So Saturday night I faced one of my fears and lived to tell the tale. I went to NYC alone. Not intentionally though. My original plan involved a friend who actually LIVES in the city and complains she never goes anywhere and never does anything. I’ve finally realized its because she is afraid to do anything else.
Anyhew because she bailed out on me, once again I tried my best to invite people I thought might enjoy the evening I had planned but came up empty. I then had two choices 1) I could ‘eat’ the $84 I spent on tickets (without any possible refund) OR 2) I could go it alone.
Now I don’t drive into the city I take the train. My fears in going at night alone include: possibly getting, being mugged, raped or lost or any combination of those three. Or feeling insecure in doing something alone In the end, nothing bad happened.
Infact, a lot of GOOD happened. I walked through my fear. I dressed in a blue striped sweaterdress, tights and tall black boots. I wore “night makeup” and a good attitude.
I got to the city much earlier than I probably should have but wanted to time to take my time. I decided to walk from Penn Station to Union Square. It was a good 19 blocks. My nervous energy made the time fly by. I got to Union Square to find it brightly lit up in twinkle lights bustling with people. How could I ever think I’d be alone?
After my window shopping I found the theatre location and walked over to a nearby Starbucks to grab seat and a smoothie. After that I found myself in a darkly lit bar with red twinkle lights ordering a seltzer. One guy chatted with me for a bit and after a few more seltzers and a red bull enough time had passed for me to make my way to the show.
It was fabulous. Back in the day a friend of miney (who was a culture vulture like myself) told me about this show. I’d always wanted to see it. Part of me was bummed out about having to “eat” one of the tickets. My ex later helped me rationalize that since I got the tickets for half price I really wasn’t paying more for the performance than any other ticketholder who paid full price. I liked that perspective.
The stage hands herded us into a large room with an expansive ceiling. It was dark except for large red spot lights and a fog machine filling the air. Thumping club music kept the upbeat spirit that would carry the crowd and myself throughout the show.
This show was like Blue Man Group on crack. It was excellent. I won’t spoil it by telling you the details. What I will say is I had the very best time that I would have missed HAD I let my fears rob me of it.
It was late when I got out, but hey this is NYC. On a Saturday night again plenty of people I was never alone. Not in the streets, not on the subway nor on the LIRR.
I was home by 2:30 a.m. with a smile on my face and my legs achy from dancing.
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