I'm a single 30 yo closeted trans person who has been strongly considering making the move to the city from rural upstate town early next year but worried about the logistics with the current job market and economy
While I don't have a degree, I do have over 10 years of work experience with customer service and fast food jobs and will have been a full time assistant manager of a theater chain for a year in a couple of months. Also I'm a self taught comic artist with some small projects and commissions under my belt. As much as I would love to pursue a full time art career, with how volatile the industry is, I can only pursue it as a second job so I'll have to look for a job that I can my retail skills for
Here are the reasons I want to move to NYC over other cities in NY (I want to avoid moving out of state because of NY's legal protections for trans people):
-I have a long time supportive childhood friend who had successfully made the move and is thriving
-I want to experience queer culture and be a part of the queer community
-I want to start fresh as I've never moved out of my county before and there's a lot of transphobic people in my personal life that make it difficult for me to come out and would like to make some physical distance from
-I would like to network with art professionals to help further my art goals and career. Also just to be artistically inspired by the art scene and location
-I feel very stagnant and don't think I'll be able to grow much as a person
-I would like to finally be in a place where I don't need to own a car to get me to places
What's going against me:
-I'm a college dropout. I dropped out years ago for multiple reasons. I only have my high school degree
-I don't really have family support. I come from a lower middle class conservative family who hold some transphobic beliefs and don't really have the means to support me financially other than letting me stay from them
-I've never moved to a major city before
-Besides my childhood friend, I only know a few other people who live there but nowhere near aswell
I also want to clarify that I'm not going in expecting the NY city life that's portrayed in media. I'm not looking to move into a Manhattan apartment. I know I'll have to find roommates in a hopefully queer friendly neighborhood on the outskirts of Queens, Brooklyn, or even Long Island if I have to. I fully expect long commutes and be scrappy when it comes to money (I've had experience having to survive with little to no income before). I also expect to work more than one job (preferably a stablish full time job with a comic/art career on the side)
I guess my biggest concern is finding a non art job. If I'm lucky and there's a position open I could see about getting transfered to one of the theaters in the city, but I don't want to fully rely on that and I know it's a huge struggle to find a job there especially for people out of town.
Should I make the jump or am I just a dreamer?