Cheers to the new year everybody! I know we’re on day four of the year now, so I’m coming in a little late to the game, but I do have a reason for that, which I will get into in a little bit.
Overall, I’d have to say that 2018 was a rather subpar year for me. Don’t get me wrong, there were some great things that happened, and I met some great new people and went on amazing trips, but when you look at the year in sum it was pretty meh ¯\_(:/)_/¯.
The biggest reason that I say my year was meh was because for most of the year I felt very stuck in my career. I was at a job in a company that couldn’t offer me any upward mobility, I felt like I had learned everything I could doing that job, and I was starting to get burnt out. I had known that I wanted to change jobs for a while, and I spent a full year applying, interviewing, and getting rejected time and time again. I felt completely drained because I would go to work and then instead of coming home and relaxing, I would spend hours looking for jobs and doing applications. I really wanted to give up (I honestly can’t express how much), but those words aren’t in my vocabulary, so I pushed through.
And finally, something stuck. Just over two months ago I started working as a copywriter in the marketing department at Macy’s. Is it my dream job? No. But this job is going to allow me to hit the refresh button and sit down and figure out what I really want to do with my life and what I actually want to get out of my job. And I’m ok with that. That’s exactly what I need right now.
In other exciting news, I started dating someone. So, my love life is going great right now. But that’s all you’re going to get on that topic because it’s still new and I have to keep some of my life private (geez, intrude much?).
Those are basically the only two big items that have happened in my life and they both started in the past two months of last year. So, here’s a recap of everything else that I did:
I did a 30-day fitness challenge where I worked out every day for 30 days (if you missed reading about my experience and want to check it out, click here). I went to California, twice. Once for work, and once to visit my bff (hey Kim). I went to Minneapolis to visit my brother for the fourth of July. I got to meet freaking Mirai Nagasu and Adam Rippon (and for those of you who don’t know who they are, they’re Olympic figure skaters who are just amazing human beings, so suck it and be jealous). I went to Rhode Island for their fire festival (yes that is literally a thing). I went on a wine tour in long island for my birthday (and met someone who used to strip with Cardi B okuuurrrrrr). I went to Boston with my two favorite twins in the whole world. I celebrated 2 years in NYC. And (omg how could I forget this) I moved to Astoria!
Wow. I didn’t realize that I did so much. I also watched way too much Netflix and ate wayyyyyyyyy wayyyyy too much popcorn. And not enough ice cream. No regrets.
So, what’s ahead for 2019?
No idea. I’m hoping my job keeps going in a good direction, or that I even find a new job that fulfills me. I really just want to find my sense of purpose. I know i’m only 24 and I have plenty of time for that, but I really want a job that just completely satisfies me. One of my favorite quotes is from Chuck Palahniuk; it goes: “you’re always haunted by the idea you’re wasting your life.” I don’t want to feel that way.
Continuing off of that, I really want to be true to myself in 2019. I’m already one of those people that truly doesn’t care what other people think about them. I don’t have time for that. I will never change myself to try and fit someone else’s mold or make them like me. Biggest effing waste of time. Don’t like me? That’s not my problem. Now is the time in my life when I can really put myself first. I need to do the things I want to do and be the person I want to be. And be completely unapologetic about that. Not sorry.
One of the biggest things that I want to work on (and one of the reasons why this new year’s post is coming later than I’d like) is being more present. And one of the big things with that is spending less time on my phone or looking at a screen. I was considering doing a 30-day social media cleanse (which I’d still really like to do sometime this year), but I wanted to get this post out and wanted to see how my friends were spending their New Year’s Eve. So that might happen soon, and I will definitely document how that goes.
I really want to work on being present because I’ve noticed myself just grabbing my phone all the time. I’ve started to leave my phone on silent at work to not distract me (and because the vibration noise can get really annoying), but I’m still so surprised how often I end up checking my phone. And I really don’t like it. But an even bigger reason why I want to use technology less is because I see how some of my friends are so dependent on it. We can be watching tv and they’ll be scrolling through Instagram the whole entire time. What’s the point of watching the show then? Or if there’s a pause in the conversation, they’ll look at their phone instead of just sitting there in silence (which for some reason all of humanity has become less ok with silence – this is something I plan on writing a piece about soon, so stay tuned). Or they literally feel like they can’t function without their headphones for a day. Or not watch tv for a day. That’s crazy. Read a book. Go outside. Do a puzzle.
The last thing I really want to put a focus on in 2019 is to write more. Since I don’t do journalistic work for my job anymore, I want to do more freelance writing (if anyone needs a writer for something, hit me up). I am also going to turn this blog into more of a lifestyle blog (there will still be plenty of fashion content don’t worry). I want to write more opinion pieces and talk about topics that aren’t really being talked about. And so because of that I’m also going to be changing the name of my blog and giving my site a whole new look. Which i’ll be working on over the next month (so please don’t be mad if you don’t see me post on social media that often in the next few weeks). And please let me know if there is a certain type of content you’d like to see me to more of!
Besides those three things, I obviously want to do the typical new year’s resolutions: start eating healthier, going to the gym more often again, blah blah blah.
So, if you want to see what things are going to come my way in 2019, stay posted (I promise after my redesign I’ll be posting more often), follow me on Instagram (I do post there more often), and you can subscribe to my emails, so you’ll always know when I post.
Sorry this post went so long. If you read this all the way through, bravo to you! Happy new year let’s make it a good one!
Xoxo,
Lex