I am going through a rough patch. This week, my brother called me, and as I was being hard on myself, he told me: “Julie, remember that post you made about NY years ago? That post was so beautiful. Read that post, and remember everything you said in it: those are things you really did, experiences you really lived, achievements you really had. Remember that”
Turns out, reading my Goodbye NY post was exactly what I needed to do.
Lately I have been forgetting about my achievements, and solely focusing on the negative. After several challenges in a short period of time, I had forgotten where it all started, and how far I had made it. I had forgotten about little Julie, and the fact that I realised ALL of her dreams, one at a time, by the time I was 28. When I wrote the post, I had no idea that only 2 years later, I would realise a big dream that 20-year-old Julie had: opening The Studio, in Paris, by age 30.
And I did not know that even this would not be the end of it, that there would be more challenges, more obstacles, and even more bouncing back.
If you’ve lived somewhere as extraordinary as NY, you might see similarities. If your life has changed in so many ways in the course of a few years, this post might resonate. If you are an entrepreneur it might resonate. And if you are a human being with dreams, and a human being who strive towards something good, it will probably resonate.
After reading it, I challenge you to do the same exercise: write down all the moments, big and small, that you lived over the past few years and that you will remember. Write down things that made up your life, things that made it special and extraordinary. Write down everything you’ve achieved, the people you’re grateful for, and all the little things that have made you who you are today.
I hope you enjoy, here it is:
11 years
11 years ago, I was an 18 year old Parisian girl who boarded a plane for Boston and I’m not gonna lie, was crying because it was supposed to be the longest time she had ever been away from home. I spoke very little English. I boarded that plane for what was supposed to be a 2-month trip. 11 years ago.
So here are some of the little things I will remember, and that made my time here be EVERYTHING. Lilo’s smile when I brought back a broken computer he had kindly lended me for the day. Boyko and I doing Grand Allegro in Studio 5. Daniel singing and playing guitar in the grass. Cassie and her Skinny Vanilla Lattes waiting for me everyday before class. The smell inside the Boston Ballet studios. Mike’s hard lemonade. My room in my first apartment not having a door and all the misadventures that ensued. Dancing. Jonathan singing “black bird” on a rooftop on Newberry on a Saturday afternoon. Meeting my darling Piglet, the most amazing dog that has ever walked on this earth, and teaching him how to walk on a leash. Evodia. Pauline and I refusing to talk for 6 months, only to become best friends forever later. Margarita night. Mike, thank you for being my biggest fan, for knowing me sometimes better than I know myself, and for all the ego boosts you have given me for 10 years now. To my first love, thank you for moving three cities with me, for making me eat, for being so awesome with my family. For being such an original, and for being so trustworthy. For dancing together. For having a ballet school together, and for being a true Superman when we did those Nutcrackers. For helping me with 4 moves, even though you weren’t involved in half of them. For carrying a 2-meter Christmas tree on a bike in the middle of December in Chicago. Thank you for being a good man.
During my time here I also remember falling in love with a woman for the first time, yea Melissa that would be you and your sexy legs, “How can it be?” 🙂. Being cold in Chicago. My first yoga class. Dancing. Making decisions. Getting the letter of acceptance to Baruch College just before going to work. Moving to New York. College. Seeing Rigoletto for the first time at the Met, and realizing one of my childhood’s dreams. Getting my drivers license in a Smart car. Angelina and I drinking our sorrows at Employees Only after the French presidential election, and re-becoming the best of friends. Then drinking not-our-sorrows at Employees Only many many times after that, and never paying a dime. Taking a shower with my sunglasses on. Saving a life on a random Saturday night. Going to the Ballet. Cooking with Andrea who is just better than me at it. 249 W 76th St, 3B. To my other love, thank you for making me feel what you made me feel. For making me discover some of the most beautiful places in the world. For your business advice. For having my back in critical situations. For Sunday mornings. For the orchids. For letting me use your driver as my personal mover. For the caprese salads in Capri. And for the special place we will always have in each other’s heart. Pauline, thanks for always celebrating with Champagne, and for my 24th birthday at Soho House, to this day, I never laughed that hard.
I will remember the first yoga class I ever taught. My sister and David, driving from DC to visit me every weekend, and freezing to death that morning in their car. Graduating from college. Getting the job at Equinox. Dancing. Meeting my idol Roberto Alagna, twice. The Sunsets from Brooklyn. Williamsburg, my love, you are probably my favorite neighborhood in the world.
My Frenchies.. Alex, for dealing with my perfectionist-self and staying hours working on that music every year. Alexandra and her wisdom and pep talks. Alexia and her smile, the balloons, the cakes, the flowers, and putting me on that car to the airport just now.
I’ll remember Ray being the ultimate workout buddy, my body double, and my dancing queen. That you drove from the Hamptons that day, just so we could spend the day together. How special you made my last day in NY, and everything else. Marie who packed my entire apartment while I laid there drinking coffee because I couldn’t move.
Amelia, Etty, and Laura.
To my homies at EQX Williamsburg : you’re the best bunch of people an instructor can get. You’re THE ultimate squad. Thank you for the support, the laughs, the smiles, for being there no matter what, for setting an alarm to book my class, for showing up early, for setting up my mat, and for staying til the end of the stretch. For knowing my choreography better than I do. For making me the successful instructor I am today. For that time you clapped and made me cry, and that I will never forget.
I’ll remember Springtime in New York. Shrimp salads at Jean George. Summer Thunderstorms. Ishi and Takako being the embodiment of kindness. The moment Carla Bruni told me I was beautiful. My last ballet show and my kids’ eyes. Love from children is the most honest of all. All of you who came to visit over the past few weeks, bringing coffee, lunch, dinner, books, love, and smiles. Those of you who were here on my last night in New York, and every word you said to me then. All the phone calls that were answered. And lastly, all the things that thankfully did not work out.
Living through all these things, going through hardships at times, meeting all of you, all of that together made me who I am today. Some of my friends in Paris tell me I am more American than I am French. My friends here tell me I’m much more French than I am American. I don’t know who is right, but I know that I am a combination of all the encounters, the experiences, the big things, and the little ones that have happened to me here for the past 11 years and shaped me into the woman I am today. Never did I think I would be here that long, achieve that much, or that my 20s would turn out to be so enriching and exciting. To all of you, to this country, to life: Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for EVERYTHING. I am taking all of it, and all of you, with me on my next journey and forever, and because of that, I know that wherever I am, I will be ok 😉🙏❤️
