Good Reads – Page 9 – Literary Arts Blogspace

All That I Am

Note: I wrote this spontaneously during a bout of insomnia spurred by an overactive mind: the night before, I had finished a life-changing piece of fiction that liberated me from previous writing fears. It is abstract, messy, and different from my usual blogs, but it is relevant in its early morning authenticity. (:

I feel so much—more than I want, more than I understand. But I am nothing but alive. I feel the breath in my lungs, the black of the night, the reality of failure. I feel the light rain on my skin like a scintilla of some feeling; I feel everything.

Whenever the walls creep in too close for comfort, I escape into sky. I spend hours outside searching for sanctuary: I walk in endless circles until my ankles bleed, listening to lame music and mulling over deadlines; I spend hours lying in the grass, unbothered by curious insects; I drink my coffee in rocking chairs and think of nothing but the moment and the hushing of pain. I feel safe here, wrapped within the limitless depth of the ever-changing sky. I feel the soft blue reflected deep within me; I feel the clouds swallowing all of my apathy. I chase the sunset every evening, as I feel whole when the dying sun eats me alive with all of its desperate color. In those moments, I am. I exist, and that is enough. The light warms my skin, and I am revered, restored. This is plenty.

Life hurts. In so many ways, it does, and it hurts for everyone.

I attend one of the best high schools in Mississippi, and I love it. I have accomplished more than I ever dreamed of (and deserve), and so many more months remain. I near the precipice of my true beginning, of my own unapologetic existence in this vast, horrifying world, and I do not fear the strife that awaits me. In my dorm, I have two drawers overflowing with snacks, and I now have the ability to play “Jump” by Van Halen on random keyboards. I have dreams and aspirations, and I am balancing my stress with creativity. I am surrounded by people I care about, and I want so much. I want to succeed; I want to awake each morning; I want to be alive.

But my sleeping schedule lies in anarchic ruin. Every minor grade is directly connected to the state of my future. Radical changes manifest in every aspect of my life. I have no stability. I have no certainty. I know nothing but deadlines and stress and the need to escape. I want out of my skin; I want to rid myself of every worry, every doubt. An incessant river of chaos rushes within me, and I feel it bubbling towards the surface of my control. I feel so lonely or so crowded at times. And I long for my junior year: I never wanted it to end, and time felt so infinite as I indulged in every moment of this new adventure at MSA.

But I am alive.

There is something so powerful about resilience, about the will to adapt and overcome. And I feel this every time I submit an essay I panicked over, every time I close a hundred tabs. I feel this every time my head hits a pillow after midnight, every time someone smiles because of me. I am alive in this moment, and this is enough. The pain is necessary because it is a good pain—the kind that results from feeling too much and aching to accomplish more than humanly possible. It is trying.

Throughout the years, writing has served various purposes for me, but it has always existed as an escape. As I forget myself in my work, I feel the words escaping me, this year. I feel them growing more bold, more bare. Every piece is of desperation, for I am beginning to relinquish all that I have, all that I am, to the page. I am beginning to surrender to myself and my fear. I am escaping. I am no longer bound by the same insecurities. I am beyond myself and my fragile understanding; I am the words I speak. My fingers punch the keyboard, and I see myself for what I truly am: a living being. The stress evaporates, I slip into a comatose state, and I emerge hours later feeling not quite like before. This all sounds quite pretentious, but I am in love with slipping outside of my body and just being. I exist only as a writer in those moments (meanwhile, the piece is about tacos…HAH!).

You are more than your pain, your past. You are everything and more. You are indomitable. You are your own artist, your own home, your own breath. Fall in love with the little things, and you will feel full. Discover your own meaning, your own truth. Surrender. Trust in the strength of vulnerability. Learn to let your heart die, sometimes. Learn from everything that surrounds you, and you will understand. You will feel full.

trauma isn’t a competition

Full disclosure, I was the toxic friend.

