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Happy new year! I can't believe it's already 2025 and so much has already happened. This month has already been a chaos with Tiktok getting banned (and then unbanned?), LA fires, and personal lows.
Lifestyle: Back to Back Festivities
New Year, New Lifestyle
With New years, I decided to give myself some new year goals. I've been straying away from New years resolutions as I got older because I realized I tended to completely give up if I "messed up" once on one of my resolutions, which might not be healthy or the true reason of setting of resolutions. Therefore, I started to create more goals so that it's okay to mess up here and there but it's more of the journey. Anyways, my new year goal was to sleep earlier and wake up earlier aka have a better sleeping schedule. As I knew was going to happen, it hasn't been perfect but I do think that it's gotten a lot better and I really am proud of myself for that! Also, I realized how important getting enough sleep is as well as how much I enjoy having a quiet early morning to myself before starting work. I've also been journaling more, which I enjoy in the morning as it starts my day on the right foot.
Friends
This month, I made active efforts to hang out with my girl friends more and dedicated time with them. It's been nice to just yap with the girls and catch up on life. It's so surprising how much we have to talk about once we're together but I'm so grateful for having such close girl friends around me! Life has been so chaotic for all of us but it's been nice to reconnect with the girls, especially with the new year. I'm excited to spend more time with them in this new year.
I also got to go to a friend's bachelorette spa day and it was so special! Not only was it super relaxing and fun, but it was also so special as it was my first ever of anything "bachelorette." Although I'm in the bridal party and know so much about the wedding, I still feel surreal that we're at that age to get married! I'm super excited for all the weddings to come this year.
Concert
I made a 2024 concert recap video and it was so much fun to look back at all the artists I got to see then. I was excited to also start 2025 strong with 2 concerts - thuy & LA fire aid benefit concert. Thuy was so much fun and one of my most chaotic shows I've been to (with lots of people going up on stage) but in a good way! I was felt super lucky that I was able to get tickets to the LA fire aid benefit concert to see so many of my favorite artists!
Love
Happy One Year
This month, my boyfriend and I reached our very first year of our relationship! It truly felt surreal and I can't believe how fast time flew by. It makes me realize how short and long one year truly is. It feels like I've known him my whole life yet I feel like I'm barely scratching the surface as we're still learning things about each other each day!
We decided to celebrate our one year in Santa Barbara and it was the perfect getaway. We got to eat lots as well as truly relax. Although there were many high moments, we also had our lowest low with our biggest fight ever. I think that fights usually always start from something small but I'm weirdly glad that it had happened because I feel like we were able to communicate and work it out. The fight happened over dinner and I'm glad that we were able to talk it out right away. We still ended the night with ice cream and making up. I'm still very thankful for our relationship and feel very proud of us for reaching one year!
Work
I really miss the holiday time at work because work truly picked up fast. I feel like nowadays, I cross one thing off my checklist and 5 new tasks show up! However, I'm been taking it day by day and not trying to stress myself out. I also did not go to the office for almost half of January so it was a nice little reunion when I finally went back into the office. Although I got real comfortable working remotely, I'm still thankful to have coworkers I get along with very well that makes going into the office not miserable.
Lows: Health Anxiety
The month started with a lot of fires in the LA area and it truly brought chaos to the city. Our work schedule got pushed and so I didn't go into the office until mid-January and I hadn't gone into the office since the holidays. Thankfully, I was not in the evacuation zone and I'm truly thankful that my health, as well as my apartment, stayed safe but I ache for those affected by the recent LA fires. I recommend to research and donate to aid those affected by the fire. The air quality in LA was also quite terrible for a while so I went around wearing mask whenever I was outside, which truly gave me a throwback moment of COVID/ my sophomore of college where there was a huge fire in Santa Barbara where I did indeed had to evacuate. With all of the choas, it's been super nice to see the community come together.
Although the song "girls like me don't cry" has been on repeat this month for me, I realized that girls like me do, in fact, cry. This month, I had a little bit of a health scare (separate from the fire) and I don't know that I'm completely over it right now but I am taking action to figure it out, which thankfully keeps me less anxious. I ended up doing the classic wrong move of googling symptoms and went into a loophole and gave myself terrible anxiety regarding my health that I ended up crying. Luckily, my boyfriend called me and comforted me so that I didn't feel as anxious over it. Also, as I'm going through this journey, I realize once again how important health is and how grateful I am for it. This is your reminder to do your annual physical exams!
Lessons:
I've truly learned this month that I should never take anything for granted: relationships, health or just living. I saw firsthand how easily everything can be lost. Regarding relationships, I truly realized how important communication is, especially during hard times. Regarding health, with my anxiety over it, I realized I have to be more proactive about preventative health as well as checkups. Learning to appreciate things in life a lot more as well as not take things for granted.
Songs on Repeat:
girls like me don't cry - thuynext door (feat. ASTN) - Amelia Moore, ASTNThat's So True - Gracie AbramsMy Pick of the Month: Espresso Martini Night
This month, I decided to host a little girls' night in - espresso martini night! It was so fun and cute to gather the ladies together to create our own espresso martini. It was also special because I used it as an excuse to celebrate our 2 years of book club together and we got to review our book recommendations, favorite & least favorite books, and more! Afterwards, we ended up yapping overtime but it was so much fun and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Although I can't say that this was what I was expecting in the new year, I learned some valuable lessons to never take people or things in life for granted - even yourself! I also learned that sometimes girls like me do cry -- and that's ok! I tend to always put on a strong face and not try to lean on anyone, but I realized that it's nice to be comforted at times. I'll take all of these lessons with me as I go into the next month!
Talk to you next month,
-- Jin
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