There is a certain anonymity that comes with living in a city and it’s no exception in San Francisco. Yet, unlike other cities I’ve lived in, I can walk out my door completely alone and not feel alone in the slightest.
I moved to San Francisco after turning down law school, instead taking a job with a software start-up making less than what a year of tuition would have cost me. It was a decision that changed my life in ways I never could have anticipated. Ten months in I was laid off. Struggling with the ramifications of the decision to forgo law school made the months of unemployment hellish.
Unemployment checks covered little more than my overpriced rent and I spent most of my days job hunting, so it wasn’t uncommon for me to look at the clock at 2:00 PM only to realize I hadn’t left the house all day. As time passed the walls started to close in on me and the loneliness was palpable. But even stepping outside on the foggiest of days I immediately felt less alone. Whether it be the ladies at Nail Pretty giving me a hug upon entering their nail salon or the barista at La Boulange expanding a “hello, how are you?” into an engaging conversation, complete strangers started to save me. And that is what is incredible about our city – the people of San Francisco lift up everyone around them. We are carried by those who love it here just as much as we do.
The people are inclusive and warm. And that anonymity that I crave in a city, that certain thing that allows you to reinvent yourself time and time again, is the same thing that makes you feel less alone. Because you really can be sitting alone in a coffee shop, being comforted and energized by people you probably will never know.