Before coming to MSA, I used to go to a very small private school. I attended this school from Pre-k 3 to sophomore year, making that a full 14 years with relatively the same 40 classmates. I jumped around to a few different friends groups over the years and eventually stuck with my current one in middle school.

Each of our lives were deeply complicated from a young age, due to one thing or another. When certain, intensely emotional things happen in life, the natural thing you’d want to do is talk about it with someone! However, it’s difficult to talk about it with your friends when they’ll interrupt you saying sometime like “Well, that’s not as bad as what I’ve been through!”

I have also been guilty of this. While in middle school, I somehow came up with the idea that if my life was more tragic, then that would have me better than everyone else. So I embellished my own hardships as way to invalidate other people’s.

Now at this current point in time, my friends and I are in much better places. So I’m not here to bash them or bash myself for acting this way in the past. This is just a warning to those who may be acting this way now.

Don’t. Compare. You’re. Hardships. To. Other. People’s.

This is such toxic behavior. Because my feelings were always being belittled by others that didn’t take them seriously, it took me a long time to realize that my feelings actually mattered and that I shouldn’t feel guilty about them. I know that someone will always have it worse than I will, but that should never invalidate how I feel about my own problems.

Things like grief and sadness affect people differently! And different events can trigger different emotions and reactions from different people! So everyone’s feelings are okay, because they should be allowed to feel however they’re feelings.

I have since learned how to be a better listener, friend, and just person in general. Sure, my life may be waaaay harder than whoever is talking to me about their problems. And it may not be! It’s irrelevant! What’s important is that I listen to them and encourage them to work through how their feeling, because in the end, that’s what’s going to be better for both of us!

my comfort youtube videos

Every now and then, I am sad. I’m sure this is something that most, if not all, of you reading this can relate too.

Usually, I have a valid reason to be upset, but every now and then I don’t really have a good reason to be sad. Like, maybe I’m just feeling down for absolutely no reason. When this happens, I tend to revert back to the same few youtube videos to make me feel better. They’re my “comfort” youtube videos if you will, each made by a YouTuber that I really enjoy! So if you ever are feeling sad for no reason, there are some videos that you could check out!

Safiya Nygaard’s “I Got A Tokyo Makeover”

Honestly, any of Safiya’s Japan/Korea travel videos could be put in this slot. I love learning about Japanese street fashion and this video specifically is where it all started. I started watching Safiya a few years ago and I’ve seen “I Got A Tokyo Makeover” the most out of all these videos BY A LOT! In the video, Safiya and her now-husband Tyler travel to Tokyo and consult Japanese fashionistas to put together three outfits inspired by current Japanese street fashion trends!

I don’t know what it is about watching Safiya travel through various Tokyo stores to piece together outfits, but this video always makes me feel better if I’m in a bad mood! And if it doesn’t fix my mood completely, I move on to the rest of her “travel videos” playlist.

bestdressed’s “my favorite tv shows”

This video is almost 30 mins long and boy do I love it! I could listen to Ashley (bestdressed) talk all day long. In “my favorite tv shows (according to a film major)”, Ashley lists her favorite tv shows and television specials of all time. Really, bestdressed is just my comfort youtube channel! I’ve seen all of her recent videos dozens of times! Normally she makes more fashion-centric videos, which is great for my little clothes loving heart!

Dollightful’s “Repaint! Budget Customizing Theia Thriftford”

I am not interested at all in customizing a doll myself, however watching someone else do it is so incredibly satisfying! Katherine (Dollightful) takes old Monster High/Ever After High dolls and transforms them into dragons, Pokemon, and more! This video, however, is a little different. usually, she used expensive tools and art supplies to modify the dolls. For this video, she makes a doll on a budget! She travels outside to find leaves, grass, and even trash to transform a thrifted, damaged doll into something really cool and unique!

