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Happy July! Wow it’s officially been 1 year since I graduated and moved back home. Crazy how time continues to move. Happy to share that I had a pretty good June 2021 -- Stephanie
Lifestyle:
When I think about all the past months, I swear June is one of the ones that really flew by for me. I’m trying to think about what in the world did I even do this month lol but then I look back and reflect and I actually got quite a lot checked off my list. For example:
At work, I feel like I got a lot of things going on simultaneously. I won’t share the specifics because of NDA, but I’m looking at my workfront list and I’ve been managing 10 +/- tickets without staying too late after work lol honestly am quite proud about that. A couple other random tidbits related to work that I thought were wins, I started implementing ‘ice breakers’ at the beginning of meetings with my manager (or 1+1 aka sharing 1 positive thing about work this week and 1 positive thing outside of work lol this is not my idea I’m taking it for someone else) and I feel like that’s helped me get to know him better, I’ve also stopped trying to touch base on every darn project. We typically go over time and this month I’ve decided, there will never be enough time if we talk about every single thing I’m working on, and we’d just rush through updates with little depth -- so I proposed he just choose 1-2 things he’d like a deeper dive on in that 30 minutes and everything else he can set up more time to chat about if interested. This has helped me manage both our time a lot better and get us out on time. And while I can never control how other people feel or treat me, I feel like this month, I’ve really gotten a firm grip of what I do have a say in at work.
Outside of work, it also feels like a ton of time is just passing. Strangely every Friday feels to just pass me even tho these aren’t 3 day weekends, I swear once its end of day thursday, it feels like the weekend already. This month I finally visited the De Young Museum with Ashley! This was my childhood museum because it was so close to my elementary school. I never really enjoyed it growing up because of how close it was, and just my inability to appreciate museums as a kid. Seeing it as an adult, I had a different perspective and really enjoyed reading about each piece of art. Something else I finally did this month was dye my hair! Technically this was just last week lol but my long awaited appointment finally came and went and honestly it’s just hair, but quite a change in my washing lifestyle. I forgot what’s it like to have colored damaged hair again haha but all is well I do enjoy color. This month of June, Jin and I also finally booked a trip to hawaii! (and we also exchanged gifts for friendship day, so random lol but I love gifting).
And lastly, it was Father’s Day this month, and it was just another reminder of how lucky I am to have had the time to hangout with my grandfather and dad.
I also have no idea to slot this non-work piece in lol and not to ruin the mood -- a big part of this month was also discovering and sharing about FastAF! Aka an app my friend told me about with a coupon code, that interestingly had 0 minimum spend to activate. It really do feel like Christmas this month with all the ‘free’ fast gifts.
Work and Personal life wise, it’s been a pretty eventful month.
Lows:
While I enjoy my new hair color, my healthy hair is now super dry and my hair cut itself is a choppy mess lol
Yeah you read that right, that’s all there is to it. Nothing else I can really do though other than wait till my hair grows out to fix the cut. Curls really do mask the ugly cuts!
Work will always be work.
I’ve had enough positive highs though, or maybe I’m just tired to re-telling rant stories lol, that I no longer feel the need to for the sake of June. At this point, I know what I don’t like and I’m okay with keeping it to myself. The only reason I’m mentioning this is to paint a more realistic view of my life, that even on good months, the bad still persists -- but ranting really isn’t necessary for this month. I think (hope) I’ve reached a new level of maturity.
Lessons:
Honestly I’m not too sure how ‘life-lessoning’ these are, they’re more of just cool interesting finds for the month this time. A bit on the light hearted end.
1. Museums should have more benches
This actually came out from a guy I was having a networking chat with, and I completely agree LOL. benches make the experience so much better to take a pause and indulge in the art. From an inclusion standpoint, it also makes the experience much more comfortable for kids and the elderly. What timing because the day right after I had this networking chat, I ended up visiting the De Young museum with Ashley.
2. Reaching a new level of maturity with my parents. In the end, (most) parents just love you.
So this month I was openly honest with my parents about going to LA and Hawaii, my mom being the way she is, I thought she’d cause a whole ruckus of objections (lol she lowkey did) but my dad took it pretty maturely. He shared that I’m at a point in life where even if he doesn’t like the decisions, he can’t stop it anyways, so as long as it’s not something super inappropriate or illegal, he won’t encourage it but it won’t object it. Meanwhile, I shared that I’m openly being honest out of respect, and that I do not want to lie about where I’m at or where I’m going, at this age. My mother was the disapproving one (and I kinda grew up with her mostly objecting to me going places) but my honesty and my dad’s level of understanding got through to her. I look back and this is a new level of maturity with my parents, and I am glad that I do not have to resort to sneaking around or lying. It makes going on a trip that much more exciting when I can be honest.
