them!!! Our lives are so short and our world truly needs more people doing what they love, as that is when we are at our best!!!
Well, I'm off to bed!