Danny Gonzalez’s “This Is The Strangest Low Budget Movie”

Danny Gonzalez is one of my favorite commentary YouTubers. This particular video was the first movie review of his that I ever saw and oh my gosh I have no idea why I like it so much, but I’ve seen it a few times too many. Any of his movie reviews could have made it onto this list, but this one is probably my favorite!

In the video, Danny comments on a low-budget film about a genie that helps a father move past the death of his son and save his marriage. If the movie’s premise wasn’t strange enough, the acting choices and genie lure don’t really help. With Danny’s commentary though, the movie becomes quite entertaining!

Drew Gooden’s “This Movie Has Every Stereotype”

Once again, another commentary/movie review video. If you don’t already know, Drew Gooden and Danny Gonzalez are so similar that they are often confused with each other. This happens so often in fact that it became the entire premise of their 2019 tour “We Are Two Different People”. So it’s no wonder that two similar videos by similar content creators made it onto this list.

Anyway, “This Movie Has Every Stereotype” covers a movie about an Italian family in which every single Italian stereotype is implemented. It’s an insane romcom that I wouldn’t have taken any interest in if Drew hadn’t made this video about it.

So Why Do We Have Comfort Objects?

Comfort objects are used to provide psychological comfort, especially in unusual or new situations. Most of the time, they are associated with the idea of a child having security blankets or toys. But just because you’re not a kid anymore doesn’t mean you don’t need to be comforted by something familiar.

I know that I’m an anxious person. This is why whenever I get upset and can’t figure out why, I go back to the same things over and over again. Maybe it’s YouTube videos, maybe it’s rewatching Brooklyn Nine-Nine for the 12th time. But whatever it may be, I like the idea of having consistent, familiar things to come back to.

So those are my comfort youtube videos! Honorable mentions go to:

Dan Howell’s “Halloween Baking – Creepy Crispy Cakes CONJOINED CHALLENGE”

Thomas Sander’s “BLOOPER REEL!! The Bloop Awakens!”

EroldStory’s “Dumb Things I’ve Done Sleep Deprived”

When the Writer Stops Writing…

I am writing this as our first week after hybrid comes to an end. To say this week was stressful is an understatement, and I don’t think I realized, until this week, how many hats I actually wear: student body president, RISE editor-in-chief, writer, student, daughter, sister, friend, cat mom. I do sometimes get overwhelmed and feel myself being spread thin. I know that I cannot give my all in everything and that it’s okay to say no and to give up control, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t still struggle with it. This week, my writing suffered. Sure, I had some very successful SGA meetings, launched a digital newspaper, planned some school events, did my school work, applied to college, hung with friends, and still managed to sleep, but at what cost?

I submitted a short story last week that was quite possibly the worst thing I have ever written. I have never been more ashamed of anything I’ve turned in. My friends tried to encourage me, but I know that it wasn’t my best work, and I feel like I let, not only, myself but my writing community down, and that is my biggest disappointment.

This week, we were challenged to just be poets and writers and create poetry, but I have to admit, it was one of the hardest assignments for me. We were simply told to write poetry, and I had to force myself to produce content. Writing has never been this hard for me, and I can’t deal. I feel like I am losing apart of my identity.

And if I’m not a writer, who am I?

During quarantine, I didn’t write. I wrote a single poem during the entire 6-month break. I blamed it on lack of inspiration, but with what’s going on in the world, there’s no way it was that. I think I just didn’t want to admit to myself that writing had stopped being fun. The thing that I used to love most had become a chore. I stared at blank document after blank document, watching the bar blink at me. It’s all I could do.

But, here I am, stuck in this funk, wondering when it will end. When will the joy return? When will the words stop being something I loathe?

When will the writer in me start writing again?

This was pretty candid and personal, and I normally write things like this in my journal, but I felt the need to share in case any others seem to have lost their writer’s voices too.

Yes, I have a playlist for that

Just as the title may suggest, I have A LOT of playlists of Spotify. So let’s go on a tour of them together, shall we?

Currently, I have 25 playlists and counting, with over 500 hundred songs and hundreds of hours of music across all of them. However, only 15 are public.

