Posts in Relationships
The Lesson of Loneliness
The Lesson of Loneliness

The other night, I drove the long way home, making lefts and rights that took me further from my vacant apartment. I listened to the kind of music that makes you think thoughts and feel feelings, and I passed by homes decorated for the holidays, the light within spilling out into the December cold. I’ve always admired these beautiful southern homes, but I don’t necessarily want the house or the massive paycheck you need to buy said house; I just desire the warmth that I imagine is inside.

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Life, RelationshipsAlly WillisFeaturedComment
The Weary World: Practical Ways to Give This Christmas Season
The Weary World: Practical Ways to Give This Christmas Season

So how can we help the oppressed around the world during this season of giving? How can we help bring forth a “new and glorious morn” for our brothers and sisters who are suffering? One way is to donate to the charities and nonprofits who are doing the hard work on the ground to alleviate suffering. Here is a list of suggested organizations who are in need of your support this Christmas season.

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Life, Money, RelationshipsRachel MallisonFeaturedComment
Fried Chicken and a Breakdown
Fried Chicken and a Breakdown

I, on the other hand, have no one. I like to tell everyone I’m happy, but I’m really just pretending. Sure, I’m grateful for a million things, including my job. I love work. Work keeps my mind busy, and so I’m always there. I’m there on off days; I’m there even when my boss says, “Go home.” I wait around. Biding my time. Fighting the loneliness. I distract myself from dawn to dusk. I wake up, I work. I sleep. Exhaustion is my liquor. Exhaustion keeps me from feeling too much, from missing anyone too much.

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Graduation, Life, Grad School, RelationshipsAndria ModyFeaturedComment
Lessons from Being a Nanny
Lessons from Being a Nanny

Sometimes, I feel like I know too much to move. It’s this wormhole of worry I get sucked into when I think about how to do something right that’s got me glue-sticked down to my sheets. I know the adhesive isn’t very strong and getting up is possible, but also not necessary. I mean… I don’t even have to pee. I’m also not hungry and out of groceries anyway so awake but pant-less, un-showered and groggy I stay belly-down.

Today, it’s the kids who are on my mind.

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Life, RelationshipsStephanie PhilpFeaturedComment
"I'm Just A Girl": Introducing The Creative Exchange
"I'm Just A Girl": Introducing The Creative Exchange

You know those moments where you can just tell that someone is talking about their passion, because their face is brighter and their voice more animated and their words come easily? That’s how it is talking to Lane about her art, and nothing makes this “FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS!” heart of mine happier than seeing a friend so passionately pursue what makes her come alive.

Welcome to the launch of The Creative Exchange featuring artwork and products created exclusively for That First Year by our fellow peers.

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Career, Graduation, Life, Style, RelationshipsAlly WillisFeatured, The Creative ExchangeComment
All We Have is Time
All We Have is Time

Several years ago, I was at World Market with a boy I loved, looking at dining room tables, and he’d just said he liked a certain one because it was the right size to work at and have the person across from you rest their feet in your lap. I replied, “I want to be her. I want to be the girl with her feet in your lap.”

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Life, Dreams, RelationshipsAshlee LatimerFeaturedComment
We Nodded Because We Understood: On Grief and Melancholy Love
We Nodded Because We Understood: On Grief and Melancholy Love

When I graduated from college I had two majors, a corporate job lined up, and an apartment that looked like a Pinterest board come to life. I felt good about the future and couldn’t wait to meet the woman I was about to become—“I’ll bet she wears turtlenecks!” I would think to myself, “She’ll be cute and boyish, but everyone will know she’s powerful because her job takes her to Europe.” 

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Life, RelationshipsSean Della CroceFeatured Comment
Grief, Designed
Grief, Designed

I imagine hospice is a bit like blowing into your hands during a blizzard. A small moment of warmth. A reprise until you let the whiteness consume you. I’m not afraid of this whiteness. I’m not even afraid of the trying-to-stay-warm part. What keeps me up at night is the grief.

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Life, RelationshipsErika OakvikFeaturedComment
The Alternatives to Complaining
The Alternatives to Complaining

Today is my 13th anniversary living in Canada. I’ve been here for exactly half of my life. From the time I arrived there has never been a morning when I did not feel grateful for the decision that my mom made when she applied for immigration. The first year in Canada was a great challenge for her, but I have never heard her complain about anything. She did not complain when an immigration officer called her diploma “garbage” or when she was coming home from a temporary job at a chocolate factory with a fever and icicles stuck in her hair. 

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Career, RelationshipsMariya BoykoComment
Mountaintop Moments
Mountaintop Moments

Removed from the college bubble and re-planted in a new life, the field is wiped clean again. I have to again make a real, conscious decision about where I fit in and how I stack up. There seem to be metrics in place for who’s “winning” post-grad—high-power job? committed relationship? best apartment? coolest city?—but there’s no prize.

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Dreams, Life, RelationshipsMelissa WartenFeaturedComment
It's Okay If You Don't Agree
It's Okay If You Don't Agree

There comes a time in every child's life when they realize that their parents might not be the "be all and end all" when it comes to opinions. There might, God forbid, be something that you question. Something that you choose, willingly, to defy. I'm not talking about curfews or rules when it comes to alcohol or boys in the house. I'm talking about the things that you believe to your core, the things that you choose to let define you, the things that you will go to bat to defend. The things that make you... you. 

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Life, RelationshipsKatie SerenaFeaturedComment
5 Things I Learned From My Last Breakup
5 Things I Learned From My Last Breakup

I haven’t been on a date in seven months. This is the point in the chick film where my best friend says it’s time to get drunk and go find a dude (pops a cork and champagne splashes everywhere). Believe me when I say the desire is there, but the rush and opportunity has not been presented. It’ll happen in it’s own time, I suppose.

Regardless of how timing works, I came to find that perhaps, just perhaps, examining my past relationships and what I learned from them would be the only way to learn from my mistakes in order to have a healthy relationship in the future, whenever that may be.

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RelationshipsRegan CunninghamFeaturedComment