this is the end.

[Music] [Music] well this is it this is the last page the very long chapter goodbye [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I've only ever had one one mission in life and that mission has been to simply realize the promises I made to myself when I was a kid when you're kid you're always telling yourself when I'm an adult I'm gonna do this all right I don't have to listen my parents I'm gonna do that someday I'm gonna grow up and do see those goals those ambitions my very first dreams in life were to simply get away from the people who told me I couldn't some of my high school teachers my parents friends I'm the people who were supposed to be guiding me in life the people who made a kid feel small because he was different that was the world that it felt like I grew up in and my goal was to get away from that and the answer that was simple the answer was to go to the place where you could be anything you want it to be to go to an island where all the misfits in this world go to in that place was was New York City [Music] New York City is a place where you can do anything and be anything because everyone is too damn busy to worry about what anyone else is doing [Music] it's a place where you're all at once surrounded by thousands of people but are entirely alone left your devices to do whatever you set out to accomplish [Music] no one lives in New York City if you simply survive in this place and that weeds out the wheel and that social Darwinism leaves you with eight and a half million other people looking to make their mark when Frank said you can make it there you can make it anywhere he wasn't talking about Paris Tokyo and London the sure [ __ ] wasn't talking about Los Angeles greatest city in the whole world New York New York it's 11:00 in the morning day two of the road trip in just outside of Indiana still in Ohio about to cross into Indiana so Candace wanted to come with me on this trip and I had a number of friends who I love offer to come with me on this trip but I wanted to do this drive alone 3,000 miles five days alone I'm never alone I never get time alone and when I think about jumping into this next phase of my life there's not a whole lot of solitude in that either so this this for me seemed like a really good opportunity to to be by myself and think about I don't know it's a huge change in my life you need some time to process it that's what that's what this trips about [Music] but in realizing that ambition and realizing that dream at age 20 there were consequences I got this and I got that at a price and probably this the scariest or the shittiest repercussions of moving to New York City with nothing no no education no career path no jobs no opportunities the biggest consequence of that was it was tough for this little guy it was tough for my kid [Music] for all the romantic notions of moving to New York City all of which were true it also meant not getting to be the father that I wanted to be daddy how come I don't get to see you as much as I want to see you are you gonna pick me up from school this week or do I have to wait till next week that was tough and that struggle gave birth to all new dreams and aspirations [Applause] in this part of the story younger case he wasn't Casey the little kid but younger case he was now you know 20 year old Casey who lived in New York City which was the coolest but lived a pretty shitty life in New York City making ten bucks an hour and not being able to spend the time with my kid that a good father should be spending with this kid and out of that came all these new dreams and these new dreams and aspirations were a little bit less selfish they they were less about me there were things like oh I don't have a house to raise my kid in that's a big dream that's a dream for a lot of people is a big dream for me you know another one was I never got to go to college and I had a goal that if my son ever got to go to college no matter what that school was that I would figure out how to pay for it for him those were my new dreams those are the promises that I've been working towards for the last 18 years in New York those were the promises that had made to myself when I was younger that I had to realize [Music] and then like five six years ago I started figuring [ __ ] out and I started making money and I started I started making it and when he was applying to colleges three years ago his only concern was getting in not figuring how to pay for it so then what what's the next generation what's the next cycle of promises that I've made to myself as Owen got older was when Candis and I started getting more serious and it occurred to me that I might get to be a be a dad again and I might get to have a family a more traditional looking family structure than what I had with Owen I might get to realize a whole new wave of promises that I made to myself when I was struggling to be the dad that I wanted to be for him when I had kids again [Music] [Music] yeah [Music] [Music] what would it mean to be a dad who got to see his kids every single day seven days a week what would it mean to wake up in the same house as my children every day what would it mean to get to be present because even in the last couple of years when you were there this audience was there when I was daily vlogging I was finding success and promises realized that I could have never imagined but the expense then was I was never present I was home with my kids every night house thinking about work I was getting him dressed in the morning but I was to focus on my startup how am I company and when I was dropping the little ones off at school I'm thinking about my employees how am I gonna meet payroll I wasn't present in this last cycle of promises had a whole lot more to do with who I am as a person and who I am to other people than it did with material or physical things if I had to pinpoint the promises that I'm currently working to realize is to be a person who operates not out of ego but someone who operates with a priority to connect with and be kind to and loved and to be better to the people around me [Music] see [Music] a painful reality of that ambition is that I i cannot realize it in New York City I can't do it here you see no one is in this city because they want to relax no one is here because they just want to slow down in life no one is here because they want to focus on family or personal relationships or improving themselves this city is 9 million people packed on a tiny island everyone chasing something down and that something is is a career there is no escaping it there is no conversation you will ever have in New York City that doesn't end with you talking with another person about your career and your goals and how you're gonna get there I've been here for 18 years and that pretty much sums up every human interaction I've ever had in this city and that is what makes it great unless you're not on that path and I want to step off that train so I'm leaving I'm out I'm saying goodbye to the city that I love and I'm making this video because I'm trying to convince myself I'm making this video because I am Not sure but if Tarzan never let go of the vine that he was swinging from to grab the next one he would have never gotten to the other side of the jungle he just would have sat there swinging back and forth so my love for what this city is and what it's given me should not preclude me from embracing what's next and that's what I'm doing and that's what shutting down this studio moving to Los Angeles that's that's what it is [Music] do you think we're doing the right thing I don't know I don't know we cry [Music]

Channel: CaseyNeistat

Views: 5,360,054

Rating: 4.8554707 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 9Ti4wBKB4Yo

Length: 13min 15sec (795 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 18 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/ScummyGuy]

I don't watch Casey's videos that much anymore but gosh, this video still made me sad. So much memories from the daily vlogs, the New York atmosphere, the Casey Neistat way of life. And now, it's "over". He sure still knows how to tell a story.

[u/kuyakew]

Being a born and raised New Yorker I always find these descriptions of the city a little funny. It doesn’t have to be the relentless rat race if you don’t want it to be. There are other parts of the city that don’t have to be a crazy or hectic as the industry he works in or the neighborhood he lives in. New York is what you make of it.

That being said best of luck to him. I’m sure he won’t miss our winters at least lol.

[u/jefffrandsen]

This video was great. I’m happy for Casey and for him to slow down a bit. Dude has had a rollercoaster of a life and he deserves to be a present father outside of NYC. Hopefully we get some more vlogs in the near future, once they’re settled!

[u/edwardhyeung]

The end of an era

[u/PHXSCJAZ]

And that’s the Casey Neistat formula that got me years ago. Heart felt, truthful, and vulnerable. Congratulations on finishing one chapter and starting another!

[u/etnguyen03]

Honestly thought the show was over

[u/mirandanielcz]

The last chapter ended, the story was great!

[u/reaperout]

I honestly don’t think he can truly understand how much he’s going to miss that city. There’s just nothing like it. I’ll bet they end up back there eventually.

[u/Right_All_The_Time]

His best movie this year. He was earnest and honest and what he said hit home. I live in Toronto which is just as CAREER focused of a city as New York an lot of what he said resonated with me. Most people in Toronto just survive also like in NYC, they dont live. The shots of him with Owen were so dammed touching too. Hope Casey and Candice love it in LA.