Lately, I have been hearing more and more women my age talk about how difficult it is to date, make new friends, or have any kind of deep relationship with another person. I'm starting to think the phrase, "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere," is being taken a little bit too seriously. Let's face it, New York: we're obsessed with our careers. We're so scared to not making it, that our personal lives often fall by the wayside. There's a great quote in The Devil Wears Prada, when the young heroin solemnly looks to a co-worker for advice with a personal problem, missing her boyfriend's birthday party for a work event, and he promptly answers, "Let me know when your entire life goes up in smoke, then it's time for a promotion."
Hey you, answering work emails in the movie theater, I'm talking to you.
How many times have we missed a friend's birthday party, or a cousin's communion because we've had to work on the weekends? Or maybe it's because we're just too burnt out from the week. And what about dating? No, I don't mean meeting someone at Argo Tea on your lunch break for 45 minutes because that's all you have time for. I mean real, deep, all-consuming dating. Or god forbid, falling in love and getting married. Yes, I understand you may have to take a week off from work for your Honeymoon but don't worry, there will be plenty more data for you to enter into Excel when you get back.
Now ladies, I know what you're thinking, there are no good guys out there so why even put down the Blackberry to let one buy you a drink? Don't you miss the fun of getting ready on a Saturday night? Or chatting about it with your sister the next day over brunch? I know that a lot of guys are work obsessed too, and it's not always easy to find out who's wild and free. I'm not suggesting you go down to the Lower East Side and try to lure one over with the smell of Clove cigarettes and patchouli oil (if we're being frank, the smell of incense just doesn't do it for me anymore fellas). And while I know his flexible barista work schedule fits into your 65-hour work week, and his acoustic rendition of Morrissey's "Girlfriend in a Coma" shows you what a sensitive soul he has, do you really need to hear it for the third time in a row at two o'clock in the morning?
Try Match.com (it's not that scary!), or meet your friend's co-worker she's been dying to set you up with, even if he does work on Wall Street and you've sworn off "the suits." Stop dating the same yuppie who's been stringing you along for four months without committing. I can guarantee you he's sleeping with someone else. Let me save you a trip to the gynecologist and a 10 day round of antibiotics. Please take my advice. Remember what the book says? He's really just not that into you. I'm sorry.
The point is ladies, there's more to life out there. If you have the type of job where your boss won't let you go on vacation, even when you've told him five months in advance, tell him to shove it. And don't get me wrong, I love New York, but we all really do need to calm down.