The End of a Decade, the Start of an Age

I used to think people were crazy when they would tell me, “just wait until you graduate- the years will start to fly by.”  And here we are, at the end of another year (and another decade!!), and those words never rang truer.  I feel like it was just yesterday that I wrote my 2018 reflection post and now I’m writing this one for 2019.

Speaking of 2019, what a wild ride it has been.  While I’m looking forward to everything 2020 and a new decade will bring, I’m feeling nothing but gratitude for my experiences in 2019 and the last decade.

In the last year, I:

• Attended 8 weddings in 4 different states;
• Celebrated my dog Oakley’s 3rd birthday;
• Saw my brother graduate with his third degree;
• Celebrated my second wedding anniversary;
• Visited Pittsburgh, my college town, Rehoboth Beach and a few new places including North Beach, Maryland; Niagara Falls, NY; Egg Harbor City, NJ; and Hico, WV;
• Ran my 2nd half marathon ever and absolutely crushed my PR;
• Slowly built up our savings account again;
• Finished my 1st ever draft of my first novel;
• Worked on my first edit of said 1st draft that went from 30,500 words to $73,000 and counting!

Over the last decade, I:

• Attended somewhere between 15-20 weddings;
• Graduated high school with honors;
• Started/graduated college with honors;
• Met the love of my life in college;
• Married the love of my life;
• Traveled to 2 different countries and 11 different states;
• Ran 2 half marathons and many collegiate 6Ks;
• Moved from WV->PA;
• Started my first big girl job and left that job for a new one almost three years ago already!;
• Adopted Oakley;
• Bought our first house;
• Saw 2 of my siblings get married;
• Attended somewhere around 10-15 concerts;
• Attended at least one pro-sports game in Pittsburgh for each team (Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates);
• Faced my fears of swimming in the ocean;
• Survived 2 monster snowstorms, one in WV and the other in PA;
• Attended around 3 (I think?) Countdown 2 Craziness events in Durham;
• Joined a sorority and gained the most wonderful sisters and friends;
• Started this blog;
• Published my first ever article;
• Began freelance writing;
• Created a magazine for my senior project that promoted body positivity.

And those are just the good things.  Of course, there were a lot of tears throughout the years- from deaths in my family to heartbreak to a lot of stress.  But I’m choosing to look at the positives and all of the wonderful opportunities I was fortunate enough to experience over the last year/decade.

With a new year/new decade come new goals.  And while I didn’t quite hit all of last year’s goals from my previous post, I’m determined to work hard on them constantly in the new year.

My goals for next year:

• Read at least 15 books;
• Finish at least one (but hopefully two!) GoT books;
• Practice more self-care;
• Stay more consistent with my skincare routine;
• Exercise consistently;
• Run another half-marathon, this time with my brother;
• Finish my novel;
• Create a website for my freelance writing;
• Do more house projects including painting my kitchen and our bedroom, and ripping out the woodstove in the basement;
• Get outside as often as possible;
• Travel somewhere new;
• Write frequently;
• Enjoy the year and the start of a new decade.

My goals for the next decade are:

• Work on my personal growth;
• Write another novel or two;
• Get a certificate/degree for editing;
• Start a family;
• Become financially stable enough with a side gig that I no longer have to work a part-time retail position;
• Enjoy everything the decade brings- the good, the bad, and everything in between.

My challenge to you is this- have an incredible year/decade.  Be true to who you are even if you’re still figuring that out.  And most importantly enjoy your life and make the best out of the cards you’re given.  I certainly will be.

Until next year,

Emily

P.S. Happy New Year!!

 

Featured image by: Deva Williamson on Unsplash

Title of this post inspired by Taylor Swift’s Long Live.

A Reflection of 2015 and the One Thing I’m Leaving Behind

The last few hours of a year are filled with people around the world reminiscing upon the variety of memories that took place over the previous twelve months.  On social media, I’ve seen many negative posts about how 2015 was the worst year that people experienced.  While I can almost relate to that sentiment (believe me, I have a list of things that happened in my life that I could add to the negative stigma surrounding 2015), I also have many blessings to be thankful for this year that I would like to reflect upon instead in an attempt to end 2015 on the most positive note as possible.

