If you live in New York City, you might be waking up on this Monday morning thinking the same thing I did:

This weekend, the city was electric.

There are three or four weekends a year where New York City reminds us why its earned its stripes as the "greatest city in the world," and this was that weekend. The weather was perfect, which meant everybody was outside, most of the time. The mood was euphoric, bolstered by the energy of the Knicks clinching a victory to head to the Eastern Conference finals.

Just read what one reporter had to say after the game:

"Outside of Madison Square Garden was chaotic bliss. It was like thousands of people were all at once freed from a long jail sentence. Strangers were hugging. Adults were crying. The corner of West 33rd Street and Eighth Avenue wasn’t a pathway for transit; it was a jungle gym for the world’s most starved fan base, which just saw its team close a playoff series at home for the first time since 1999. People were dancing on top of a taxi booth while a Busta Rhymes song blasted out of a speaker. There were breakdancers on stairs. Adults, all draped in orange and blue, were running and screaming like toddlers on the playground. Someone used a fence to crowd-surf over thousands."
- James L. Edwards III, The New York Times

There were rooftop parties and street fairs, graduations and startup competitions, and political primaries meet-and-greets and walking club networking. Needless to say, people showed up.

On the streets near me on the Upper West Side, volunteers from two block associations and the nonprofit TreesNY came together to add fresh mulch and beautify the block with refreshed tree beds on the street. I stumbled upon their setup and ended up learning a ton on the fly about community organizing, plus connecting with a few folks afterward too.

One of the best parts about living in any major urban city is being able to walk anywhere. On weekends like the one New York City just had, I was reminded that walking is not only healthy, but it's a great way to reset your nervous system and also lean into the chaotic diversity of perspectives that lives all around us.

In just one weekend, I intersected with people from over a dozen industries, with students on the cusp of graduation and retirees who have lived in the neighborhood for 50+ years. We experienced arts and playgrounds with the kids, and culture and music late at night without them. I visited a neighborhood I don't frequently go to, and I walked all the way home, with a friend, who ended up bumping into an old friend she hadn't see in five years.

Each new conversation or interaction invites a world of interconnected collisions. I learned about a new technology that I might apply toward my own business from a group of student graduates at Cornell Tech. I learned how to coordinate and manage volunteer networks IRL and a few tactical tips to apply toward my own block organizing efforts. I commiserated with creators in vastly different industries from my own about the hard thing about starting from zero. And I listened to stories and perspectives from everyday New Yorkers, who invited me to consider a different perspective in my own work.

Organizations like Tech:NYC have been showing us for years why NYC is the best place to start a company, and this is why. When you smash together so many people in such a small footprint, sometimes the collapse point hits, the energy strikes just right, and incredible things happen.

But none of it happens if you stay inside. That's why in New York City, sometimes the best thing to do is to take it to the streets.