“when you give me the aux” is titled so because it’s a list of songs I deemed worthy effort to play around other people. I very embarrassed about my music taste, so having a playlist for “Oh, you can play something” has been extremely helpful!

This playlist includes several remixed Lin-Manuel Miranda show tunes, as well as songs by Billie Eilish, blackbear, and Taylor Swift. Basically, if I’ve cried while listening to it, it’s on the list.

“h e a v y” was created in the beginning of quarantine, just as the full realization of what all was happening was finally hitting me. The entire playlist has a let-me-just-lay-here-on-the-floor vibe.

Sometimes I just want to dance around in my room all by myself. Sue me!

This summer, I found myself without anyone to go to the lake with or to swim at the beach with. I spent more time tanning this summer than I ever have, so I made a playlist for it.

Just a playlist of uplifting music for those happy days.

So I went through an emo phase. If you’ve seen some of my more “edgier” outfits around MSA, then you could have probably guessed that. “why can’t it just be a phase” * is just for those times where the emo jumps out again.

* I know it’s misspelled in the screenshot

This sounds dark and edgy, but it’s just songs that I work to that are completely instrumental, so technically.. there are no words are this playlist.

Just some soft, cuddly songs. They are also nice to nap too.

Just the opposite of the last one! “dancy love songs” is basically the dance-party-in-your-room, just with someone else!

The title of this playlist is still in the works, but “a hot shower on a cold afternoon” sums it up nicely I think. This is an extremely calming playlist that not only have I had spa days too but have also fallen asleep listening to.

I don’t know why it smells, it just does. This is just a list of songs that take me back to the early 2000s and my elementary school years.

Last, but not least, is my collaboratory playlist. It’s fairly new but it’s a collection of music that my friends can recommend to me. I’ve always had an issue with listening to the same music over and over again. This way, I always have to need music to listen to.

Thank you for taking this journey with me through my Spotify. If you ever need a music rec, feel free to ask! And I’m open to new music all. the. time. So if you hear something good, let me know!

The Manic Pixie Dream People

Stereotypes can be defined as an over-generalized belief about a particular group of people. They can span everything from race to religion. Society has been known to push stereotypes in media, whether it be in television, film, or marketing advertisements. Gender stereotypes and tropes in particular have never been my favorite thing. However, this doesn’t mean there haven’t been some instances of me enjoying seeing them on screen!

In The Princess Diaries (2001), the trope of “nerd girl isn’t pretty until her makeover” is presented at it’s finest. Anne Hathaway (an undoubtedly gorgeous actress) is presented as a less than pretty, shy girl until she receives her iconic makeover. After her makeover of contact lenses and straighten hair, her crush notice her and the world accept her as royalty. I hate this trope with a fiery passion, but that doesn’t stop me from watching this movie at least once a year, without fail!

But this isn’t about nerdy, shy girl makeovers. This is about The Manic Pixie Dream People!

Manic Pixie Dream Girls/Boys

I’m sure you’ve already been beaten over the head with reasons as to why this trope is bad and harmful but just bear with me.

Manic Pixie Dream Girls are usually presented as saviors to their male counterparts in a time of need. They fix their lives, have a brief romantic relationship with them, and then disappear without a trace. They serve only to further a male character’s growth and usually have no significant character arch of their own. A popular MPDG is Ramona Flowers from Scott Pilgrim VS. The World.

For a while, like most, I didn’t consider that there would be another side to the Manic Pixie Dream coin. But alas, there’s more!

If he’s mysterious, charming, pretentious, and “deep”, then he’s definitely a Manic Pixie Dream Boy! The most popular example I can think of is Augustus Waters in The Fault in Our Stars. MPDBs fair sightly better compared to MPDGs, as they usually have a bigger storyline of their own and most likely get the girl in the end. However, in most instances I’ve seen, the MPDB will die by the end of the story. The real kicker is that their love interest most likely will mourn their death for the rest of their lives and never really get over them.

