Times have been tough since my last blog post. Although I have celebrated Thanksgiving and the winter holiday season, I’m not feeling particularly thankful or jolly. I’m doing what I can to make the most of what’s left of 2024, but I have the feeling things are going to get crazier before they get saner.
[Confession time: originally, I was planning to go into detail on what is causing me distress (a lot of it involves contemporary politics and various topics of social discourse). I was hoping to express myself in an articulate manner, but I’ve been sitting on this post for over a month, and the muse hasn’t come any closer to striking in the past few weeks. I’ve come to see that dwelling on these things in detail, especially in writing, is only causing me to mentally spiral down. Furthermore, I’m not sure I want my raw emotional baggage to be on display for all the Internet to see (especially due to the aforementioned/hinted political and social reasons). To keep things succinct, I’ll put it like this:]
Things are bad. Very bad. Very bad for a lot of people for various reasons. They have been getting noticeably bad over the past 2 years, but they are especially bad now and likely will continue to be bad in the coming months. Many people are mad and sad (though sometimes for differing/conflicting reasons), and I am one of them. Things are bad.
[It’s not winning me any Pulitzers, but that’s about as detailed as I’m willing to go right now. I might be able and willing to discuss my concerns in detail on some future day, but today is not that day.]
Regardless of how bad things are, it’s important to recognize what in my life is still good (can you tell I originally planned this post for Thanksgiving?). For example, I’m still fairly healthy; I survived COVID-19, and my latest doctor’s visit result is rather encouraging. I’ll keep an eye on my diet and try to exercise more in the coming year, but I’m ultimately not too worried illness or injury. My finances have been fairly stable, as has my career (though I may be looking at some big positive changes there soon…ooh, foreshadowing!), which passed a 5-year milestone this year. Part of that stability comes from a helpful and supportive legal profession, as I have no end of fellow attorneys to turn to in a pinch. Even that pales in comparison to my personal support network, as I have plenty of reliable friends that I can turn to in moments of crisis. While I hope not to tax their time too much, I plan to continue keeping those bonds of friendship strong going forward.
Probably the most valuable thing that I’ve come to value is the resilience borne from my profession. One thing they don’t tell you in law school is that you get used to feeling disappointment and bouncing back from it rather quickly. Having tried dozens of cases and seen a lot of convictions, I’m very used to picking myself up, dusting myself off, and preparing for the next hearing. I’ll be applying this mindset for the coming year and as I continue my journey as a growing attorney. I’ll keep up my personal boundaries and try to get better at opening myself up to trustworthy people, but I think this continued resilience will be my greatest asset when the going gets tough, especially since my career may change in a big way soon (more on that in the future…).
One thing that’s
definitely helped is taking a much-needed vacation to Hawaii this year. Catching up with friends and seeing some
sights was a great way to decompress, round out the year, and steel myself for
the coming months. While there are
plenty of natural beauty shots I got during this trip, I think I’ll round out
the last blog post of 2024 with something the Internet could always use more
of: cat pictures (in this case, from the Hawaii Cat Café.
Happy New Year, readers! I hope 2025 will be less bad.
