New Year, New Me?
This post was published on January 8, 2017 on my old blog, samplesizedwriting.wordpress.com
Hello, you who decided to venture here! Since 2017 is only a week old, I decided to start my first real blog, one of many things I’ve decided to do with this new year. As an aspiring magazine journalist, I figured having a place to write would do me good (heaven knows I don’t write enough). I don’t know what you should expect from this new venture, because I don’t know what to expect either. This will probably be a place to turn to when I have something to say, but that something could be politics, poems, personal life, or anything in between.
A bit about me: The girl who’s picture you see is yours truly. I haven’t seen all that much of the world yet, but my biggest ambition in life is to see as much of it as I possibly can. I’m a liberal, so I’m sure you’ll come across a lot of rants about Trump over the next four years. My favorite movie is Disney’s Tangled, and my favorite book is All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (warning: it’ll make you cry, a lot). My music taste is all over the place, but at the current date I’ve been listening to the La La Land soundtrack on repeat. I have a very hard time deciding if fall or summer is my favorite season, and I really love light blue.
Now that you know a bit about me, here’s what this first post is really about. 2016 was a wild year for me, to say the least. The first half was like a dream. Life at home was good, I was in a good relationship, I met two YouTubers I have idolized since I was 12, I had a lovely senior prom, I graduated high school, and the possibility of my impending college years was sprawled out in front of me.
The second half of 2016 tried its best to knock me out.
Right before college was supposed to start, a family member was hospitalized for a number of days. We found out if he had waited another few days to go see what was wrong, he could have died. We also found out what caused the health problems was a tumor. He’s okay now, but that was Sucker Punch #1. Sucker Punch #2 was going away to college. Even though I love my university and I love the friends I’ve made and the independence, naturally it’s hard to leave the town you’ve lived in all your life, leave the friends you’ve known since you were at least 11 years old, leave the boyfriend you’ve had for the better part of a year, and leave the family who has loved and protected you all your life. The transition was difficult, but Punch #2 was, at least, expected. Sucker Punch #3: heartbreak. I ended up being more proof that your high school relationships usually don’t even make it ’til Thanksgiving of your first semester at college. That hurt. #3 still swings at me from time to time, but I won’t go into that too much here. Sucker Punch #4, the last big one, I believe, was simply being away from friends and family when I most needed them. Part of the distance thing with school, of course.
Punches #1-4 really took a lot out of a 5’0″, 18-year-old girl. I’ve come out of this boxing match with 2016 with a fair amount of scars and bruises, and I’m still trying to pick up the pieces. What this 5’0″, 18-year-old girl realized is that I need change. Lots of change. That annoying “new year, new me” saying actually hit home this time around. I need to prioritize things, sort things out, cut things out, toughen up, and figure out how to put myself totally and completely back together. And I need to try and do new things. The first thing I’ve done is get my hair cut shorter than it’s been for at least a year (so, that picture of me you saw is not actually new). The next thing is this blog you’ve stumbled on and this piece you’ve been reading, if you’ve made it this far (if so, please accept a virtual hug). There are other things I plan on doing and things I haven’t even thought of yet to make myself better in 2017. You’ll see what they are in due time!