1-1-1: you're gonna go far
read about how to celebrate the little things, learning to love where you're at, and going at your own pace.
august, 2023
edition 31.
I have one (1) day before I move my entire closet and my entire life to the other side of the world. bonus: heathrow is currently experiencing technical failure and a literal meltdown sooo in case packing everything I own into 2 suitcases isn’t stressful enough, now I’m thinking about whether or not I can even get there on time. brutal.
in other news, this is the last newsletter I’m writing from the familiarity of my home in california — something that is not lost on me. hey siri, play the view between villages - extended version by noah kahan on repeat please.
leaving this house is somehow more bittersweet than it was in college. I feel like I’m leaving my youth and stepping into actual adulthood (the pandemic has made my understanding of age a little fuzzy) all at once.
BUT enough of the sap and the nostalgia for something I haven’t left yet! all in all, I am beyond excited to (1) be living in a city again, (2) hang out with my roommate for more than just a few hours, (3) interact with people and make new friends, and (4) start my program! so many incredible amazing beautiful lovely splendid things to look forward to.
you can expect one email from me every week containing:
one quote that has been inspiring me
one journal prompt
one piece of advice*
* = if you want to submit a question for my upcoming emails, you can find the form here.
podcast
on hiatus until september — listen to past episodes here <3
one quote
“actually I love growing older and learning how I work as a person like realizing what kinds of fabrics feel best on my skin or what brand of yogurt I like best or how I want to be touched. watching myself change, enjoying brussels sprouts when I used to hate them as a child, understanding why I got angry in that one conversation 10 years ago…
there are so many mysteries inside me that I have yet to unravel and here will always be more and sometimes I think maybe it’s all worth it”
—ursulaklegay on tumblr
one journal prompt
write a snapshot of who you are in this moment.
what tv show are you watching? your favourite album/song/artist? the one piece of clothing you always reach for? a list of your close friends right now? what are your hobbies and interests and dreams and desires?
one piece of advice
“How to be content with the pace that you’re going at? I sometimes feel like I’m not hitting goals as fast as others and I want to feel more grateful for what I have and how far I’ve come. Any tips?💓”
first of all, let me validate and empathize with what you’re feeling right now. as a chronic member of the hamster wheel club, I always feel like I’m not doing enough or not moving fast enough or inadequate in every single way. it’s normal, it’s human, and it’s what happens when we are our own worst critic.
somewhere in the journey of figuring out who I am, I realised that I am an enneagram 3. (if you want a punch in the gut, take the enneagram test. if you’re also an enneagram 3, have fun reading this and crying tonight.) ultimately what I learned is that I am a self-motivated achiever. I want to achieve great things not because I feel outside pressure (family, friends, society) to do so, but because I have an internal drive that won’t shut off. a product of this drive is making me feel like I’m not doing enough in the hopes that it will spur me into action to do EVEN MORE.
going off of the journal prompt above, I actually wrote out a list of my achievements. I wrote about the leadership positions I held, the hard classes I was taking, the awards I earned, the publications about my work (both instagram and academic) that had recently come out, and all of the things I normally sweep under the rug as something that is just supposed to ‘happen.’ having a tangible list of everything I had accomplished in [a set timeframe] didn’t solve the problem, but it was a powerful first step into learning how to celebrate my achivements.
here are things I’m working on as well:
making a big deal when something big happens: a graduation, an award, a leadership position, a publication… whatever it is, tell the people around you. I’ve learned that my internal compass has no idea what a ‘big’ achievement is, and I will look to the reactions of my friends/family to help guide me
on the same note: celebrating everything and let yourself be celebrated. I don’t know if you also struggle with being the center of attention (and realising that you have wants and needs and you’re allowed to voice them? but that’s for a different edish) but I do and it’s hard for me to celebrate myself. I started with celebrating my birthday for the first time in my adult life (i.e. anything past 12) when I was 22 and I’m making an effort to celebrate my birthday from here on out
if you find yourself comparing yourself or your progress to other people, get. offline. it is not natural for us to have so much information at our fingertips! when I was at the height of my job search/grad school applications, I banned the newsfeed of linkedin from my life
look at a picture of yourself from 5 years ago and, along the same lines as writing down your achievements, list out everything that has changed from then to now. I think you’ll realise that you’ve gone a lot farther than you’ve given yourself credit for
overall, be gentle with yourself. learn to celebrate yourself. it’s not a perfect process and it’s something I’m still learning (like lmk why asking people to come to my 23rd birthday dinner was so hard) and I know it’s going to take time. but the beautiful thing is, at our age, we have lots of it.
hear me out…
one song
you’re gonna go far by noah kahan
aka the title of the newsletter if you didn’t catch that — sorry I’m obsessed w noah and have been since 2018
reading updates
currently reading: beartown by fredrik backman
finished this week:
bullshit jobs: a theory by david graeber
once by morris gleitzman
six of crows by leigh bardugo
love, theoretically by ali hazelwood
then by morris gleitzman
if you want to keep up with my reading throughout the week, this is my goodreads :)
I also made a book club channel on instagram! I ask you for recs, you choose my next read, and overall we just talk about books. feel free to join via my profile on ig!
enjoyed this edition?
until we meet again,
katie
Thank you Katie <3
this newsletter hit a little close to home especially with the journal prompt. Things like getting accepted to uni, obtaining my beginners license, getting a job... all these things we are told that it just “happens”, I never really celebrated it because there’s a certain type of culture that it’s just part of growing up. It was really eye opening to write down all these things when I looked back 5 years ago. So thank you :)
also, I really look forward to every Tuesday. Much love ✨