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Happy Lunar New Year KPC Fam! I hope everyone had a wonderful month of February and a great start to March. February always goes by fast, though technically it’s only ~4 days less than most months which isn’t too much. I don’t understand how February always does this to me, but it’s always the one that goes by in a blink of an eye. I especially enjoyed this Feb 22 so here’s the all the deets -- Stephanie
Lifestyle:
So much went on this month, I felt like each week, no each day, was a new surprise that I could barely keep up.
Starting February with the big bang of Lunar New Year. I’ve always enjoyed celebrating this holiday with my family growing up, though this year, I just had an especially good feeling about Lunar New Year. Maybe because it’s the Year of the Tiger and I was born during the Year of the Tiger (though fun fact, I heard there’s actually a superstition that the year of your zodiac will be your toughest year??). Despite the superstition, I had an amazing month.
I spent most of my January at home or with family due to covid, and two words to summarize my February lifestyle is: social overload. I actually felt quite burntout from talking to people all day (never thought I’d say this lol), but I am super thankful as well to have had this month to meet and catch up with so many people.
Professionally, I was literally interviewing every week for the same 4 places on multiple rounds, sometimes interviewing a couple times a day lol, to the point I was socially exhausted from interviewing. Never thought I would get the privilege to say this TBH because securing interviews wasn’t always easy either. So I feel very fortunate to have been able to meet with so many people and companies for roles and places I admire.
Personally, I had the chance to catch up with so many people this month, many that I didn’t expect to to be honest. I started off the month visiting the Asian Art Museum with Ashley for their teamlab exhibit. I’ve actually been meaning to check this out since I heard of it a couple months back but was always put it aside bc pricing, then I saw my company offered free tickets in honor of Lunar New Year and I just knew it was my calling to check it out. I actually grew up going to this museum as a kid on field trips, so it was nice revisiting it now as an adult.
I also had the chance to catch up with a very old coworker of mine (since 2015…! Y’all that’s like 7 years of knowing each other!). The last time I saw this friend was in 2019 and it felt like we picked up where we left off, yet at the same time, it felt like we were adapting to each others’ changes over the years. I really enjoyed catching up with her and we jokingly said we should catch up with some people from our old work crew, though low and behold the next week, it actually happened! Now I actually haven’t seen these people since 2016 lol it was super nostalgic catching up, yet at the same time it felt like I was meeting everyone for the first time again and we were reintroducing ourselves. It was nice, but also truly showed how much we all grew.
Then, I also had the chance to catch up with two close friends of mine from SF. I ended up driving Tammie to Brentwood for the second time (which isn’t a lot for others, but for me since I don’t drive others often, especially since this was a 2hr drive) I felt nervous and anxious, I am happy to report that all went well and that while short, I am glad I got the chance to catch up with Tiana and we just had an endless amount of things to talk about.
I didn’t expect to catch up with my friend Vy who I hadn’t seen since 2018, but she hit me up one day and just like that we met up. I feel like there are some people you just vibe with despite not talking daily/hanging out often, and she’s one of them. When we met up we just had an endless amount of things to chat about and I was able to learn a lot more about her (that surprisingly we continue to find more things in common with one another).
And of course I had a ton of family time this month too, I was able to celebrate Lunar New Year in person and visit my extended family. Being with my grandparents and aunts especially this month of Lunar New Year really showed me how much I value family time even outside my smaller immediate family. I don’t deserve my amazing extended family tbh! Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching too much Love is Blind lol but this month of Lunar New Year really showed me how much I value family and that wherever I end up in life in the future, family will always be a part of it.
We also did our annual SJ Temple visiting tradition, and looking back at Feb, I couldn’t have felt any more fulfilled this month.
Lows:
1. Feeling burnt out
I feel so loved this month (despite not having a valentines ha ha, and sadly didn’t get the celebrate galentines with Jin this year either). But yes I felt very loved with family and friends to spend time with, and I feel so fortunate to have had the chance to speak to so many places during the weekdays. But spending my work days interviewing round after round, then attending my current role’s work meetings (and my role is quite meeting heavy), finally doing the work I’m assigned to, then when friday/the weekend comes I was constantly catching up with people, I honestly felt burnt out from people overload. It has been a privilege this month to say that I felt burnt out by having too much people coming in my life
2. Falling back on goals
One of my goals this new year was to eat earlier (lol that happened for probably 2 weeks haha). I seriously eat way too late which is not my liking. With all that was going on in my life this month, I found myself eating dinner super late due, and i would feel shitty after. Hopefully one day I can get back on eating earlier…
Lessons:
1. Me time
I realized as much as I love catching up with people, and meeting new people, I need to reserve more time for myself. After busy packed weeks of hanging out with people b2b, I found myself loving the weekend where I just chill with my family and do my own thing. Now it’s not just about work-life balance, but social-me time balance.
2. Hit up the people who matter to you
This month I especially enjoyed catching up with people I haven’t seen for years. People I really didn’t expect to see / walk back in my life suddenly. I thank them for reaching out and learned that I need to do a better job at hitting up people who matter to me first.
3. Bring people together more often
After a couple failed attempts at bringing friends together, I kinda gave up for a while. Though this month I decided to bring two friends who were free on the same weekend, my ex-coworker and bumble friend, and initially I was kind of afraid it would be awkward or that they wouldn’t get along because of how different in the way I met them. But I must say it went well! I don’t think we became instant BFFs, but it was fun seeing the two of them get along and we were all learning more about one another in a way I wouldn’t have experienced had I hung out with them separately. Friends post-grad is an interesting journey!
4. Be scared, and do it anyway
This month was such a journey in all aspects of life. Professionally, I was able to meet with roles and places I admired and round after round/ time after time, I felt so much of an imposter and anxious. I felt nervous and scared and a fraud. Like what do I have to offer that these places cannot get from someone else more talented. Though each time I was scared, I told myself I’d give it my best and do it anyway, and see where each encounter takes me. Many many rounds later, I am very proud of all the experiences and knowledge I was able to obtain this past February.
My pick of the month: Lunar New Year 2022, Year of the Tiger
Something about the Year of the Tiger just has me feeling some type of good way (rlly despite the superstition lol!). But I’ve been loving the Year of the Tiger vibes, probs bc I’m a tiger even tho I wanted to be a bunny haha. Going to use this space to shine the Year of the Tiger (especially since it only comes once every 12 years!). Wishing everyone a great year of courage, strength, ambition, and bravery, like the tiger.
I had such a warm month with so many life events I can’t even keep track of. I feel so so lucky to have the experiences I had. Despite writing out Lows this month, the lows really aren’t that significant in comparison to the highs. I mean like really my biggest problem of the month is that I had too much events in life? Lol! I have a good strong feeling that all my hard work paid off in February and that in my next journal entry for March, you will all be in for a life update.
Cheers until April,
Stephanie
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