So after all that, you probably have a few characters in mind that fit these descriptions. This brings up an alarming question. If these characters are so harmful, then why are they so popular?

The answer is kind of simple. People want what they can’t have.

I’m not saying this to judge anyone, I promise. I vividly remember times when the thought of a mysterious stranger sweeping me off my feet and making all my problems go away sounded pretty good.

The reality of this is that MPDGs and MPDBs are nowhere near being real people. They set impossibly high standards and incredibly unrealistic expectations for relationships. Real relationships consist of two completely flawed people just trying their best. One should not rely on the other to solve all their problems. And there should always be an equal give and take. And usually, normal relationships don’t last, which is completely okay!

The constant repetition of stories such as the one depicted in The Fault in Our Stars makes me wonder why everything gets turned into a love story, but that may be another blog topic for another day.

So to end this, here are two of my favorite movies that I believe accuratly present romantic relationships! When Harry Met Sally... follows two friends throughout the twists and turns of their life as they slowly fall in love with each other (funny). Marriage Story follows two sides of a divorce as the once marriaged couple tries to figure out what to do next (sad). If you end up watching either of these (I think they’re both on Netflix), I hope you enjoy them and please let me know what you thought!

Diamonds under concrete

Last year I felt like the ground I was walking on was moving against me- making it impossible for me to move forward no matter how fast I was trying to walk. Something I wish I knew last year: the world is however you choose to see it.

Over quarantine, I’ve had a lot of time to self reflect with the time I was forced to spend with myself. I wanted my first blog post of the year to come from the new person I am because of this self reflection and how I got here.

Let me start off by saying that self reflection and change is never easy and it requires a lot of time. It’s one thing to realize things you don’t like about yourself, but it’s another to try and change those things based on the person you want to become.

I was able to realize things about myself that I never thought I could realize by looking in myself to try and find the root of emotions when I felt them. I used to have really bad anxiety because I cared so much on what people thought and wanted to please their standards. It took a lot to overcome this, but I did it by finding the person I was.

My favorite music artist, xxxtentaction, once said, “You’re not supposed to be alone and then start hating yourself– you’re supposed to to see things about yourself and change it. That’s what it is. You have to change it. and in order to reach that next level of happiness, you have to love yourself. You have to take time with yourself.”

I’ve always wanted to love myself, but that’s hard to do when you don’t know the person you are. So, that became my main goal in life– to find who I was. After a lot of soul searching, I found a lot of things I didn’t like about myself– such as how much I cared about insignificant things. I learned to let go of the things I held on to so tightly that . I learned to not care as much by finding peace in myself. I’m very proud of the progress I’ve made, because let me tell you, It wasn’t easy. I had to completely change my mindset and my view on the world.

I’ve realized that at the end of the day, all you are is a person. People are beautiful things. They have the compacity to empathize and feel. They have the ability to think. The mind is an amazing gift that makes up who you are. The best thing you can do for yourself is explore your mind. Explore what makes you you. Find who you want to be and strive to be that person. But most of all, don’t live off of someone else’s blueprint they have picked out for you. Meet YOUR standards, not theirs. It doesn’t matter what others think as long as you love how you think.

The symbolism of this title is the concept of finding what has been there all along. The path you are walking on may seem dull, but with a change of mind, you can find the beauty that lies beneath it. I encourage you all to look inside yourself and find who you are. You can not truly be happy until you find happiness inside yourself. It is hard, but so are all the best things in life.

Thank you for reading! I hope you got something out of this post and enjoyed reading it as I enjoyed writing it:)

An Ode to Planners and Their Keepers

The Happy Planner

A lot of people keep planners or datebooks to keep track of their busy schedules and lives, but when I talk about my planner, I’m talking about my Happy Planner.

What’s a Happy Planner, you may ask? Well, it’s a planner like no other. It has a disc-bound system that allows you to remove and add in your own pages using a special hole puncher and discs specific to The Happy Planner.

