A Year in NOLA — BigsBlogs

It's been quite some time since my last blog entry and I suppose that's not really a surprise. After a year where everything was so new and fresh, the novelty of a place will always rub off a tad. That's not to say that I'm bored or frustrated with this city yet (although there is plenty to frustrate one). Or that I'm no longer delighted and surprised by her many magical moments. NOLA still holds a seemingly unlimited capacity for those and they more than compensate for her foibles.

This coming year is very much one where I intend to build on the foundations of the last twelve months and I feel as energised and excited about my purpose in life as I've ever been. Bearing that in mind, it makes sense to write a little something to reflect on these past twelve months and what the future might hold.

I'm happy to report that there have been almost no negatives that I can really point to. The only outlier was having my heart a little bruised by someone. It's unusual only in that for a very, very long time I've had an almost total mastery of my emotions. This unsettled my orbit a little and the circumstances are such that nothing will ever come of it. In many ways I'm relieved because I now know that I'm still capable of powerful emotions that I long thought were in a state of permanent hibernation.

On the plus side, being hurt made me realise it had been many years since anything made me feel genuinely sad. Emotions are always a bit harder to process if you aren't accustomed to them and that was certainly the case in this instance. In many ways I'm grateful as it made me aware just how lucky I had been over the years to take happiness for granted.

It also helps that my brain is very forgetful so I can get over most troubles relatively quickly. It's amazing to think that the most complex and mysterious object in the known universe is quietly nestled in each and every one of us. And yet many (especially myself) spend the better part of our lives actively buggering it up. I'm still not sure whether mine is highly efficient or just a bit useless.

Living here has certainly helped me to become a more emotionally open and less opaque human being. I'm much less afraid to discuss my fears and vulnerabilities. Living in a city where people are not afraid to talk about themselves (in all respects) has certainly been a catalyst for this change. In any case, I'm a firm believer that romance is a poetry of circumstance (Robert Louis Stevenson's words, unbelievably, not mine). Dwelling on the past is a fool's game but writing about it does at least achieve a certain level of catharsis. But it's hard to feel sad for long when the future feels so open, so exciting and oh so wonderfully unpredictable.

It's reassuring to think that twelve months ago I came here with no guaranteed job, meager savings, one local friend and only a vague blueprint of what I hoped to achieve with my life here. I knew I wanted my work to be of real, tangible benefit to society and for it to allow me a degree of flexibility and freedom not afforded by a 9 to 5 desk job. It seems a shame to me to waste the fortune of a decent education on enriching yourself and not humanity. Ideally it would be something that I had a measure of control over and would reflect my values. After a year, I feel like the foundations for this life have been set in place and the process of building on them will be satisfyingly ambitious.

Financial illiteracy blights 70% of this country's population. And no one is doing a great deal to fix it. So there's something of a market out there to work on. Flyte is only a sapling at the moment but it has already notched up a few successes and the feedback from clients has been overwhelmingly good. I feel confident that I'll be able to build it into an organisation capable of extraordinary change for the betterment of this city and maybe beyond, if I'm lucky.

What I also hoped for was a life that my future children and grandchildren could feel inspired by, not bored by. Travelling through exotic and potentially perilous countries and taking part in self-congratulatory sporting feats is all well and good. But they should really be a compliment to a satisfying working life. I'm still a good distance away from a place where I feel like I've been successful but things are on track and moving forward, which is encouraging enough for the time being.

Leaving London and the banking industry also helped me shake off the notion that a successful life should me measured in wealth alone. Certainly, a measure of financial independence is liberating. Unfortunately living anything close to a comfortable life and doing something demonstratively do-gooding with your work are two things that are almost incompatible in London.

In any case, success is also something that one defines for one's own self and everyone measures it differently. For those reasons I would never look down on anyone who thinks that a great salary and a corner office with a nice waste paper bin will lead to complete emotional fulfillment. Because it might well do. If I derived my happiness from my current income, I'd be a manic depressive.

Working with Propeller Incubator has also been a very rewarding experience. When I started last March they had six different finance consultants, including me. Now there's only one, in-house. No prizes for guessing who. My colleagues are great and it's a genuine pleasure being in the office. From prior experience, that's a rare thing. The companies I've worked with have also been interesting, diverse and inspiring. It gives me immense sense of pride to think of the work we've done together. This year promises to be even more exciting as we're launching a loan fund that targets social enterprises. A first in New Orleans.

Other endeavors like my clandestine film screening business have trundled along nicely. The Carpark Cinema has now screened over fifteen films, with varying degrees of success. It even has a semi-permanent pop up location (in a car park, surprisingly). I even make a little money from it from time to time, which is nice.

Pedicabbing continues to keep me in half decent shape and out of too much trouble. Getting paid to get fit is certainly better than a gym membership. A year on and I still enjoy doing it just as much. Perhaps even more as I'm now capable of navigating the French Quarter's grueling one way system. There are few jobs more entertaining and fun than pedaling around in a giant yellow tricycle and lounging in the sun with a book when you're not busy. I've started bringing my laptop out with me so it's sort of become a mobile office too.

My new found friends here are also something I'm immensely grateful and happy for. Coming from a very small family, I treat many of my friends are extensions of my family. My love for them can often be equally as deep and complex. One of the main worries about moving here was that I wouldn't be able to replicate friendships that were as close and emotionally rewarding as back home.

Thankfully this place seems to attract some of the most diverse, open hearted and open minded people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. My time here would have been far less fun, exciting and interesting without them. I'm nothing but grateful for their enriching presence in my life. Y'all know who you are.

To top it all off, one of my dearest and oldest friends Sebastian decided to move into the room next door to mine. He came here for Halloween and came back three months later. This happens to a lot of people who visit. I heard of a couple from Texas who came here for a weekend and refused to leave. They bought a house and had all of their things shipped down. There's just something in the water here, booze mostly. You're next.

I repeat this a lot (because I'm forgetful) but this city feels like the purest expression of the human soul. An embodiment of the boundless capabilities of humanity's ability to express itself, usually in the form of love and all its various trappings. I suppose that's why I'm never really sad or lonely here. How can you be when there are so many wonderful people around you.

My actual love life, apart from the aformentioned emotional hiccup, is probably not something I'll discuss in much detail in this blog. Suffice it to say, being a British born and raised man in the prime of is life in New Orleans is probably a little like the experience of an American GI in Europe after World War Two. I'll leave you to make of that what you will.

Other goals for the year are more modest. I'd like to learn a dance. Something easy like Swing. I'd like to do more Yoga and free myself from the tyranny of inflexible limbs. I'd like to work closer with community organisations. I'd like to travel a little more in America. In short, I'd like to do lots of things.

Life always moves in mysterious and unpredictable ways and it's all the richer for it. If the last twelve months are anything to go by, I have a lot to be excited about. As one friend put it, 'If you have a shred of intelligence and an ounce of ambition in this town, you can go far.' I firmly believe that will hold true.