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Happy April everyone! I hope you had a wonderful March and a great start to April.. March was a month filled with life events for me, and I can’t wait to share a glimpse of them with you all. Let’s jump right into it -- Stephanie
Lifestyle:
So much went on during this month but the biggest life event for me was making the decision to leave my first job post-grad to a new opportunity! Hello great resignation, but jokes aside LOL. My new opportunity (and current new job) presented itself right at the second day of March, and while it’s only been 3 days on the job,I can say with the way things are going, it’s everything I was looking for in my next team.
Despite all the good, making a decision to leave my first job post grad was a journey in and out of itself (which I will share more in Lows and Lessons). Professionally this month, I finally stopped interviewing and focused more on wrapping things up at my first job, reflecting how to make career decisions, and moving forward.
In my personal life, I was able to catch up with people in a way that gave me balance. A big high for me was being able to drive Tammie and my grandfather this month, baby steps of progress to my driving alone journey.
So much went on this past March and I feel very lucky to share so much good news.
Lows + Lessons:
Pairing lows with lessons this month because I think especially this past month they go hand in hand.
1) Bittersweet leave (low) and making tough career decisions (lesson)
For those who had been following me on my career journey, I had been looking around especially during the month of February, for my next career move. While searching, I was very invested in the process and felt ready if an opportunity came my way. Though when March rolled in and I was presented with options, it was actually quite a process to process (lol!). I feel so lucky to have been in a situation to have options.
What had felt like a no brainer in Feb, actually felt so real in March. And excited as I was, I was also taken back and pondering about what to do. I guess I enjoyed my first role much more than I even knew myself! After making the decision, the rest of March at my (now past) workplace was very bittersweet. It was a learning experience of its own from making the decision to make a career change, how to deliver the news, and experiencing all the emotions that come with saying goodbye.
Through a number of surprises, I was actually lucky enough to have multiple options which is a privilege and luxury, Something I had to learn this month as well was how to navigate between options and how to politely turn something down (never thought i’d have the privilege to do so, nor the challenges of the other party trying to win me lol, but it was a journey of itself as well!)
I am going in tangents but the biggest learning of this situation was finding out how I’d like to make tough career decisions. Everyone will give you different pieces of advice, but how I decided on where I’m at now, really came down to (in no specific order):
Leadership
Role/Opportunity itself
People
2) Feeling socially overwhelmed (low) and learning to say no (lesson)
In my personal life, I felt very lucky to have had quite eventful weekends with people in different walks of my life. With every invite, as I really do enjoy catching up with people, I would say yes and fill up my weekend. It got to the point I was feeling overwhelmed and tired, instead of energetic. I was also missing some much needed me time.
There was one particular sleepover hangout where I realized I had to say no (and i felt shitty for backing down on my initial words), but I learned that I needed to create space and time for myself. This month was truly embracing and learning that with every weekend, I’m my best when I have a mix of people time and me time.
3) Wrapping up a role and starting a new role
This is the first time I’ve wrapped up a role, while preparing to transition to a new role. Since I wasn’t going on a vacation, I ended up offering to stay at my old role for 3 weeks and only left a 3 day weekend to myself. While I don’t regret my decision, something I learned (similar to #2) is to create more me time! I thought staying 3 weeks would give me more than to smoothly hand things off (which in a way it did), but it also made me see that there will always be a ton of things to work on despite how early in advance you prepare -- and people will always try to get the best out of you before you go. And I wanted to leave a good impression, so I probably overworked myself the last 3 weeks lol. To say I was tired af is an understatement, and I now learned to always leave more me time (if possible) before starting a new role. I can’t speak too much on starting a new role since it’s only Day 3, but as imposter syndrome-y my brain likes to think and despite the flux of info I’ve been given that I do not understand -- I can say team wise, this is the most welcomed I’ve felt in a while and the people truly makes me feel like I’ve made the right choice!
4) Grandmother going to the ER
This one is more of a just very sad low. My grandmother ended up going to the ER this month because of foot problems, and I feel so bad for her and i hope she feels better each day. I recall my grandmother had shared that her foot hurts and i think my extended fam who live with her, just assumed she’s getting old. And this isn’t to point blame or anything but I do think this is a good reminder to truly check in deeper with someone when they say they are in pain. It is good news that my grandmother got released from the hospital, but I truly hope she’s recovering well these weeks and days at home.
My pick of the month: Sanrio!
I’ve always loved Sanrio but I feel like my obsession went on a whole new level this month lol. I proudly call it my hobby now to check out daiso and miniso and any japanese looking store for sanrio finds haha. I who never posts tiktok videos, ended up posting my very first one this month dedicated to sanrio!
Again, I had another amazing month filled with so many things to be thankful for. I feel like this month in particular, life really rewarded my hard work and the universe aligned in my favor. As cliche as that sounds, it really does feel like the things I once had so many questions about and was worried about, are all unraveling for me. And I know hard work isn't always rewarded so I feel even luckier.
Change is the biggest theme of the past month and I can’t wait to see the rest of what April has to offer. Sending everyone good vibes into April and we’ll chat soon!
Cheers until May,
Stephanie
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