Life is like a TV show.

I have dreamed about America since I was 4 years old. It happened when I first heard Michael Jackson and totally fell in love with English. Then I told my mother that I would live there, where everyone speaks in this beautiful language.

But I must say, the older I got, the more I realized I needed to move. 

I became a very good specialist in Ukraine. Being a producer is my dream job. I have been working towards this position for so long. It has been a very difficult road and now I have 8 years’ experience of work on TV, dozens of beautiful shows written and run by me. One day, I was offered a leadership position on one of the biggest TV Channels in Ukraine.  It seemed that I had everything I had dreamed of. But at that moment, I found out I had won a green card. It was a very difficult choice for me. On the one hand, I had a dream job and a successful future. On the other, one of the biggest dreams of my entire life... so, I took a risk. 

All my life I have been running shows about someone and now, the show begins about me, the show in which I am the director, sponsor, screenwriter and producer.

Lights! Camera! Sound! Action! 

Flight to America ... for 10 hours, my eyes are glued to the porthole. The only one thing that I was thinking about – I'm going to MY place, I'm going to search for myself. And this will be one of the biggest challenges and amazing journeys in my life. 

The plane landed and the first thought that visited me here was the question: “Why didn’t I move earlier?”. Exit from the plane and in to New York City... It didn’t smell at all. Nothing. The air in Ukraine is filled with herbs, it is spicy, fresh, fragrant. But here there is nothing. Plenty of air, like breathing inside a plastic lunch-box. All other things of living in NYC were normal however, as if I lived here all the time. I think I definitely lived here in a past life and now I had returned home again.

NY is like a man. If you admit to him you’re in love, he will not answer you in return. But if you don’t care, he will do everything to conquer you. That was exactly what happened with me. For the first time, I consciously confessed my love to this city on a bench near the 9/11 memorial, a very depressed and painful place. But, it was there. I realized how many opportunities this country gives you. How much experience you can get in the real heart of the world! How many people you can meet here. How many souls you can see under the magnifying glass and this city will contemplate yours. But the main thing is the highest price of your time. It’s so fleeting and you need to hasten to live, have time to accomplish everything that you are dreaming about. Not your parents, kids or spouse, but only you! And it’s time!

Don`t judge me. It wasn`t so easy at the beginning and it wasn’t a fairy tale for me. It’s not easy now and I know what it's like to come alone to a new country where you have no one and nothing. When you have an extra-small budget for a new life, even less than this. I know what it's like to doubt yourself and feel like a person with a disability each time, because you can’t speak as perfectly as in your own language. It’s horrible because language is your bread and the way you make money. I know what it means to walk for an hour to work, eat only oatmeal or nothing for a few weeks. I know what it feels like to be lonely and unnecessary in this city. I know what it is like when your hands go down and you want to cry, burst into tears, because there, far away in your past life, everything is so good and here there is nothing. When you still get calls and offers to return to your favorite job, family, friends ... but you’re sitting here, in a cold little empty room and you should make an important choice for yourself: be nobody and fight for your place in the sun to build everything from scratch with unrealistically hard work, or return. It’s all up to you. 

I want to appeal to everyone who reads this scribbling ... fight! Fight every day! Fight with yourself and for yourself! As hard as it is, it will be easier tomorrow! Always believe in yourself, never give up! And don`t be afraid, because in this life, everything is possible!  The only one person who doubts you is you. 

I don’t know who I'll be in the next six months, I don’t know where I'll be. But, I'll be happy HERE!  Be happy and let the show about your incredible life be a top box office success!

"Cut!" 

To be continued...