1. I got engaged.  That’s a pretty big deal.  I’m only 23 (22 at the time of the proposal) which I know some people will say is young, but that just gives me more time to spend with the love of my life.  I’m not giving up any freedom by getting married young (which, actually, we’re waiting until 2017 and I’ll be just shy of 25- which isn’t young in my opinion); instead, I’ll have more opportunities to experience new things with my best friend.  I’m truly thankful to have found someone so young that is always so wonderful to me.
2. I moved out (officially) of my parent’s house and am living in an apartment with my fiance.  Whenever I was young, I made a promise to my parents that once I moved out, I would only come back to visit-my siblings had a tendency to move out and move back in and I didn’t want to do the same thing as them.  So, I’ve been living in Pennsylvania unofficially since June of 2014 when I got a part-time job in PA after graduating college (it was the only place that would hire me).  I didn’t want to make the big jump of switching my license, insurance, and everything else until I received a full-time job.  I started full time at a job through a temp agency back in March, became full time through the company in June, and by June 30th, Kyle and I moved into our new apartment together and I am now a Pennsylvania resident.  I’m proud to say that (so far) I’ve fulfilled that promise I made when I was young.
3. I have always paid bills on time.  Bills suck.  I would give anything to be a child again to live carelessly and not worry so much about money.  However, since I’ve been on my own (in the sense of being independent from my parents), I’ve paid every bill I’ve had on time- sometimes even early- including student loans, which I can now say I’ve paid on time every month for a year as of this December.  Even though money is tight and sometimes I don’t get to do the things I want to do/spend it on a spending spree on desperately needed new clothes, I’m lucky to be able to say that I’ve always had enough money to put food on the table and pay my bills this year.
4. I got a full-time position at a well-respected defense law firm.  Before mid-March, I was working at a catering company as a server part time and wasn’t making very much money at all.  In March, I accepted a full-time position at a law firm as a transcriptionist.  Since then, I became full time through the law firm itself rather than the staffing agency that helped me find the position AND I was promoted as a legal secretary and am now doing twice the work I was before.  Law isn’t at all what I went to school for and it’s not exactly where I pictured myself, but I’m blessed with amazing coworkers who make me excited to go to work.  There are also days when I’m incredibly stressed out (there’s really no happy medium there- I’m either constantly busy or struggling to find work to do), but my coworkers are happy to listen to my concerns and usually help out in any way they can, which is always much appreciated.  All of this will make saying goodbye that much harder to do whenever I do get my dream job, or at least another job that will be a step in the right direction.
5. I rekindled old friendships and realized how important they are to me.  Childhood friends are forever.  Life gets in the way, and it’s tough to stay in contact/ to visit them sometimes, but they’ve seen you at your worst and your best and will always be there for you.  I was able to visit many old friends throughout the year to catch up with them.  I even walked around a quaint little town in West Virginia a few days ago for hours catching up with one of my best friends and just talking about life and how so much has happened this year.  Even though I don’t talk necessarily to them all day/every day, I know how much I mean to them and vice versa.

There are plenty of other great things that happened this year and plenty that I want to bring with me into 2016, but there’s one thing that I plan on leaving behind:

1. NEGATIVITY.  I wish I could explain why, but I have been overly negative over the past year, and I feel as though it has progressively gotten worse.  I’ve been negative about my career, certain people, money, my weight, and I’ve even been envious of other people’s lives.  However, we’re all in different places in our lives, and we all have things that are good and bad in them, so there’s no reason for me to compare myself to others.  My negativity about my career will just push me to strive toward my dream job even more. I will leave behind the people who I have negative feelings toward so as they don’t cloud my happiness.  Overall, my goal (and resolution, I suppose) is to be a better person.  I want to work on myself and become a better person in every aspect.  Though I didn’t have to wait for 2016 to start working on this, a new year is like a blank page in a notebook- you can start fresh and leave everything behind that you don’t want to include from the previous page(s).

