// reflecting on the past year
Dear Binal,
It’s that time of year again! I think I’ll write this year’s letter digitally because there’s just a lot to say and I want it to be legible and I’ll probably need to be a little more efficient considering the highly anticipated big brain dump ahead. This’ll be a complete stream of consciousness vibe so please don’t cringe too much at the grammar mistakes and certainly expect a shit ton of run-on sentences.
But first, I’m going to read what I (you?) wrote last year so brb…
the letters i wrote to myself at the end of the year
Okay I read it! On second thought, I like the little 1-2 page synopsis of the year’s reflection so I’ll try to write a physical one with the family again in a few days, but until then- this brain dump is still much needed. I’ve spent the past few days (pretty much entire year to be honest) in awh of other people’s writing and personal websites, seeing how much they grow and how they story tell and document life. I’ve set so many high expectations for myself and thought about all the possible ways to go about the way I want to express myself digitally and what things I want to take away from other people’s learnings that I procrastinated ACTUALLY doing it. So this year is about doing. Finally setting aside my second thoughts, overthinking and hesitation, and helping myself understand that I am capable of sharing things that others are curious about, can learn from and can smile about.
Open in front of me is my blank page and it’s finally time for me to fill it.
Let’s begin by reminiscing on my year (and potentially life so far in general). Reflecting back, it’s safe to say that this year, my emotional and maybe even physical limits were put to the test. I wouldn’t classify 2022 as my greatest year but I think it had some major ups and downs (maybe more downs to be honest, but I’ll go into that a little later).
That’s definitely not a thing but at this point, I think it should be. I should’ve written an overall reflection right when the term ended, but I’m just going to have to try to tap into the Binal at the end of April.
But before I delve into that, let’s begin with some context from the year before: I ended my senior year of high school soaring in 2021. Even though we were still stuck in the pandemic, I was ecstatic - I got into my dream schools, got the chance to represent my class as valedictorian, got my G2, was spending my summer going on adventures with my friends and family - life was good, great even.
grad!
In the fall, I packed up my things and moved to beautiful Waterloo. I won’t go too much in depth about my 1A term (also wished I wrote a succinct reflection about it rather than just piled up a bunch of notes but we live love laugh). 1A was also pretty great from what I remember. I’m sure there were many moments of stress and anxiety, but I found the most wonderful group of people that served as my home away from home, a roommate that I shared a very similar lifestyle with which made being accountable for my adulting goals a lot easier, was able to visit my family often as they lived not too far away, created countless lasting friend and mentor relationships through UW Blueprint and Tech+, captured many sunset/sunrise pictures, began going to the gym pretty consistently and did pretty well academically for the effort I was putting in. I used the break before 1B to work on a personal project with a couple friends and add to my design portfolio. I also did lots of reflecting on my year and how I can tackle my first real job search starting in a couple weeks. I knew coming to Waterloo the expectations of co-op and its value in my life, so I wanted to optimize this opportunity. What I didn’t realize (or probably ignored) was how that came with the sacrifice of giving myself a real break before 1B began.
winter shenanigans with pretty light :)
stuffed my car to move into uni
our stupidly cool halloween costume - presenting “the fire scene”
1a blueprint social
last day of 1a
And that leads us to 2022, the year I felt the true meaning of an emotional rollercoaster (so far in life at least).
Side note: I’m not sure how detailed I want to be about everything that happened. I’m not sure if I’ll be sharing this with others or the entire interweb or no one at all. One of the biggest barriers for me writing about my life is not knowing how much to share because I filter my thoughts differently around different people for a multitude of reasons. So how does one create a piece of work that wholeheartedly captures what I’m trying to convey while ensuring that I’m ready to share all of the details with anyone whose eyes land on these words? Anyway, I’ve come too far along this page to stop now so before I lose my momentum, let’s keep writing and just trust my judgement when I get to the details.
first day of 1b class picture