Why Adulting is HARD During the Holiday’s

The other day, I woke up to my glaring alarm clock at 6am. Pure exhaustion was at its finest. I had to catch a train later that morning, yet, I hadn’t packed for my weekend trip. So, I grabbed my coffee, started to chug it down to wake myself up, and I still didn’t feel awake. However, through it all, I got up and I started to hustle and hustle double as much as I was just a month ago. COVID-19 shot down the holiday festivities for the most part in 2020, and in 2021 my exhaustion is greater than ever before. With all of this, I know that I am NOT alone. The holidays are exhausting and that is OKAY!

Since starting my full-time job, I have felt exhausted more than ever before. Working full time is extremely tiring, and it is the grind that never stops. So many days, I wake up and think “oh I want to do *insert activity here* and I’ll get to it over Winter Break”, but then realize that working full time does not usually provide the luxury of a three week break. Some jobs don’t even give Christmas Eve or even Christmas Day off – I feel VERY fortunate that I have both off and am able to take a few days off for myself. It’s hard to realize that the working world does not have the same luxuries as the college world in terms of Winter Break and breaks, but it is something that each of us must face in our lives. We MUST keep going, despite all of the lack of breaks that we may get.

A few weeks ago, my friend Shivani and I were talking about how we do not need to overbook ourselves during the holiday season. However, I have *most definitely* overbooked myself already. I am traveling every weekend before Christmas, traveling even during the week, going on a few late afternoon/evening excursions, attending evening events and even hosting my own Christmas Party, and traveling for New Years, too – ALL while working full time. Let alone, we cannot forget that every human needs 3 meals a day give or take, some time for physical activity, time to work on their potential side hustle, and take care of their potential pets/children along with getting approximately 8 hours of sleep each night, in order to be healthy. Not to mention, the holidays brings on gift shopping, gift cooking and baking, decorating for the holidays, gift wrapping, card sending, and much more. The holidays are crazy, and it’s easy to overbook ourselves, especially when the world feels like it is never-ending.

When I was in college, a friend and I were in her car before a fashion show for one of our finals. For the course, the fashion show was a part of our final exam. I recall while riding with her to go pick out outfits for modeling within that fashion show she said “finals feel like a 3 week period that we think is never-ending until it is”. Indeed, the holidays are the SAME exact way for adults. However, the break part usually isn’t 3 weeks to a month. We keep going, despite the fatigue and we learn something if not many things from it. We learn how to maintain ourselves on our own and not depend on anyone else. We gain independence, strength, and the dedication to our work and outside of work commitments. Adulting is TOUGH, but it is the pathway to the life that can provide for ourselves, our pets, and someday our partners and maybe even children.

Adulting sucks sometimes, but it can also be super rewarding. The holidays make adulting that much more tougher. Having to keep going, despite the stress, chaos, and overbooking outside of the work world isn’t easy. But, at the same time, each and every single one of us has one life to live. Even throughout the extreme fatigue that arises during the holiday season with it all, living our lives to the fullest and enjoying every single moment is important. We all have one life to live and it is what we make it, especially during this holiday season of overbooking, overcommitment, and most importantly togetherness.

XOXO – Katie <3

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DC Diaries – Part 5

The other day, my Big Sis Stephanie and I were talking about how this summer has felt stranger than others. The same idea went for when I saw my friends Haley and Violet the day before, too. Many of us are feeling that this summer has been a bit more bizarre than summer’s past. Although this summer has been a bit more peaceful than years past for me and those around me, it is about to end for me.

Starting next week, I will be starting my job. I couldn’t be more excited. Personally, I live for the hustle and bustle – something I have missed this summer. But, before I start my job, I have learned a lot of things over the course of my summer time off. I have mastered my commute to work and gained an extra sense of independence via navigating the Washington, DC area’s public transport all on my own. I have started to learn budgeting and financing and how much money I should allocate to different things. I have learned to set limits on what I can do and afford financially while saving and preparing for things that I want in the future, whether it be big or small. Moreover, adulting is a literal grind that NEVER stops, and it is something that I have learned!

Over the past few months, I have wondered what it would be like if I chose to stay in Raleigh. Would I have ever mastered the public transportation systems or even used public transportation? Would I know how to budget? Most importantly, would I be the person that I am today and becoming? Who truly knows!

XOXO – Katie <3

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DC Diaries – Part 1

After years of living in the South, I am have made the move of my dreams – a move to the nation’s capital. I will be stepping foot into brand-new ground, groundbreaking ground. I will be living just minutes away from where decisions all across our globe are made. I will be living in a city full of diverse people who think similarly to me and differently from me. I will be living in a Mecca full of people figuring out what they want to do with their lives. There will be so much opportunity for me to explore, learn, and grow.

In the South, I had it all – the friends, the style, the walk, the talk, and all of the involvement and everything in between. Indeed, I had the life and enjoyed the Southern way of life. In fact, in high school, I was crowned Homecoming Queen, and I had it all then too. I had the big parties and played hostess. I had the social media friends and followers – a big crowd of them, too, which I continue to have to this exact day. I walked with stride. I had the style, kindness, charisma, and poise. Everyone knew my name both at my high school and at my college, and I befriended practically everyone. Life was and had been good. However, I knew I wanted much more beyond what I knew.

Since spending time in the South, I have learned a lot about myself and what I want in life. I knew that I craved excitement: something that is a driving factor in my life and in my many life’s decisions. Growing up, I knew that I wanted something more than the suburban way of life. However, one day I think I may crave that lifestyle again – who is to say though! I wanted to get out and explore and feel like the woman who I am meant to be both strong and independent. I have consistently been a workaholic who prides on never sitting down and being on the go. I live for the hustle and bustle – a city lifestyle meets those needs for me – and the constant need to get out and explore, even in my own backyard. My backyard is about to expand a lot and in ways that I would have never ever expected it to.

As an LGBTQ+ woman in the South, I have found the world of love and romance to be a quite tricky one. Even though I have had encounters in the past within my romance sphere, nothing leads up to the plethora of LGBTQ+ folks in the city of Washington, DC alone. The District of Columbia is notorious for having just around 10% of its total population identifying as apart of the LGBTQ+ community. That is, not to account for the several LGBTQ+ people who live outside of the city in nearby Virginia and Maryland. Personally, I have struggled with the dating world within my own backyard in the South. There is still a continuous source of LGBTQ+ hate and homophobia within the South and many people potentially remain closeted – afraid to show their true colors. Sometimes, I even felt scared to do just that. That being said, I am more than ready to take on the new in a fresh and positive light. I am ready to showcase and open the doors to my closet where a beautiful rainbow lies from within. I am truly ready to present my true colors and be the best me that I can be.

Moving to Washington, DC comes with several unknowns. Who will I meet? What will I do? Where will I go? How will my life change? When will all of these things occur? How will I get started? The answer is: who knows! However, one thing’s for sure is that I may have had it all in the South, but I am just getting started here in the nation’s capital.

XOXO – Katie <3

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