I’m thankful to see another year, to see the ball drop on TV, to spend another night with the love of my life, and to have the best friends and family a girl could ask for.  Though there were a lot of bad/sad memories in 2015, I’m thankful for everything that happened because each event is shaping me into the person I am becoming.

With that being said, I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Years, and I’ll post my resolutions next year (aka tomorrow)!  Happy (ALMOST) 2016!

 

Thankful Tuesday: My job

My first Thankful Tuesday post was incredibly easy for me to come up with.  Over the past eight months, I’ve worked at a catering company as a server…definitely not the job I wanted coming out of college with a Communications degree.  But nonetheless, they were the first company who reached out to me after sending them my resume, so I figured I’d give it a shot until I found something better.  This job was only supposed to be temporary, but I found out that finding a job in my field was a lot harder than I previously thought.  I soon began taking a Ron Swanson view on life, as seen below:

I tried to stay positive and did everything I could to find something, even if it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do. I sent my resume to numerous people, only to be ignored or denied by all of them because of one crucial thing I lacked: experience

How am I supposed to gain experience if no one will hire me?  I can’t be hired because I don’t have experience but in order to get experience I have to get hired.  It’s a catch-22. I spent many days trying to figure out a new approach.  I actually found an internship with a company that was all online, along with freelance writing.  Now I did both of those for two months or more, and I figured they would help me land some jobs in my career.

I was definitely wrong again.  So then I discussed with family members and other people that I’m close to about some different approaches I could take now that my second idea wasn’t working.  They helped me realize that maybe going through a staffing agency to find work would be a better idea, and to keep an open mind with any position that may come up.

A few days after I applied for the staffing agency, I interviewed with them and they took me on as a client.  Only a few days later did I find my dream job.  Communications coordinator.  I thought I had a great shot at this position, despite being so young and only having my experience from school to represent my abilities.  Unfortunately, I found out that they chose someone else for the position after I felt like I had a very successful interview with them.

David Tennant is me. I am David Tennant. Or I was when I found out the news about not getting the communications coordinator job.  I just felt like I would’ve been perfect for said job, but my lack of experience is what killed my chances.  But the staffing agency continued to call me about jobs while I was waiting to hear back and actually the day before hearing that I didn’t get the communications coordinator job, I went on an interview at a law firm for a transcriptionist position.  So basically my job will be typing.

But at least it’s at a law firm, right?  I’ve heard that graduates with law degrees can’t even get into law firms.  Plus I’ve always been interested in law; I’ve just never practiced it/took classes (except for one) for it because I’ve always loved Communications more.  Regardless, went to my interview looking pretty snazzy and feeling confident in my abilities to type and work well with others, and apparently I nailed it!  The very next day I got offered the position.

So once again, it isn’t exactly where I want to be and it’s not the greatest salary in the world, but it’s definitely over minimum wage and I’ll be able to save up money by working there.  Also after 3 months I have a good opportunity to get a raise because the first three months I’m technically working under the staffing agency and if the law firm likes me/I do everything well, I’ll get hired officially and probably get a pay raise.  (Companies only pay staffing agencies so much for clients so the law firm will most likely pay me more once they hire me directly under them in 3 months…which they already said they would do.)  I liked the people who I met with and I’m sure I’ll get along with everyone else in the law firm.  I’m very excited and thankful for this opportunity.  I’ll have normal working hours (as opposed to the catering job) that will help me structure my days better and get the most done.  Also I’m kind of excited to just dress up every day!

But lately I’ve been thinking about how things could’ve been much worse during these past several months of trying to find a job suited for me.  I’m thankful to even have had a job, which is more than what some college graduates can say.  I’m also thankful that I saved up enough money while working at the catering company to be comfortable in paying off my student loans since December and never having to ask my parents for money.  I’m very thankful for being able to get everyone in my family and my boyfriend’s immediate family Christmas gifts, especially since this was the first year I was able to do that.  And now I’m thankful for getting a new opportunity at a great law firm where I’ll be able to save even more money and not have to live paycheck to paycheck.

It can only go up from here.