Tag: Growing Up

14 days into 2017…

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As I write this, it is midway through January. I, like many others, have been back to work for two weeks after the holidays concluded. It’s been two weekends and 14 days into 2017. I have already felt a range of emotions, been bombarded with a few unexpected incidents… and recovered (or, in the process of recovering). I have seen a few friends, texted a few others, and hung out with my parents. In a nutshell, that’s how 2017 is going so far. Normal, I suppose.

I’m not sure I’m doing a ~fantastic~ job on my resolutions, but I am more than halfway through a book (!), well on my way to contributing to a theatre production (!), and attending TWO art-type events this weekend (!).

I did something a little different this year: I tried to “map” my year through a future log (i.e. bullet journal). I thought about all the goals and tasks I wanted to do every month and I wrote it down. I want to be on some-type-of track this year. I don’t want to be bogged down, however. I just want a little direction.

Think about it: How is your 2017 going? Is it going the way you thought it would, two weeks ago? What do you hope to accomplish by the end of these 365 days?

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2016 Reflection

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Everybody lived their year this year and as always I have reflected a lot on the past 12 months. In fact, I’ve been reflecting since Thanksgiving. I’ve spent the last six weeks thinking about 2016 and gearing up for 2017. Pondering the lessons I’ve had this year and wondering what lessons the new year will bring. I think I am setting high expectations for myself to be organized and successful next year.. but when you really think about it, it’s just another loop around the sun like any other loop.

Anyway, 2016 was a year of endings (college, childhood, living at home) and beginnings (adulting, moving into my own place, first job outta school). It was a year of lessons. Learning about how to adult, learning about myself… I hope that I can take what I’ve learned so far and apply it to the next chapter.

I don’t want to dwell too much on 2016, mostly because I feel like I summed it up in the previous paragraph. I really feel like maybe this year wasn’t that spectacular aside from graduating. Graduating opened up the floodgates to so many new opportunities and they are gradually flowing into my life now. So I’ll focus on 2017 now and how to make it one of my best years yet.

For more life tidbits, please follow me on Twitter @marissamaym or check out one of my Instagrams @marmaym (personal), @sadwalletshappytummies (food), and @paperstonehearts (writing, journaling).

Some Things I Am Thankful For This Thanksgiving

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  1. Cookies and other baked goods
  2. Hugs
  3. Water. Clean water.
  4. My dogs
  5. My voice
  6. Everyone who stops to listen
  7. A warm home to protect me from the cold
  8. A job I really enjoy, working with cool co-workers
  9. Lotion and soap and make-up that help me feel good about myself
  10. Green tea

Even though Thanksgiving is this week and December soon follows, I still can’t seem to shake the feeling that summer was just last week. I still think about summer like it just happened, but in reality, it was three months ago. Three months have gone by, Fall is passing by, and yet I still hold on to Summer.

It’s kind of wistful. Or wishful. Or foolish. Or perhaps merely symbolic of my life as a fictional victorian novel. Whatever way you look at it… I’m still floating around in that Summer place. I think it’s probably denial; me denying myself that my life is actually moving forward after five months of sulking.

I’m not actually sulking, but it’s a kind of strange feeling. Transition. (Humans hate change and they love control. But they love the change that they can control. Sometimes you have that power and sometimes you don’t.)

In this time of transition for adults in their early-twenties and transition for our country, be thankful for what you do have! Think about what you do best (walking your dog, making rice, splurging on yourself) and try to apply that to those who don’t have half as much. Just think about it.

No one really prepares you for life after college

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There’s some philosophy that says that you must first attain your basic needs before going after other, higher needs. You need those basic needs to have, like, a basic level of happiness. Once you attain those needs and that happiness, then you can move on to bigger things and making others happy. But it’s imperative to focus on yourself and your happiness. This is important in middle school, high school, and college, but I think it’s a little easier if you’re still in school. Because when you’re in school, your primary goal is to graduate. After you graduate… there is no “primary” goal. That’s where it gets tricky when you try to start planning your happiness.

I learned this over the last couple of months (as you can probably deduce from my blog posts this summer). But I want to write about how cool it is once you do attain those basic needs and you can create steps to move forward in your life/career/dreams. Plus, making time and energy to make others happy is great too.

I’m excited to grocery shop for myself, specifically purchasing foods for breakfast and snacks. I’m excited to pack my lunch (note: I’m not excited to cook it). I’m excited to write more, as a mode of expression. I’m excited to grow professionally, creating my own organization system and trying new things. I’m excited to grow my work. I’m looking forward to being happy…

The immediate months and the year after you graduate are going to be really really weird. My professor told me that during my senior year so I knew this was coming, but I didn’t know exactly WHAT I was in for. Heads up, peeps—TRANSITIONING into adulthood is CHALLENGING. I’m waiting for the truly happy part. It’s like starting over. For 18 years, your primary goal is to graduate and now you have to start from the ground up. At least you’re not starting from absolute scratch ‘cause now you got an important piece of paper that tells you you’ve achieved and that you’re capable. But here you are… wondering what’s going to happen in three months, let alone in five years.

This is a little all over the place, I know. But that reflects me, right now. A little all over the place. A little happy, a little tired, a little frustrated, a little excited, a little confused.

But I’m looking forward to growing. That’s the final take away. Growing.

Note to Self: Listen to Avenue Q

Turning 22

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21 was an amazing year. This was the year I would reach a handful of feats; including staging my original play, stage managing for the first time, going on an international service trip for the first time, and graduating from college. There were many lessons in personal tribulations, academic foes, and social happenings. I faced a lot of adversity this year in the form of micro aggressions, self-confidence, and emotional turmoil. In the last 12 months, I think I have learned so much about myself and my capacities. I always have to remind myself that I don’t have to be as social or as successful as others (similarly, everyone else doesn’t have to be my kind of social and successful). I’m the kind of person that needs to stop and breathe when there’s too much happening at one time. Once I take that breathe, I find the strength to move forward.

22 is the year I move forward. 🙂 This is the year I will reach a few more feats, learn a few more lessons, and face a little more adversity. 🙂 This is the year I become a little more of who I’m meant to be. I can’t wait. 🙂

Here are some things I’d like to do before I turn 23:

  1. Plan an international trip
  2. Visit a new city
  3. Bake more cookies
  4. Read more!
  5. Take better conscious care of my body
  6. Write plays (3)