New York Minutes
“In a New York minute, everything can change.
In a New York minute, you can get out of the rain.
In a New York minute, everything can change…
”
I used to return from my many adventures overseas looking forward to the iconic skyline and rush of New York. The sirens, bustling stores, restaurants, outdoor cafes, and even the crazy delivery people on bicycles. Most of all, I looked forward to the concept of change. As Nora Ephron encapsulated in Kathleen Kelly’s quote about New York when her little book store closed.
“…someone, some foolish person, will probably think it's a tribute to this city, the way it keeps changing on you, the way you can never count on it, or something. I know because that's the sort of thing I'm always saying. ….”
My return this past Wednesday, however, wasn’t like my past returns. Not because New York had changed, though, but because I had.
Please don’t misunderstand, New York has changed. A lot of the buildings I remembered as parts of the skyline are now hidden behind others. Violence on the subways is up and so is inequity. Many, many stores and restaurants I loved have shuttered due to the pandemic, and the lights of Broadway and Lincoln Center are struggling to return. And while I have no doubt the Empire City will make a triumphant return with time, that’s not the sort of change I mean.
What I do mean is the fundamental transformative, from the inside-out kind of change.
I felt like Alice in Wonderland; all of a sudden, the things I’d remembered to have been bigger, were somehow smaller. And I didn’t fit any more. I was much too big. And no, I don’t mean I packed on the “quarantine 15”. As I came back through the New York looking glass I’d been staring into my whole life, a different person looked back at me. A tanned, colorful, happier, more radiant person, full of confidence and readiness to bring her “Radically Human” vision to the world. (On a side note, Thank you, Tenagne Jeffries, Peter Seigleman, and Erika Emeruwa, for recognizing that in me).
Add to that, the fact that the weather had suddenly turned into a rainy, cold winter after I’d just spent 6 months in sunny summer, and you can imagine the unanticipated head trip I took.
In a New York minute, the moth-like, emotionally fragile Holly I had known 6 months earlier -- struggling to organize and pack her bags, overwhelmed with finding her purpose, community and place in this world -- had grown some very exciting wings that would carry her everywhere she chose to go. That her life and purpose were whatever she wanted them to be. And that her community was everyone she chose share her vision with. That she was the infinite sunshine she had been looking for everywhere else.
My friends, “In a New York Minute” you too have every opportunity to choose to change, no matter who or where you are.
And if you aren’t sure of the first steps, you know the Radical Human you can turn to for support along the path.
Holly Lynch is a 20+ year communications veteran and life-long social impact advocate and strategist who has helped individuals, educational leaders, and companies tackle the toughest challenges in their worlds.
Having survived countless life setbacks and two rounds with terminal cancer, while seeing the country-wide collapse of the systems and safety nets for the most vulnerable in and outside our communities, she is now shifting her life and career trajectories to focus on coaching those facing down fundamental shifts and transitions as they try to navigate and rebuild their lives, institutions and businesses during these unprecedented times.