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January truly felt like a new chapter to me, not just because it was the new year but because it was a lot of new things happening in my life.
Lifestyle: Adulting
Settling in LA
This month was my first official month of living out at home and moving into my apartment. I'm not going to lie, the first night felt so weird and almost a deja vu to the first night at my dorm during my freshman year of college. I knew that the feeling will disappear soon (and soon enough after like the third night, it went away) but it was still such a surreal moment. A lot of things happened really quickly for me including moving into my apartment in LA. I've been having so much fun decorating my room and making it feel cozy. It's now the end of the month and I can officially say that I'm really happy with what my room looks like!
Family Time
Dana Point
At the beginning of the month, I had MLK day off at work. This was my last holiday off until May so I knew I wanted to make a vacation trip out of it. Luckily, my family's schedule all aligned and we decided to go to Dana Point - somewhere close but not super close. I was honestly a little nervous that we wouldn't be able to make it to the trip as it was raining really hard all week, including a massive storm warning. Although it did end up raining during our trip, it was nothing that a windbreaker and umbrella couldn't handle. The trip ended up being such a relaxing weekend filled with quality time at the beach and lots of yummy food.
Las Vegas/ Grand Canyon
Towards the end of the month, our family friends decided to visit us all the way from Korea. The family that came to visit was my dad's old friends from back in college! They really wanted to visit Las Vegas and Grand Canyon, so we decided to take a trip there for the weekend. There's always something to see and explore in Las Vegas no matter how many times I've been. However, it was my first time at Grand Canyon so I was extra excited about making a trip down there. We ended up going to the Grand Canyon Skywalk, which wasn't the Grand Canyon I pictured where you can go inside the rocks, it was a really pretty view regardless. The weekend was tiring as we were on the road for hours, but definitely a great bonding session. I also loved seeing my dad interacting with his old friend again as well as hearing some stories back from their young days. I sometimes forget that my dad has also been young and my age right now.
Work
Starting a new job definitely comes with its own excitement and struggles. I honestly do feel lucky that everyone has been super supportive and welcoming on this team. I am also super grateful for the buddy program that they have because my buddy has been such a big help as I started to get adjusted to my work. She's also been giving me a lot of words of affirmation such as "You're doing great," "I'm so happy to have you on the team," and "You're crushing it." I can't say that I'm 100% settled in yet, but I do already see progress with my projects and understanding of work so I'm satisfied with that. I did have a little bit of imposter syndrome as it's been a recurring pattern whenever I start a new job. However, I'm excited to see more growth in my role as I continue my job throughout these upcoming months. Here's to hoping to live up to the words of affirmation that I've been graciously given.
Lows: Routines
This month was a lot of having to adjust and start new. I definitely had gotten into a good routine back at home and I was excited to start new routines with moving. However, I also learned how it truly takes time to find the perfect routine. As I'm writing this, I still am looking for ways to improve as I don't think I have anything solid yet.
By routine, I mean:
- Trying to find the right yoga studio for me: I went to check out my local Corepower as that's what I've been going to for the past few years. However, I realized the nearest studio was not my favorite due to the studio size, traffic to the spot, and parking. Therefore, I'm going to try out a more local yoga studio nearby my apartment and see how I like it.
- Working from home routine: I work from home three times a week, which is different from my last job as I had to go into the office every day. Although I prefer this hybrid environment much better, I still had to get used to how I function in a work-from-home environment. I was excited to set up my work-from-home setup. I made sure to get a standing desk because I think it's really easy to just sit all day long at home looking at a screen without moving all day long. I've also been waking up right before 9:00 am as I don't need to get ready but I'm learning that I want more time in the morning for myself. Therefore, I want to try to incorporate a morning walk and journaling before turning on my laptop for work in the next month.
- Work office environment: Luckily, my apartment is only 10 minutes away from work so that was an easy shift. However, I still had to learn all the office culture at my new company such as how people liked to take meetings when people like to take lunch breaks, and when to socialize vs. focus on work.
I think January was my "trial run" as I was trying a bunch of things to see what I wanted to incorporate into my routines and I hope to formalize something better that works for my schedule in the next month. Only then, do I think I'll feel fully "at home?" However, I'm honestly grateful and happy about this journey I'm in.
Lessons: Family & Friends
This month I realized how important friends and family are in my life. I was so grateful I was able to go on two family trips this month: Dana Point and Vegas. It still weighs heavily on me that I moved out on my own and in a way feel like I've left my family (maybe it's Asian/ Korean culture in me). Therefore, I think these trips allowed me to have quality time with my family despite being away from home now. I think this helped make the transition a lot easier because even though I was away, I came back to go on trips with them for a few weekends this month. No matter where I am, I know that home is wherever they are. I'm glad for the time we were able to spend together this month and I hope that there's more in the upcoming months as well.
I also got to hang out with a lot of friends already since moving out. Moving out can be scary and a hard adjustment but for me, it just felt so welcoming. I also am so glad to have Kelsey near me as we had a lot of dinner cooking nights or casual hang-outs after work. This definitely helped my transition here a lot easier and more fun. I also think I was so lucky that the two housemates I live with have been so welcoming. Although we're all very busy gals and don't really see each other often during the working days, they've been nothing but sweet to me. We've been trying to do dinner get-togethers as well, which has been a great bonding session. For example, my housemate invited me and Kelsey to her lunar new year celebration dinner where she made us tteokguk aka rice cake soup traditionally eaten during the lunar new year in Korea.
Songs on Repeat:
Top Songs -
OMG - New JeansFlowers - Miley CyrusNonsense - Sabrina CarpenterMy Pick of the Month: Projector
I have been loving decorating my room in general but if there's one thing that I'm really happy about is the decision to get a projector. I have an empty wall and I was contemplating getting a tv but my friend suggested getting a projector. I've always wanted one but never really had the excuse to buy it, until now! I love getting cozy in my bed and watching my favorite shows through it. Special shoutout to "The Glory" on Netflix because I hard-core binged in this month and it's so good. I'm so excited for the second part to come out in March.
New chapters mean new memories but also new struggles. I was able to face all of these throughout January. I'm excited to see how next month goes as I start to settle more into my new space. I know this is just the start of the new year so I'm excited to see how this year will turn out.
Talk to you next month,
-- Jin
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