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Hello and welcome back to my blog! Thank you for checking in on me and seeing how my October went. October was filled with so many memories so I’m super excited to be sharing them with you!
Lifestyle: Feeling Thankful
Family Trip
Last month, I mentioned that I was in Korea and was already making amazing memories there and well… it’s true! I got to reunite with my family including my grandparents on both my mom and dad’s side. I got to visit my dad’s side who lives more in the countryside of Korea so it was a road trip. Once was with the whole extended family including my aunts and cousins so it was nice seeing such a full family all together. The other time was when our family visited them as a surprise while we were on another trip because it was on the way. It was so heartwarming because my grandpa shed a tear of happiness and unexpectedness. My grandpa is the super typical Asian grandpa you can think of where he never shows his expression of whether he’s happy or not but makes sure you leave his place with everything he has from all the vegetables and fruits he grew with farming to random presents he bought. Anyways, so to see him cry when we visited him unexpectedly was a surprise on our part as well but we were so happy we got to visit him again.
Another memorable trip has to be the trip that our family took with my grandparents on my mom’s side. I remember we used to go on a lot of trips together growing up when I was younger visiting Korea, but as we got older it was a lot harder to do it all together because we were all so busy. I almost felt like a little kid again being with them and I don’t think I’ve truly been that happy in so long. It honestly breaks my heart seeing my parents and grandparents getting older but I just have to hope that they continue to stay healthy and thrive in life as they are doing right now. Anyways, this trip made my heart full and made me want to continue doing more trips with my family. It was funny and sad when my brother mentioned how we’re still in the backseats in these family trips and soon enough, our parents will be in the backseats of our cars. I love growing up and figuring out myself as an adult but it makes me sad that on the flip side, it means that my parents are getting older.
Fall Activities
Once I was back in America, I was back and ready to do all the fall activities here and get in the spirit. I was so thankful for my friend Kaya for going to the pumpkin patch with me because some of my other friends mentioned that they didn’t enjoy doing fall activities. Kaya and I headed to the pumpkin patch and went to a local coffee shop to catch up after. It was crazy talking about how we knew each other since second grade and how much we get along despite having changed so much. I appreciate friends who I don’t have to consistently text every day but I know will be a good time when we catch up in however long time passed. Anyways, I also did a few more fall activities but I’ll let you watch my youtube video for that!
San Diego
The last weekend of October was my last trip planned for this month. My college friends and I stayed over at my high school friend, Yuri’s place in San Diego. We all went to the concert together and explored different parts of San Diego together. It was so nice seeing how well my friends got along together because I know blending two friend groups can get awkward quickly. I love and appreciated how nice and caring all my friends were so there was no problem getting together, nor was I really worried in the first place. I truly am so thankful to have these people in my life because when I was not feeling the best, they were there to be the best hype women and boost up my self-confidence! Their words did make me reflect on how good my life is right now and how far I’ve come from even a year ago.
Lows: Self Confidence
This month and for a few months actually, I’ve been dealing with a little bit of a self-confidence issue. During the pandemic, I started getting maskne a.k.a. mask acne (like a lot of people did) and it lowered my self-confidence. I think also being in Korea where some of my family members can be super straightforward with no filters and pointing my insecurities out aren’t so helpful. I never take it too personally because I know their intentions aren’t bad but I think there were a few moments in October where I felt a little insecure. With a whole new skincare routine and patience, my skin has been slowly but surely getting better. However, I am learning to love myself no matter how I look!
I also had been going to yoga consistently for a few months and had to take a month’s break for Korea. There was a part of me where I was worried that I lose track of all my progress. I also knew I would be eating a lot of good Korean food without limiting myself so I was worried that this would also affect the progress. However, I shifted my mindset that I should just enjoy the moment and realize that I can always come back into the progress. I also genuinely go to yoga to be healthy and a form of stress relief so I needed to remind myself of that. I’m so glad I did because I truly enjoyed my moments in Korea and now am ready to get back into yoga.
I'll leave this section with this quote:
“You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” - Buddha
Lessons: Growing Up
I touched upon this subject a little in the lifestyle but I learned to balance growing up and becoming my person with trying to be a kid and relate to my parents. I think I’ve just kind of forgotten that as I get older, so do my parents and I didn’t think about how hard that might be to see as parents. I know that my parents are the type of parents that want to help in any way and want me to rely on them for anything but I’ve become more independent and less vulnerable to sharing my problems. I also thought about wanting to move out soon but I didn’t think about how they would want me to stay. I don’t think I found any answers right now but I’m learning to just learn day to day instead of trying to rush things. I think seeing my friends live in their apartments made me quick to want to do those things as well but I can’t deny I love the comfort of being home too! I know that things will fall into place the way they should and I need to find a balance of trying to make my parents happy without having to sacrifice mine and finding that balance.
Songs on Repeat:
Glassy - JO YURIThe One That Got Away - Katy PerryThe Weekend - 88rising, BIBIMy Pick of the Month: Card Games
When I was in Korea, my cousins and I had a mini weekend getaway with the plan of Han River picnic and having a sleepover after. During the picnic and the sleepover, we played a lot of different card games including One Card (similar to Uno but with a deck of cards), Hoola, and Big 2! I taught my cousins how to play Big 2 and they were obsessed with the game that we played all night. Playing card games is just so much fun and I always feel like a little kid again!
I hope that you had an amazing October and I can’t wait for the next chapter of fall where we enter the Thanksgiving season in November. There’s also an exciting trip coming up soon in November so I can’t wait to share all of it next month! Can’t wait to share more moments of when I feel like a kid again as well as moments I have to step up and be the adult that I am.
Talk to you next month,
-- Jin