The appeal of Happy Planners are that they are so customizable. It is essentially what you make it. Whether you’re simple and minimalistic or bright and colorful, there’s a Happy Planner for you. There’s different types of planners too. For instance, there’s Faith planners, Fitness planners, Recipe planners, Health and Wellness planners, Student/Teacher planners, etc. There are so many types available in all kinds of designs and layouts. As for layouts, The Happy Planner has a couple different sizes of planners: BIG, Classic, mini, skinny mini, and Classic skinny mini.

In these sizes, you can get different layouts, such as Vertical, Hourly, Block, Horizontal, Lined Vertical, etc.

So, now you’ve got the system figured out, you’ve chosen your size(s), and your layout(s). Here comes the fun part… STICKERS!! Another reason The Happy Planner is so special is because they are designed for decorative planning. Decorative planning is so much fun, and it allows you to be creative while being productive. Here are a few of my weekly planner spreads:

Other Planners

So, I know this blog has been pretty specific to The Happy Planner, but there are some other really great planner companies that offer other binding systems and customization. There’s Erin Condren, Plum Paper, Agenda 52, Recollections, and more! These can all be found on their own websites or at your local craft store (Michael’s, JoAnn’s, Hobby Lobby, etc.). The Happy Planner is a little more exclusive, and a limited quantity of their products can be found at Walmart. However, with that exclusivity, comes a more exclusive price. There are coupons and bargains pretty often, but being a decorative planner can get pretty pricey. I recommend joining Buy/Sell/Trade groups for planners on Facebook, as many of them destash their unwanted items or will resale items that they might not have needed.

Planner Community

Another perk of being a planner, is the community! The planner community is filled with people from all walks of life who just enjoy being creative and keeping track of their busy schedules. It’s such a positive and accepting environment, and most people don’t even know about it. And maybe some people find it weird that people can come together to bond over stickers, but weird or not, it’s all some people have, so who are we to judge what makes them happy and fulfilled?

My Planner Journey

My journey into the planner world started in 2016. My sister bought me Recollections planner for Christmas. I didn’t care too much for it in the beginning, but as I got older and my life got busier, I needed it. Looking back, I didn’t have nearly as much stuff to do now, but as a middle-schooler, just having a place to keep track of it all helped me tremendously.

When I switched to the more coveted Happy Planner, it honestly changed my life. I became obsessed with the stickers and writing things in my planner. It was so fun, and I was happier because I was getting things done and still taking care of myself. The Happy Planner’s motto is “Plan a life you love,” and I stand by that. Nothing great can happen without a plan and without action. Having a planner, allows me to plan, thus allowing me to take action, and do great things.

I hope this post inspired or motivated you in some way. Maybe you go out and get your own planner or maybe you just appreciate the people who do.

The Offical Bucket List

The Earth is 4.543 billion years old. The continent of North America is 200 million years old. People didn’t come to North America until 15,000 years ago. The United States of America wasn’t even established as a country until 244 years ago! And now, in the year 2020, I am 17 years old.

This world has been around much longer than I have and will continue to be around loooong after I’m gone. During these 17 years, I’ve done some pretty remarkable things. But will I ever really get to do everything I want to? No one can answer that.

Below, I’ve compiled a list of things I want to do before I die. Sure, some of them might seem silly or weird, but if I can make it happen, then this is exactly how I want my life to look! So without further or do, I present to you… my bucket list!

The City of Lights

Who hasn’t had fantasies of wandering the streets of Paris? With its rich history, beautiful architecture, and romantic atmosphere, Paris is almost like a fairy tale come to life. For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to go there. I don’t care if I live there for years or visit for just a few hours, but before I die, I will see Paris!

Road Trip!

Sure, I’ve been stuck in a car for hours on end before, but my friends were never there to make it spontantious and interesting! The idea of packing up and piling into a car with your friends to go road tripping has always sounded fun to me! Where exactly would I want to go? I honestly don’t really care, as long as we get to see some cool things!

