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.
Read MoreI don’t want to write about “the meaning of Christmas.” I don’t know what that is yet. So I want to write about space.
Read MoreI have several dreams in my pocket.
I keep them close at all times. Despite how old the jeans may be, or if the pocket is full of random nothings, or if it means squeezing the dreams between my hips and the waistline of my leggings, I just know that I must hold onto these dreams.
Read MoreThis weekend, That First Year celebrates two years of existence, which also means I’ve now been out of college for two years. I feel like I should have some sort of grasp on this “adulthood” thing, but despite what idealistic-dreamy-girl-college-me thought, I still have no real idea of what I’m doing with my life. They don’t really tell you in college that you never actually “figure life out,” do they? Turns out life isn’t a problem to be solved or a puzzle to be figured out after all, it’s just a string of days—good ones and bad ones and meh ones—to be lived in wild abundance. These two years have definitely been a lesson in this.
Read MoreI tend to come apart on trains.
There's something about the liminal space of them; that in-between, not quite anywhere feeling that nourishes my reflective (and overdramatic) side. Throw in a sunset or a rainstorm, or any kind of weather that feeds my ability to wander the full spectrum of my emotions; add my headphones and a Starbucks Christmas takeaway cup, and you've got the recipe for a dreamy, introverted girl's fall-apart-on-a-train kind of situation.
Read MoreRefreshing my inbox won’t make an awaited email appear any faster. I know this. Of course I know this. But that certainly doesn’t stop me from clicking that little circular arrow every thirty seconds. Waiting for good news—in this case, a coveted job offer—is excruciating, and if constantly reloading my Gmail makes it marginally more tolerable, then I will continue refreshing all day long.
Read MoreI, 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.
Read MoreI have never worked a job that didn’t take the magic out of the experience for me. For all the jobs I’ve had, I would much rather just be an audience member, popcorn in hand, pretending that I don’t see the stage ropes that are holding the flying actor up.
Read MoreThere’s something about the holidays that makes me feel so at home.
It’s been seven months since graduation. I’ve moved back to my hometown to live with my family, driving an hour to and from work every day, and it almost seems as if I’ve had to search to find my place in the world all over again. I’ve had to come to terms with friends moving away and getting engaged and married and life changing so quickly.
Read MoreA year ago today, I went on my first (and only) Tinder date. My roommate and I decided to try the app on a whim one night; I desperately wanted to delete it off my phone the next morning but decided I’d give it one week.
Read MoreSometimes, 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.
Read MoreYou 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.
Read MoreSeveral 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.”
Read MoreWhen 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.”
Read MoreI thought leaving home was the hardest thing I had ever done. Turns out, going back home several months later only to realize that place is no longer home was even harder.
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