"Welcome to New York. It's been waiting for you."

People often say when it rains, it pours.I am a firm believer in this. Why, you ask? Because almost everything major in my life happens in one monstrous wave, a tsunami of transformation of high-stress, good feelings, and forcing everyone around me to run like hell to accommodate the changes.I was offered an internship in New York City recently to go along with my graduate program. I'm also sitting on major writing news. They both came on the same day. They were both then finalized on the same day.There are zero complains about how this played out. I couldn't be more happy. Jugging a writing career, graduate school and an internship is a fun way to have my cup runneth over, and I'm blessed.As I was walking through the streets of Midtown with my friend Kunal and my parents, scouting apartments and discussing possibilities, it struck me how many fears I'm conquering by making this move.When I was 16 years old, I read the first YA title ever that had a South Asian protagonist. The book,Born Confused, had all the makings of a magical story--a creative Indian girl, a love story with an unexpected Indian boy, the lights of New York City bringing dreams of promise...For an entire year, that's exactly what I wanted: a life in a big city with even bigger dreams, maybe even as a writer although back then it seemed like that would never happen because I'd much rather be a doctor.In the coming years, it became scary. Somehow, the idea of New York went from being this epitome of powerful dreaming to a place that felt startlingly overwhelming. I had to take baby steps to get here--a stint in Boston, a move on my own to an apartment in State College, time in Nashville on my own...and finally, with a leap of faith, Manhattan.Now...I'm living it. I'm a writer, with two post-grad degrees and while not a doctor, I'm in healthcare, and I now live in New York City...unexpectedly, surprisingly, and bravely.This blog post isn't a pat on my own back for how cool I am...because so many things went a little crazy with this move, and a lot could have been done more smoothly in my life. But it is a reminder of one thing: one of my favorite quotes, "Leap and the net will appear."I've never been more convinced how true that saying is. That if you just take a giant jump into the unknown, sometimes great things happen. I think 17-year old me would be pretty happy to hear how it turned out.