Thoroughly modern millennial

Category: Blog

  • One Word Resolution | Balance

    One Word Resolution | Balance

    Back with a vengeance in 2017, here we go.

    If you remember last year, instead of listing out a few resolutions that I wanted to hit, I decided to choose one word to encapsulate the theme for 2016.

    I definitely fell off the bandwagon with last year’s word (‘focus’). The scatterbrained way of thinking from 2015 did not fade in 2016, and I’ve been busier than ever professionally and personally in both good and bad ways. With all these facets of my life converging into a giant mess towards the end of the year and teetering on the edge for so long, the one thing I realised I needed was stability.

    So this year’s word is…

    BALANCE

    Life in itself is a juggling act and one part of learning how to ‘adult’ is learning how to give equal measure to all aspects of your life. Balance feels like an off-shoot to my focus goal, but for me there’s much more emphasis on reflection in this year’s word. It means re-assessing how much time I spend on all parts of my life, whether that be work, blogging, writing, socialising, and even alone time. It’s recognising that I struggled with giving time to the right things this year.

    This resolution is also about re-addressing the balance in the World. We’re now living with consequences of 2016, and it’s now more important than ever to stop burying our heads in the sand, to stand up, to speak out and to fight for those who have no voice.

    — — —

    You’ll see posts about in the coming weeks about how I want to try to achieve this resolution, but for now let me know in the comments what your goals for 2017 are. Do you need a bit of balance too? Or have you got a whole other set of resolutions to achieve instead?

    Ria

  • 2016 | In Retrospect

    2016 | In Retrospect

    A year of saying ‘yes’

    2016 has come and gone in a bit of a whirlwind. It’s certainly not been a fun one for the human race with a strenuous political climate, hard fought social justice issues and general cloud of doom and gloom shrouding round the World. On a personal level it’s been hit and miss, but as I’ve tried reflecting on my own year one thing that’s come forward as an official theme has been ‘saying yes’.

    I started 2016 with a focus goal, which fell out the window – as resolutions do. What replaced it was a sense of ‘why not?’ to many situations.

    Saying yes for me has manifested in different ways. I’ve been saying yes new job opportunities that will further my career, changing job roles twice in the space of 6 months. I’ve been saying yes to dating and all the mass (or mess) of emotions and situations that places you in. I’ve been saying yes to socialising and spontaneity, with good and bad consequences (mostly on my liver and wallet – resolution for 2017, cut down on the G+Ts). Of course some ‘yes’s have meant other aspects of my life have slid off the radar. Yes isn’t always a positive notion, but it is an active one that I want to try and re-prioritise in the new year.

    These are the more visible ‘yes’s though. The idea of ‘yes’ is more than just ‘doing stuff‘ and there’s a whole host that aren’t so obvious. Like saying yes to feeling more confident in myself and that I’m good considering myself as a constant work in progress. I’ve said yes, to the idea of owning my heritage as a woman of colour, a South-East Asian woman, a Filipina. I’ve been saying yes, to calling myself a writer; yes, to reclaiming my blog and online space and moulding it into something that’s more ‘me’; yes, to growing as an activist and a feminist, to listening to others stories, to challenging my own way of thinking.

    These are the ‘yes’s that feel important to me to carry on doing and always keep in the back of my mind as I gear up to set myself new resolutions for 2017.

    travels to NYC & Dublin ~ turning 24 ~ cocktail evenings (a lot of them) & brunch dates ~a stellar year of geeky pop culture ~ old friends, new friends, work friends, internet friends  ~ a record show year (Waitress, Finding Neverland, Matilda, Miscast Gala) ~ Summer in it’s entirety  

    And finally, I want to end my last post of the year on a lighter note. With the world denouncing 2016 as a pile of trash, it’s important to remember the good stuff.

    See you in the New Year chums!

    Ria Xx

  • November | In Retrospect

    November | In Retrospect

    Song of the month: How Far I’ll Go by Alessia Cara

    (And October Retrospect!)

    A double whammy retrospective, aren’t you in for a treat. Been a while hasn’t it?

    How are you guys? I don’t know about you but I feel like I’m running on empty and charging ahead to 2017 already.

    First of all Laryngitis sucks. Even as a person who doesn’t like face to face contact too much and works primarily all in the digital realm, not being able to talk to physically speak to people is goddamn hard. This stupid cold in general also set be back about two weeks. Which means two weeks of being stuck feeling sickly during October (i.e. one of my favourite months of the year *cries*)

    Aside from that I’ve been nesting (or Hygge-ing?…if that’s a thing). I’ve been spending evenings inside my house, or nestled in pubs after work. I’ve been lapping up TV Shows (Gilmore Girls – obvs -, as well as current addiction ‘The Crown’ with my housemates and the regular churn of OUAT and Quantico). I’ve been working crazy hard at my actual job. All of this has mean, once again the blog has been slightly neglected over the past few weeks.

    It also doesn’t help that I, like the rest of the World, seemed to get knocked back from the news of the US Election. Racism, bigotry, homophobia, xenophobia and sexism are not new things to deal with but they have been given validation now, even more so than when Brexit happened.

    So I, like many others, have been trying to take the opportunity to fall back, re-group and work out what I can do next as a social justice warrior, as a feminist, as someone who wants to make a pin prick of a different in this seemingly Dystopian situation we’ve all found ourselves in.

    In light of this I’ve been eyeing up changes on the blog. Nothing major, mainly types of content. You may have noticed my ‘provocative’ International Men’s Day post which garnered some colourful responses on Twitter. Despite this it’s not deterred me from posting more stuff like this, if anything it lit a fire in my stomach to try and write more content like it. That’s your teaser for the new year.

    But as the festive season looms, right now I’m more in the mood to reflect on the past year and really want to enjoy this generous time of year with friends and family, just for a little bit before the real work kick starts again for 2017. So apologies if I’m a little bit absent on the blog – I already realise this post is late (sorry!).

    Ria

    This month in blogs:

    On TMM
    The issues that matter on #InternationalMensDay // What Comes Next? A look back on the US Election // Autumnal Snapshots // Self Care Tips for Social Justice Warriors // Music: Loving Lately #1