3. The power of a network
You’re probably thinking I’m talking about finding jobs, lol I am not! Though I did receive help from my network with setting up introduction calls this month, this is not what this lesson is about.
So early-mid June, one of my friend’s shared with me an app called ‘FastAF’ and a coupon code with $75 off (no min purchase). I was shook because I was basically getting items for free lol! This was too good and I had to share the news to my other friends. So I told most people on my reg texting/snap circle, jin included. And after sharing it with a ton of people, they also shared it with their own circles. And then from circles of 2+ degrees apart, I started receiving $35 coupon codes, first came one and then eventually came 3 $35 codes! And of course I then shared this new info back with others in my circles. This passage of information from the first friend to me, then me to my friends, and them back to their circles, their circles back to them, and then whatever new info they learn back to me (lol this is confusing to read ik), everyone’s willingness to share info gave birth to many more opportunities (and new codes) I didn’t know existed.
In short, 1) look at that network effect 2) sharing is caring haha
4. You always inherently ‘know’ yourself and your relationships
So this month Jin and I actually booked the trip (horray!). This also makes me think back at all the others that asked me to book trips but never followed through. Of course flaking isn’t just due to one person, but also a ton of other factors (money, timing, parents, etc). But I think deep down we also kind of know which relationships we have with people who are more likely to flake, which friendships are meant just for once in a while catch ups/when you happen to be nearby/same time and place, and which friendships are down for most things. It’s not really a surprise and deep down you kind of know/ have a feeling. And nothing against those friendships where I only catch up once in a while/if timing and place permits! You can’t (literally) be close to every single person.
5. Being open minded about new things, and being open to suck at something new makes me feel gratified
Two very unrelated stories this month that taught me this lesson lol:
I actually just got off an interview for a role really outside my typical genre. I was debating whether or not to go for it, just because it’s so different from my typical pattern of past roles. I don’t know if I will be moving forward, and I don’t know if I’ll take it (if I get it), but I do know I really enjoyed speaking with the interviewer so I’ll just leave it at that. I got to meet another new interesting person, whether or not it leads to anything -- it never hurts to try something new!
So on Father’s day my sister and I was on a mission to get some of my dad’s favorite things (noodle soup, bbq pork lol, basically asian food). Well, the noodle soup + bbq pork place I had in mind, was like ‘we don’t do the restaurant portion of this place anymore at the moment, only the deli is open’. SO here I am lined up mid way (the only young people in line, everyone else was 60+ and was speaking chinese (also disclaimer I am not full chinese nor is my chinese language good at all lol), I felt so out of place. I could deal with ordering menu items but speaking to the deli guy on which piece of bbq to do, how to slice it up, and me feeling out of place lol -- man did I want to give up and just go find another restaurant so I can read off a menu! But I was midway in a very long line (so it must be good) and decided to stick it through with my sister (tho she basically implied I’d do all the talking). I wanted to give up so so badly haha and then finally came my turn to order with the butcher chef guy, and it was very awkward but I am glad I ended up doing it. I never imagined myself to have done this and it’s probably not anything big to anyone, but it was very uncomfy and out the comfort zone for me. I am glad I did it!
The best part about doing things outside your comfort zone, is that feeling after -- knowing that you could have gave up and fell back on something comfortable and familiar -- but didn’t and gave the new thing a try.
My pick of the month: Museums!
[Update: I am having trouble uploading the recap video, I will try again in the next days so stay tuned!)
Here’s a video recap Ashley created. This visit to the museum wasn’t just fun because it was nostalgic, but also brought me to enjoy different things in life. This trip led to ideating visiting other exhibits in San Francisco and reading the history between each piece. Thinking back, it’s quite fascinating at how old these pieces are, how people were able to create them with so little technology, and how we are able to find and preserve these pieces hundreds of years later..
One person I networked with, paraphrased a quote, which I am now paraphrasing her paraphrased version lol, but something along the lines of how we maintain and upkeep the beauty of things in life, not just for ourselves, but for the future generations to come.
Until August (am scared for July to end!),
Stephanie
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