2023 Reflection

January 31, 2024February 4, 2024

Last year marks the beginning of my Saturn Return, which explains a lot (last year also marks when I really started paying close attention to my astrology lolz). There was definitely a theme of 🎶growing up🎶 and I was happy to grow alongside everyone whose paths crossed mine last year. 🌱

📚 I read more books for the first time since college—and explored new genres, including memoirs!

📝 I took a break from playwriting (it’s very exhausting writing from multiple characters’ POV, let alone my own) and instead went slow into poetry and wrote several new pieces — I also hadn’t written this much poetry since college.

🪁 Attending protests for a Free Plstn 🍉 and learning more about colonization and oppression reminded me of my student organizing work in college. The work is never over and we keep going.

(Speaking of patterns, I see the “since college” one here! It was a time when I was able to fully dive into things I was sooo passionate about)

I know I was never really lost but it feels like I’m finding myself again. Here’s to 2024 ⭐️

2016 Reflection

December 29, 2016Leave a comment

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).

Turning 22

August 22, 2016August 22, 2016Leave a comment

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:

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

I staged my play and now I’m a third of the way done with the school year: a fall quarter recap

December 9, 2015December 23, 2015Leave a comment

Holy cow. My first quarter of my last year of college is over. Holy cow.

It’s weird saying those types of things now. Like, it’s my last year of college. I was here last year… and the year before that… and the year before that. Three years ago, I finished my first quarter of my first year in college. TIME. TIME is a strange phenomenon. I never thought I’d actually ever get to this point, but here we are. About 7 months away from graduation.

…

But I’m going to try to not think about that. For now.

For now, I will be content. Content and happy and pleased and relieved with what the past 10 weeks have given me. From moving into a new apartment to taking a Communications class I didn’t need to take to finishing my play to staging my play to rallying for social and racial justice to taking naps – it was a jammed quarter to say the least. That’s the way I like it. Or maybe I’ve just trained myself to like it after three years of busying myself. Or maybe I’m in denial.

Whatever way you spin it, I’m not sure I’ve been more grateful in my entire four years at SCU. Or maybe even my life. Never have I been so grateful, reflective, and proud. It’s one thing to write something and it’s one thing for people to read it and it’s a completely other thing for people to see it and connect with it. Some people might not understand this, but – writers are really self-conscious. We write what’s in our heads… and then get really nervous when people read it or hear it and it’s like the be all end all. That’s what it feels like for me.

Hapa Cup of Sugar was a piece of me. And I have the honor and privilege to share that with hundreds (hundreds) of people. I still can’t believe it. It’s so hard to put my thoughts and feelings about the entire project into words. (I’ll have to because I’ve got about three final reports to do on it, oh geez.)
Aside from that lil thing, this quarter treated me just about the same as any other quarter. I took a class in the COMM department called Media and Social Movements. We learned about the Anti-Nike campaign, the revolution in Egypt, and consumer citizenship. It was nice to take a class purely because I was interested in it. My favorite class this quarter.

I also got heated about student apathy and diversity at SCU, but that seems like a norm now. Which is awful. We’re working on it. By “we,” I mean a small group of students. Sigh.

That’s pretty much it for a recap of the quarter. I’ll write a 2016 goals (fears??) post soon, too.
In the meantime, I hope you also reflect on your quarter. I hope it treated you well – or that you dominated finals, at least!

Summer 2015 Recap

September 20, 2015December 23, 2015Leave a comment

Welp, it’s the end of another summer and it went by in the blink of an eye, as usuaaaal. Now we’re at the time of year when everyone’s smiling and hugging each other asking, “How was your summer??” and “I like your haircut!!!”

My summer can be summed up in three words:

Work hard anyways.

This summer was the first time I worked 8-5, Monday to Friday. 40 hours a week. I commuted an hour to work and an hour back home every weekday. It was exhausing. Work hard anyways. I learned a ton at my internship/job – lots about project management and communication. I’m so fortunate to have landed this job with a superb, energetic supervisor and a friendly office!

However, it was a challenge to get used to working all day every day. I learned a lot about myself and how I function with that much work. I also learned how to take care of my back and feet when you’re sitting in front of a computer for that long every day. Work hard anyways.

Another big thing that happened this summer was organizing “Staging Hapa.” This, as you might be able to tell, is a huuuuuge project for me. It means a ton to me – the story and reaching my peers at SCU. It also means a lot to me that my friends who have supported me thus far have stuck with me. I’m so grateful that these dear friends are working on something so meaningful to me! I couldn’t do it without their support ❤ I have a lot of faith in this project, but you never know what type of wrenches might get thrown into the mix. Work hard anyways.

I learned so much about myself in a variety of ways this summer – one of them also being controlling how I act and react. In case you didn’t know, not everyone is going to agree with you. Some people are going to suck and give you a hard time. Work hard anyways. And sometimes, even the people you care about the most will disagree with you. They won’t understand you and you won’t understand them. Work hard anyways.

When it was tough – work hard anyways. When no one else really seemed to understand – work hard anyways. When I got FOMO – work hard anyways. When I know anything I do may just fail – work hard anyways. When I really don’t want to do anything but mope – work hard anyways.

It was definitely a summer of growth. Annnd as I grew and learned, I also did a handful of superfun things: went to PRIDE, watched Book of Mormon, went kayaking, watched Hooded, or Being Black for Dummies, turned 21, rode a cable car, ate ice cream, watched Phantom of Opera, and went to the beach.

I’ve been waiting for weeks for senior year to finally start. Now that it’s finally on my door step…work hard anyways.

Marissa May Writes

Tag: Recap