I’ve been known to pass judgment on quite a few things: books, movies, strangers, etc. So on the cusp of my 23rd birthday (which I cannot believe is less than a week away), I would like to take a moment to review this year: the year of 22.
Personal
On Opportunity Cost and the Empire State
“If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere — but not because of something as banal as ‘job opportunities.’ It’s out of the sheer force of… will that brought you here when you could have had it easier somewhere else, where you would have driven a four-door sedan and shopped in suburban grocery stores with wide aisles and pristine parking lots and have had 2.5 children by the age of 28 and worked a 9-to-5 job in something [yawn] somewhere.” Source
The last time I wrote on this blog, I was saying goodbye to something exceptionally dear to me. Since then, I have had to say goodbye to hundreds of other things: my friends, my family, the only life I have ever really known. Soon, I will have been living in New Jersey for a month and working in New York for almost that amount of time and let me tell you– it still doesn’t seem real. It still doesn’t seem like I’ve actually done what I set out to do all those years ago. It still doesn’t seem like the reality that I’m living is just that- reality.
Gonna Make This Place Your Home
I have had this post drafted since April 29th, 2013. An entire year has passed, and it still hasn’t been enough time for me to figure out how to say goodbye to the first place I ever felt like I belonged.
Adulthood is a Figment of the Imagination
Spring break is approximately half over and I have much still to do (as my professors decided to make midterms the week we come back- both a blessing and a curse). And as I’ve sat alone in Brottier Hall while my friends have traveled to distant corners of the Earth, I have learned some very important lessons.
Like a Cannonball
I can hardly believe that tomorrow is the last time I will move to Duquesne for the beginning of a new semester. I’ve talked quite extensively about my expectations for senior year and how they’ve all sort of shattered around me. I’m not the only one, either, as I’ve seen some of my best friends struggle with things that they didn’t anticipate happening.
Hello, 2014
When 2013 began, I had a clear idea of how I expected things to transpire. You would think that after over 20 years on this planet I would have recognized that life is not easily planned. Long 365-day story short, I am standing on the verge of 2014 realizing that nothing ever really happens the way that you expect it to.
Thankful for Opportunity
Where to Next?
Every thanksgiving for the last three years, I’ve taken time to reflect on people and things that bring so much joy to my life. And while I am always thankful for friends and family, there is a recent realization that I am particularly blessed to have had.
Great Victories
So around this time last week, I rediscovered my love affair with words and telling stories. In those first couple posts back, I apparently alarmed several people and just wanted to take a few minutes to wax poetic about the current era of my life to make it up to them.
A Familiar Ring
Class of 2014
This past week, I began my junior year of college. Not only did classes begin, but I also contracted some sort of sinus infection. By the time I got through it, I had broken at least two fevers, stayed up three or four nights in a row coughing, and finished a box of tissues by myself. I had been irritable and bitchy (though that’s really not unusual). While I can, in part, attribute a lot of the anger to the actual illness, the reasons behind my sullen attitude have far more to do with a set of abstract changes in my psyche. The idea that I’m slowly approaching actual adulthood and won’t be in school this time two years from now led me to have what I can only refer to as an existential crisis.
It’s All Coming Back to Me Now
Rachel Berry in Mattress
Snap out of this. Stop being defined by what other people think of you. Or how they disappoint you. It’s lonely at the top, you know that. What’s that song about overcoming professional and personal disappointments? “When you’re smiling, when you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you.” (Rachel Berry, Glee)
I sincerely apologize for how long it has been since I’ve posted anything, but I have an explanation as to why it took me this long to find my way back.
Katie Bennett Writes 