Week 3 + 4: Friendship and Experiences

Hello! I've been away for some time to take a step back and live my life a bit more.

These past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of experiences punctuated by people.

In the last 2 weeks, I've:

1. committed to traveling to Japan for 2 weeks

2. Watched my first Broadway show on my own

3. Attended a concert and ran into a friend who let me lump into his group

4. Stepped on and enjoyed a beach in my city for the first time

5. Seen the view of my city from the top of the Ferris Wheel for the first time

It's been quite the ride! When listed out, it's surprising to see how much has been going on. Because I feel like these past 2 weeks I dropped my chores for the most part and just allowed myself to exist and live life outside my apartment.

I've found it's a lot easier to leave when I have a 'reason' that involves another person. Then it's not even a choice - I leave.

I've been fortunate enough to have friends visit my home city and other friends who were free to hang out. It's been a blessing and room for introspection on the quality of friendships and relationships I have in my life.

Life is definitely better with people I feel comfortable around. And with new experiences. With the weather getting colder, I'm finding that there's a bit more activation energy needed to get out the door to actually do things unless I have something planned. I'm finding that I actually appreciate planning more than I initially thought throughout college, to the point where I'm scheduling things for myself, by myself, to do. It's nice to not have someone dictating your schedule for you.

Japan

I've never traveled abroad by myself before, so I figured an LOA would be the best time to try while actually being able to spend a decent amount of time in another country (around 2 weeks). I'm excited and nervous and also somewhat frantically starting to learn Japanese. It wasn't until a friend asked me where I'd be going that I realized I haven't even booked lodging officially, which is a problem! I have yet to plan out more what I'll be doing/where I'll be going, but I do hope to get outside the major tourist areas for some time to see sights away from Tokyo.

It's an exciting time to take my first solo trip, and I'm eager to see how things will go.

Before going to Japan, I do also have trips to DC and LA scheduled (also not planned yet though) mainly to see friends and have a good jumping point for flying to Tokyo. It'll be nice to see friends I haven't seen since before the pandemic and spend time actually enjoying my life instead of seeing it as a series of chores.

While I still have chores at home to do, it's bothering me a bit less to leave things less resolved. I wonder if this is a good sign or not. I guess I will have to see in the coming weeks!

For now, I don't have many conclusions about how I'm living life except that it flies by and companionship does make a lot of experiences better, like going to concerts with others. I'm glad to feel like I'm living my life more now, though I'm sure I could balance this with a bit more in terms of getting chores done (oop).