DNYUZ
  • Home
  • News
    • U.S.
    • World
    • Politics
    • Opinion
    • Business
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Science
  • Entertainment
    • Culture
    • Music
    • Movie
    • Television
    • Theater
    • Gaming
    • Sports
  • Tech
    • Apps
    • Autos
    • Gear
    • Mobile
    • Startup
  • Lifestyle
    • Arts
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health
    • Travel
No Result
View All Result
DNYUZ
No Result
View All Result
Home News

I was scared to leave NYC — but I moved to Nashville, fell in love, and have been happily living here for a decade

July 10, 2025
in News
I was scared to leave NYC — but I moved to Nashville, fell in love, and have been happily living here for a decade
492
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Woman with baby in carrier on her chest waiting for subway
It wasn’t easy to leave New York City, but moving to Nashville has been a huge, great step in my life.

Amelia Edelman

New York or nowhere. It’s a T-shirt and an Instagram, but it was also my personal motto for most of my young life.

I was born in the Bronx, got my first post-college apartment in Queens, spent nearly a decade in a fifth-floor walk-up in Manhattan, and brought my first baby home to Brooklyn.

In high school and college, I spent time living in Connecticut, Poughkeepsie, and Scotland, but always felt the draw back to NYC.

By age 30, I’d spent most of my life in the city, and was living my own NYC dream working at a buzzy women’s media company.

I had never imagined living anywhere else. Then, I hit my breaking point.

After a reality check, I gave myself permission to leave New York

Woman sleeping on bus with baby on her lap
Being a single mom in New York City came with challenges.

Amelia Edelman

New York wasn’t just my city; it was a huge part of my identity.

However, I was burned out at my job, underpaid, and commuting hours on the subway between Manhattan and my shoebox of an apartment in Crown Heights.

I was paying a nanny most of my salary just so I could have the privilege of … not seeing my newborn.

After each day speed-editing dozens of articles and pumping breastmilk in a closet at the office, I would sprint to the subway at 7 p.m. in hopes of seeing my son while he was still awake.

I would never make it back in time. I’d kiss his sleeping face, pay the nanny, and cry.

By the time my son outgrew his bassinet and needed to transition to a crib, it became clear my tiny apartment was too small for us.

A crib and an adult bed didn’t fit in the space, so I gave the latter away and spent the last six months of my New York life sleeping on a bedroll on the floor.

And I finally gave myself permission to consider the impossible: leaving. I just wasn’t sure where to go next.

Nashville wasn’t the plan, but it was the answer

Downtown Nashville skyline along water
Nashville seemed like a city I could really enjoy living in.

RudyBalasko/Getty Images

I knew I wanted to live in a city, but I needed somewhere cheaper (and way more chill) than New York.

I didn’t want to relive my teen years in the Connecticut suburbs, or even that blissful but too-quiet year in college when I lived on the coast of northern Scotland.

I wanted my son to grow up in a real community: walking to public school and the playground and pizza parlor like I did as a little kid in the Bronx. I wanted to take him to museums and music venues.

Soon, Nashville was on my radar — once I factored in my other wants, it seemed like the biggest, most diverse, most affordable city I could afford.

I told my employer I was moving, and that I could quit or they could let me go remote. They let me keep my job. I bought a four-bedroom house in East Nashville with a monthly mortgage that was close to half my rent in Brooklyn.

My new block had coffee shops, bars, a pharmacy, a pizza parlor, a bodega, and a vintage store that was also an art gallery that was also a music venue. So Brooklyn! I felt right at home.

Kid walking down empty street in Nashville during sunset
My life moves at a slower pace in Nashville than it did in New York City, but I’ve gotten used to it.

Amelia Edelman

Sure, at first everything felt … slow. I didn’t live near downtown, so the bustle dial was turned way down.

Initially, it was hard to sleep without sirens and shouting outside my window. But as the weeks turned into months, I started to notice I was breathing easier.

Nashville gave me more space — not just physical space (for a crib and a bed, imagine!) but space in my day that was no longer spent commuting, hauling a stroller up and down stairs, and rushing to the laundromat.

It gave me more accessible green spaces than New York had; my son and I could be out on a hike within 20 minutes, no Metro-North train ride necessary.

Without a long commute, I had time to make real dinners, to lounge on porches, and to get to know my neighbors. I made friends, joined a nonprofit, and started teaching yoga at the local studio.

I had the emotional space to date around casually and have fun.

When my son was 2 ½, I met one particular musician. He was calm but passionate, goofy but grounded, Southern polite but also punk rock. He loved my son.

By year five in Nashville, we were married. Year six, he adopted my son. That same year, our second son was born.

Moving was the best decision I was scared to make

House with snow on its roof, lawn, and a kid out front
I’ve enjoyed raising my kids in Nashville.

Amelia Edelman

There’s a common fear among people who leave big cities that we’re somehow giving up. I definitely felt it.

I worried that moving to a smaller city would mean trading ambition for comfort. My work changed, yes.

I later shifted away from a traditional media job into freelance and consulting work, but I’m making more money now since I’m paid per project rather than being expected to work endless hours for an unchanging salary.

Now, I work smarter, not harder. I live smarter. I’ve stopped defining myself solely by my ever-climbing corporate media job title, or my precious 917 area code.

Nashville gave me the space to grow in unexpected directions. I have a garden, I volunteer, and I made friends who didn’t care about who I worked for. I built a community that is unparalleled in its supportive and radically inclusive nature.

This city isn’t perfect, but it’s become home. At the time, leaving New York felt like the biggest risk of my life. Today, I think of how scared I was of the best decision I ever made, and laugh.

It’s been nearly a decade since I left New York, and although I still visit my “hometown” often and miss it dearly sometimes, I don’t regret the move for a second.

Well, maybe I just regret not leaving 10 years earlier.

The post I was scared to leave NYC — but I moved to Nashville, fell in love, and have been happily living here for a decade appeared first on Business Insider.

Share197Tweet123Share
‘Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess’ Is a Hidden Gem, One That Shines Brighter Than Ever Before on Switch 2
News

‘Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess’ Is a Hidden Gem, One That Shines Brighter Than Ever Before on Switch 2

by VICE
July 10, 2025

Do you like tower defense? What about hack & slash games? Maybe a wee bit of town builder gameplay in ...

Read more
News

Russia bombs Kyiv as Ukraine donors meet in Rome

July 10, 2025
News

Missouri Governor Signs Bill Rolling Back Voter-Approved Minimum Wage and Sick Leave

July 10, 2025
News

Linda Yaccarino lost her blue checkmark… but now it’s back

July 10, 2025
Entertainment

Who is Maxwell Lord and why is he funding the Justice Gang in James Gunn’s Superman?

July 10, 2025
The One Place Where Nuclear War Isn’t Abstract

The One Place Where Nuclear War Isn’t Abstract

July 10, 2025
MMA star Ben Askren says he ‘died 4 times’ and received double lung transplant

MMA star Ben Askren says he ‘died 4 times’ and received double lung transplant

July 10, 2025
England-India: Root’s 99 keeps tourists at bay on day one of third Test

England-India: Root’s 99 keeps tourists at bay on day one of third Test

July 10, 2025

Copyright © 2025.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • U.S.
    • World
    • Politics
    • Opinion
    • Business
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Science
  • Entertainment
    • Culture
    • Gaming
    • Music
    • Movie
    • Sports
    • Television
    • Theater
  • Tech
    • Apps
    • Autos
    • Gear
    • Mobile
    • Startup
  • Lifestyle
    • Arts
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health
    • Travel

Copyright © 2025.