I took a two-month break from blogging. It was bittersweet as I love to take photos, write blogs, and create content, but a break was much needed. It’s now Lunar New Year and I am ready to be back! I love Lunar New Year so this was the perfect time for me to reset.

The holidays are always so stressful for me. From Thanksgiving to Christmas to New Year’s, this time of year feels like a blur. All the stress between trying to attend holiday parties, wrap up year-end projects, and spend time with family and friends, makes me feel paralyzed. I meant to send out holiday cards, but hopefully this year, I’ll start planning a lot sooner.

As someone with separated parents, it’s always hard to figure out who to spend the holidays with. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like if I marry a husband who’s in the same situation as me! At that point, we’ll just spend the holidays by ourselves, ha.

Taking a Step Back

Besides taking a break, I have several new life updates that I want to share and document on my blog!

Focusing on Who I am

Focusing on myself is a never-ending journey and one that will never truly feel complete but will always feel rewarding along the way.

I’ve always dated and loved dating but have found that I tend to hide myself and my feelings within relationships. No matter how much I try to hide, there are three things that cannot be hidden for long: the sun, the moon, and the truth. Thanks, Buddha, for that quote.

In order to truly love myself, I first must accept who I am. I found myself crying almost every day for quite some time, but like all things in life, you need a balance. Being sad is as important as being happy – you can’t have happiness without sadness. Like Ying and Yang, one cannot exist without the other.

When I’m feeling sad, I let myself sit with my emotions and know that all things are temporary, and nothing is permanent.

Forgiving Myself

Nothing in life is permanent. If you don’t like who you are, then tomorrow’s a new day to becoming a better person. I’ve been trying to learn to forgive myself and give myself grace. Sometimes I try so hard to be perfect and I tend to be really harsh on myself when I make a mistake but being so fixated on your mistakes can be debilitating.

No one is perfect, and while I know this, my heart feels warmer when I hear my close friends telling me that they used to be the same way.

Accepting What I Can’t Change

I’ve been learning how to accept more. Accepting love from friends and family when they show me that they love me. Accepting things and taking them for what it is. Accepting that life is like a book and that some chapters will come to an end.

Recently, I had a friendship end. Whether it was because of selfish reasons or simply outgrowing each other, it’s never easy ending a friendship. For me, it was a friendship that I knew would come to an end someday but didn’t realize it would have been now.

You accept things for what it is and what you cannot change.

Understanding and Adjusting

One of the things that have allowed me to be more accepting of things I cannot change is to be more understanding. You can’t change anyone else but yourself, so you should try to understand the person and adjust your expectations with them.

Being an avid coffee drinker, my stepmom likes to tell me that life is a cup of coffee. If I’m too picky with my coffee, then I’ll be disappointed because it won’t taste the same every day. She gave me an example of how if a barista made an iced mocha, not to my liking, it could ruin my whole day. Something so small and simple shouldn’t take so much of my emotions.

Having high expectations can lead to disappointment.

Finding My Interests

Besides trying to work on how I perceive life, I’ve also been trying to focus on my interests. I feel like I have many interests – there are so many things I find interesting! From modeling to golfing to motorcycling to woodworking to baking, it’s hard for me to stick to a few hobbies.

“A jack of all trades”, a quote that I thought was a compliment, but it wasn’t until I heard an extended version, “a jack of all trades is a master of none”. Something I thought was a compliment, that then turns into an insult. It wasn’t until I heard the full quote – “A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one,” was when I felt more reassured with my interests.

Every time someone told me that I was a jack of all trades, I felt somewhat embarrassed. Embarrassed that I didn’t have something I was known for or something I was exceptionally great at. As I get older, I find that interests come and go and it’s okay to change.

Here are some things I hope to continue taking an interest in and have been enjoying –

Singing

I love singing and have always loved to sing since I was little. While I’m probably mediocre at best, I want to continue learning how to sing! I used to take weekly singing lessons before the pandemic, but my vocal teacher ended up moving to another city. I took vocal lessons from my friend Mai Ly for a while, but life has been quite busy.

I’ve been warming up and strengthening my vocal cords by using a singing app in my free time!

Coffee

Coffee has been my newest interest! I’ve been an avid coffee drinker for a while now, but never took an interest in learning how to make my own coffee until recently. It’s because I need coffee on the holidays too when coffee shops aren’t open!

I fell into a rabbit hole while learning how to replicate an iced mocha at home. I watched countless YouTube videos on how to pull the perfect espresso shot. While learning about coffee from social media wasn’t enough, I wanted to get first-hand experience! I decided to pick up a part-time job on the weekends as a barista!

It’s been almost a month since I started this new job and it’s been so much fun learning how coffee beans are harvested to all the different brewing methods. My retirement plan is to open up a coffee shop, so hopefully, this is my one step closer to accomplishing that goal.

Working Out

I tend to get obsessed with things fast, but also bored just as fast. I used to be really active and would attend a lot of classes but have fallen out of that habit during the pandemic.

While working out isn’t one of my main focuses right now, I would like it to be! I am committing myself to be more active than last year. I won’t make a specific goal (i.e., work out at least three times a week) but rather try to be overall more active.

Whether I’m walking on the treadmill and scrolling through Instagram, or cycling and playing Call of Duty Mobile, I try to incorporate as much movement as possible.

Blogging

Blogging has been something that’s so near and dear to my heart. I’ve worked so hard in building my personal brand since the age of 12 on YouTube to where it is now with my blog. When it comes to blogging, I enjoy the process of taking photos, writing about my interests or journey, and overall having something I can call my own.

For the longest time, if someone asks me what I like to do in my free time, I will never bring up my blog because it was something I thought was embarrassing. Now, I’m slowly accepting that blogging is a huge part of me and something I enjoy!

Learning Chinese

Learning new languages has always been so fascinating to me! As someone who grew up speaking Vietnamese at home, I decided to learn Chinese in high school. It’s been about six years since I graduated high school and since I practiced Chinese on a nearly daily basis.

To me, it’s such a shame having spent so much effort in learning Chinese for it to go to waste. I really enjoyed learning Chinese in high school and wanted to continue learning.

I’ve been taking weekly classes to improve my Chinese and hope to also improve my Vietnamese. If you know of any Vietnamese classes, let me know!

Nails

If you didn’t know, I used to work as a nail technician during college! I went to beauty school part-time during my first year at Arizona State University. Once I got my license, I was able to work at a salon. This allowed me to pay throughout college while interning at a minimum wage!

I stopped doing nails during the pandemic because I got a full-time salaried job and didn’t really need the additional income anymore. I do miss the aesthetics and beauty of it though! I’ve been practicing acrylic nails on myself and friends and family.

Maybe if I get bored working at a coffee shop, I’ll come back to working at a nail salon again!

Other Hobbies

I’ve also been wanting to find other interests! It’s said that everyone should have five hobbies: one that makes you money, one that keeps you in shape, one that helps your creativity, one to expands your knowledge, and one to elevates your mindset.

Some other hobbies that I’m looking to explore and be more consistent in my life are golfing, barre, cycling, photography, pottery making, camping, and traveling!

What are some hobbies you’re looking to explore?