2022

What a year. 

I always get reflective towards the end of the year, especially around my birthday. I’m turning 25 in a few weeks. I got to see a lot of the world this year. I went to Coachella, Vegas, Hawaii, Seattle, San Francisco, and Paris while working remotely for Microsoft.

A new opportunity arose for me to pivot to business development for the capital markets practice of a global law firm. I was fortunate enough to switch right before Microsoft announced hiring freezes and layoffs.

I love what I do. It’s a mix of researching potential IPO candidates, event planning, and brainstorming ways to build relationships with new or current clients. I’ve worked five jobs over the last 3.5 years and I’ve learned that my greatest strengths are my organizational and communication skills. I thrive in rapidly changing environments and I naturally bridge the gap between various groups and personalities. Going from corporate learning and development to legal recruiting, tech recruiting, and now legal business development – I’ve finally found my sweet spot. I can see myself growing with my current firm for a long time.

This is also the year I signed a lease on my own studio in NYC. My dad was gracious enough to let me move into his apartment in June 2021 when I started going back into the office. Over the last few months, I realized it was time to become a full adult and live on my own. I moved into my apartment on September 1st and I love the peace and routine it’s brought me.

While much of my life seems to have fallen into place, I still haven’t found someone to share it with. I’ve learned a lot about relationships this year. The best things aren’t found – they’re built. Anything worthwhile, of great value, requires time and effort to create. Relationships are hard work: constant communication, compromise, and sacrifice. 

I’ve learned that my anxious attachment style still flares up. When I feel someone distancing, I react by pushing them away to end things on my terms and avoid the sting of future rejection. I’ve learned that I still run toward red flags. I’ve been blinded by physical attraction and surface-level chemistry – dating men that matched my lifestyle, but wouldn’t have been good friends if they weren’t potential boyfriends. Intelligent, funny, charismatic, but also narcissistic, unreliable, and inconsistent.

I’ve decided to look at dating through a new lens. Rather than focusing on initial attraction and rushing into romance, I want to become good friends first. I have the best friends in the world. Empathetic, ambitious, loyal, self-aware, and incredibly deep. I’m ready to focus on finding those characteristics in potential partners.

More than anything, I’ve realized that adulthood is trying your best but feeling like you have no idea what you’re doing most of the time. Somehow, muddling through, things fall into place. Heartbreak turns into bullets dodged, career rejection becomes redirection, and timing always aligns in a way that only makes sense when you look back.