The most memorable time I trusted my instinct was when I decided to move back home. After years of being away from my family while pursuing graduate school education and the subsequent career opportunities in NYC, I decided it was time to go home.
It was the Thanksgiving weekend when my roommates were gone, and I was having dinner alone. Although I had experienced lonely holiday dinners before, for some reason, the situation seemed absurd. Why should I do this? What for? For whom?
Although I did not know at the time, through questioning myself, I started to “trust” my instinct in what content life should consist of: family, friends, happiness, etc.
In other words, I was ready to get off the rat race in the most exciting but sleep-deprived city.
After a decade of working in NYC after finishing graduate school and experiencing amazing opportunities, the city that “never sleeps” provided seemed like the “right” time to move back home.
Since moving back in 2007, I have experienced some of my life’s best and worst times. Moving back in with my family, enjoying the family vacations, home-cooking meals, and generally upbeat feelings of contentment were some of the best times since I made the most significant decision sixteen years ago.
However, I also experienced the worst time of my life since then: my dad’s passing in 2015.
Witnessing his sickness for a few years and then losing him was the worst moment in my life. Experiencing all the negative emotions- sadness, anger, bitterness-during that time, I did not have the wisdom of hindsight I now have.
Recognizing I had the most happy eight years of the time I had with my dad was the insight I gained over the years. I am so grateful for the time I spent with him, and my decision to move back home on one fateful Thanksgiving weekend was not my decision but rather some divine intervention I cannot explain.
I used to think it was my “decisive” nature that made the decision to move back home; however, it was the unexplainable “instinct” that guided me to the most critical decision, the instinct that provided the happiest times of my life.
Life Outside of Design Studio 