The New Year celebration felt kind of different this year. I had a lot of thoughts leading up to it, like how silly it is that we wait until the beginning of the new year to make life changes or how sweet it is to think about the entire world celebrating something together (even though we’re all on different time zones). Every race, every religion, and every generation is excited and a little nervous about the fact that we all made it one more time around the sun and we’re about to start it all over again. Go us, am I right? We did it! I felt the joy of togetherness more than ever before going into 2019.
You may be thinking ‘it’s been 2019 for an entire month now, Mariya, why are you just now talking about the New Year?’ And to that I would say I don’t know, and I guess I just wasn’t quite ready to be in 2019. There was a lot of reflecting and surrendering that still needed to be done in January. There were things that should have been left behind that I was still holding on to for the first month of 2019. With the beginning of February came my breath of fresh air that many people got on the first of January. It’s a new day. It’s a new month. It’s still a pretty new year. Now I’m ready.
Looking Back
2018 was, in many ways, the best year of my life. The Lord was kind to me in more ways than I deserved. From incredible life experiences to the grace given to me in friendships, I have so much to be thankful for. A quick rundown of my 2018:
All The Traveling
Yes, I studied abroad and went to Young Life camp. No, I will never stop talking about either.
Concerts, Concerts,Concerts
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Taylor Swift whaaat? -
The Nashville Songwriter Awards in September -
Harry Styles in the O2 with my pals! -
Lea Michele and Darren Criss -
HAMILTON
I’m thinking about making a page on my website with descriptions of every concert I go to, because there are so darn many. I save all of my money for these, people.
The Best Friends inthe UNIVERSE
Just the facts.
If you played a role in my 2018, thank you and I love you. I had so much fun, made so many mistakes, and learned so much. On to the next one!
Looking Forward
This is a bit terrifying. The nostalgia gets stronger by the minute as I get closer and closer to college graduation. How can that be real?
To answer the question many people have for college students nearing graduation, I have no idea what comes next. It’s not that I have no dreams or aspirations. It’s that I have far too many dreams and aspirations. As a friend said over lunch recently, “Try something. And if it fails, it’s okay. You still have plan B, C, D, E, and F.” We then decided I could probably fill the entire alphabet with my backup career plans. So, no matter what I do, I’m probably going to be okay.
This semester, I have a spring break trip planned (stay tuned), a trip to China booked (definitely stay tuned), and a marathon to train for (stayed tuned for that too, I guess). At least the near future looks bright.
Being Present
I didn’t write New Years resolutions for 2019, but I did do the thing where you pick a word or phrase and focus on that for the year. The phrase I decided on was ‘choose joy’. Joy is offered to us every day when we have Jesus, but we have to decide if we want to live in it or not. So why would we choose to live in anything other than joy? We have the option to choose bitterness, anger, sadness, or resentment. I’d much rather choose joy.
I discovered I love mornings. I love mornings so much, in fact, that I asked one of my four bosses (I have a lot of job titles) if she would schedule me for one opening shift a week. So every Tuesday morning at 5:45 AM, I am a lifeguard at the WKU pool and I love it so dang much. Come see me! I am also a backup to the backup Fitness Center Attendant at the WKU Preston Center, a graphic designer at the Preston Center, and an Account Executive at an on-campus advertising agency called Imagewest. That sounds like a lot, but I promise I’m still doing my homework and having so much fun being with my friends and with Cru.
It’s February. Of the year I graduate. Yeah, I still can’t believe it. Time keeps ticking and it’s showing no signs of slowing or stopping. So what better way to live than right here, right now? Happy February, friends. Everything is fine.
What I’m listening
What I’m watching: There is just no time. I’m even 2 weeks behind on Grey’s Anatomy.
What I’m reading: ‘It’ by Stephen King
