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Happy August everyone, I seriously cannot believe July is already over. For some reason, August is always bittersweet for me as it feels like summer is ending. (though what is summer now that I’m older?)
Anyway, July was such an eventful month and I can’t wait to share with you all how my July went! -- Stephanie
Lifestyle
From work to personal life, July was such an adventure and new things in my life kept happening left and right. I loved switching things up.
At work: I kicked off a major campaign that I had spent the past month planning. It was gratifying seeing everyone’s hard work come to life. Even though the performance results aren’t as great as I’d like it to be, I’m just so proud of seeing everyone’s combined efforts to make my ideas come to reality. Another plus at work is that I ‘adopted an intern’. I never assigned work to an intern before and this was a learning experience on its own. Needless to say, I’ve been enjoying this opportunity and I already miss her even though she hasn’t fully ended her internship yet. And on top of that, I finally visited the office for the first time and met some of my teammates in person for the very first time. Slightly awkward, but overall heartwarming.
In my personal life: Kicked off the first week of July with a visit to LA and SB. I was able to roadtrip with Ashley which wasn’t something I expected to be honest and was at a new level of bonding. It overall went well! Till my lactose ass kicked in and the dutch bro’s whole milk made me have stomach issues during the day haha .. I also got to see Thuan who I haven’t seen since March 2020, crazy. Going from a walk away to hours away by car, to seeing her only once in over a year or so with no definite next meet up date, really showed me how some friends you can just pick back up where you last left off. This really came into play when Diana, a local of London suddenly shared that she’s in SF and that she’ll be studying abroad here. I haven’t seen her in two years as well and we just had a random meet up, again picking back up like old times. Sadie, another friend I haven’t seen since Dec 2020 moved to SF and we literally just chatted the day away. It’s crazy how we can just pick up where we left off because there are also friends in my life where I’ve tried doing that in the past, but we both became so different where we just ran out of topics to chat about and it got awkward lol. And of course I can’t forget the big highlight of my personal life this month, going to Hawaii with Jin! I can’t believe that the last time we saw each other was in Feb 2021, or that we ended up going to Hawaii together this month, and had such a productive lifestyle starting at 5am each day.
In my networking life: I’m always hesitant lazy, shy, and scared chats will go awkward -- but I always feel so good and refueled each time at the end of a networking chat. I wanted to cancel the ones I had set during the week of hawaii but I am glad I did not (even the one at 4am lol). This is something I will write about later on this post, but I feel thankful and good at work now. However I don’t know if I feel daring and fulfilling. This month’s networking chats, made me feel daring, thrilled, fulfilled, and embarrassingly nerding out about topics and projects with people I just met. There are too many to list, but I am super grateful for Nancy and Caitlin.
In my life at home with family: it was nice being away for a bit this month and having that sense of freedom again, however it was also nice being back at home. Seeing everyone in my family worried about me while in Hawaii, then safely coming home, is not something I take for granted. My parents approving of me going on this trip without starting a big argument was a new level of understanding and maturity for me. Additionally, my dad and I bought a car! The last two cars we had were purely chosen by my dad and I felt like I had no say or couldn’t help out. Being able to afford a brand new car and paying it all off upfront, is a new level of growth and I am so happy my parents can worry a bit less about pricing of things because of my job.
Lows:
I am trying to think of lows and honestly cannot think of any at the moment. I mean don’t get me wrong, there are day-to-day events that made me upset and L’s taken and the painful sunburns loll, however I think looking at July holistically, I can’t really think of one super big low.
I think my only low is that no matter how thankful I am about my job and that I actually feel good now in all levels (enjoying the projects, feeling more respected, summer intern I get to work with, etc), I still do not feel truly fulfilled. It makes me feel low because I feel so blessed yet why am I still picky and not feeling super fulfilled. However I know myself and I have to be honest to myself, which is that I am still searching for that feeling of fulfillment at a workplace. Aka finding people who want to nerd out with me!
Lessons:
1) Privilege and thankful
I don’t know if this is a lesson, but I did want to highlight privilege for this month of July. I truly felt so privileged this month.
Hawaii:
What a privilege it is to be able to travel. From the financials to afford this trip, to having a friend that’s actually down to go and not flake, a job that allows me to work remotely, to being able to see some of the prettiest views in hawaii and daily coffees + eating a lot of yummy food. I am so thankful to have been able to have had this trip.
Work:
After connecting with some old friends, I learned how some had already changed roles twice this past year only to have shitty projects still or that some people are still job hunting. I was grateful for my role, but this really had me reflecting how while I may not be stimulated and fulfilled, but I am happy with the projects I get to do. What a privilege it is to have cool projects and get paid to do things that I like.
People:
What a privilege it was to catch up with Thuan, Diana, and Sadie, and also hangout more with Ashley and Jin. Since I don’t have my own car, I honestly did not think I would be seeing people outside of SF anytime soon. I’m thankful life gave me a chance to see everyone outside of SF. Additionally, what a privilege it is to have so many mentor figures in my life, people who were once strangers and are now open to meeting once a month to this random girl.
2) Being busy is not a flex
If anything, it was sad how busy I was early on in my role. I’m happy at the level of busy I’m at now.
3) Everyone has different priorities
I actually stole this one from a networking chat I had with Caitlin. However when I heard it I felt so much more relieved and really agreed with it. What is a priority to you, may not be a priority to others. AKA what you care about, may not matter to others and this goes vice versa. I used to be upset at, why is this person ghosting me and not doing X item even though ive been following up so many times. Or, why is it that I am always doing ___ for X, however X doesn’t seem to care about doing something similar back for me. Well, hard truth but a freeing truth: we all care about different things.
4) Doing things alone
From driving alone and in the dark for the first time from Daly City to SF, to flying alone past 2 hours, to going back to the yoga studio alone in SF, this month was a lot of ‘alone-ness’. A lot of my friends and family actually questioned it lol! Growing up, the friends and family I was surrounded by were always the type of people who would invite me to do things together so no one is alone. Doing things alone this month was intimidating at the moment, but truly is the best feeling afterwards and I feel so much growth.
My pick of the month: White Rabbit
OK my real first pick is Hawaii. But i’ve shared a lot about it in this post, so my random but fun pick is the White Rabbit.
One day, I searched up Wilder in SF (brunch spot) because I wanted cheap mimosas (only $4 each here!) We found Wilder and mapped how to get to this place by foot (lol long walk adventure). Then right before we get there, we see a sign with a white rabbit. We looked at the menu and saw they had alice in wonderland themed drinks. Got instantly excited and went in the bar. In short, I’ve been really into Alice in Wonderland/Borderland, and this experience literally made me feel like Alice because I followed the White Rabbit in lol Ashley was just as excited because interestingly this month, she's also coincidentally really into Alice in Wonderland.
I said I was scared for August to come but now that it’s here, I am scared for September to come lol! Time truly flies by.
Cheers until September,
Stephanie
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