Home Sweet Home

The ultimate dream is to one day live in a house that seems like it’s come right out of a movie! Examples of this are:

70s homes have always been really appealing to me and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the colors? Maybe it’s the lack of sharp angles on the furniture?

If I ever drop off the grid and flee into the mountains to live in a cottage as a “fairy princess”, do not be alarmed. I am just living out a dream that I’ve had since I was six.

I’m already on the verge of turning my dorm into a forest, so if one day my house is JUST plants, don’t be surprised.

Lights! Camera! Action!

As a Media, I work on many video projects. Two are on MSA’s official Media YouTube channel and more will soon be on RISE’s website, but those have been strictly for school. One day I hope to make something (whether it be a short film, a documentary, etc.) completely of my own, without the restrictions of having to abide by rules. I aspire to make a deeply personal project one day, whatever that may entail.

Mukbang

Who hasn’t wanted to eat an obscene about of food all at once? I know I have! I don’t think I’d want to make an entire YouTube video about it, but I like the idea of getting a bunch of food with some friends and just pigging out.

Performing Live

This is the only thing on this list that I’ve (technically) already done. I performed a few songs with my cousin’s band a few years ago, but I was still a very shy person back then. I’ve always wanted to be on stage with a full band, screaming into a microphone and dancing around like crazy. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t really sing anymore, but it still sounds fun!

Dancing

I’m sure if you’re reading this, you’ve probably seen me dance before. And if you haven’t, then you most likely will if you go to any of MSA’s dances. At every school dance, wedding, and party I’ve ever been to, I’ve rarely left the dance floor. I don’t know why this is, I’m not even that good of a dancer! But regardless, I loooove to dance. I personally don’t think anyone should care what they look like when they dance. They should just dance and have fun! With that said, I do think it would be cool to actually learn how to dance one day!

In The End…

After everything is said and done, the main focus of life is to just enjoy it and to help others enjoy it. I’ll be okay if I never make it to Paris in my lifetime. I can live without ever having some cool, absurd house. The number one item on my bucket list (and yes, it is cheesy) is to just enjoy whatever I can get out of life!

I want to get a good job that I enjoy and spend time with the people I love. I want to help others try to enjoy their lives, and while setting goals is important, I want to be okay with the fact that I might not get to do everything that I want. That’s why it’s important to seize moments when you get them, because life is too short for regrets.

Welcome Back + Life Update

…aaand we’re back!

It’s been a while since I last blogged, so I figured I’d just tell you guys what I’ve been up to, as well as what the my blog platform will look like this year!

First, I am a senior now- crazyyy! I am also student body president, which still blows my mind to say out loud, but I’m honestly still the same Maleigh! I feel like coming into this year I almost felt like I had to “redefine myself,” but I quickly realized that is quite okay to just be me!

However, my blogging style will be getting a makeover. Instead of posting journalism or informational type blogs, I will be using this platform to talk more about me and my life. There won’t be quite as many series, and my posting will be more sporadic, but on the last Friday of each month, I will post some sort of literary review, so look forward to those! But as for every other week, you can just expect more about me. Last year when the pandemic hit, things were hard, and I had to sort of go off schedule and off plan, and it proved to be very difficult for me, so I want to challenge myself this year to just write- no rhyme or reason needed.

So, the last time you heard from me, I was reflecting and saying my goodbyes, but in these last few months, I’ve done quite a lot, so I’ll include some photos of what my life has looked like in this pandemic.

I won a few awards for my writing (not sure why I am holding it like a baby)!

I spent a lot of time with my silly kitty, Manny!

I became pen pals with most of my MSA family to pass the quarantine time, and I must say letter writing is a lost art form!

I hung 😉 out in this super comfy hammock!

That’s pretty much what I did during quarantine! I did a lot of cooking and baking too, but I didn’t have any photos that. How did you guys pass time while at home? Let me know in the comments!!