January
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Positives: Getting Te Company clay pot, feeling successful with firm callbacks, getting presents from firms, realizing I’d muscled-out of my old-swimsuits, trying on and buying new swimsuits, starting to learn Hebrew, playing Fenyx Rising, making bean soup, cross-stitching, Rabbi Jason’s classes, DnD beginning, Tu b’Shevat Seder, cross stitching
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Negatives: Women’s literature Zoom being weird, stress of feeling untethered while trying to work on school writing projects, YLS professor rejecting me for RA work because of my transfer status
February
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Positives: Beautiful snow outside, meeting and hanging out with Iroh, starting to work out consistently for the year, getting to cross stitch through virtual class, DnD, hanging with Eric
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Negatives: Not having warm enough pants to be walking in snow, accidentally stumbling onto bio-mom’s tattoo pin-up pics, Xian not wanting to be friends anymore, feeling like I can’t get a clerkship, QTS organizing difficulties
March
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Positives: DnD, time with Peter, great fried clam lunch, getting new plants, cute new dog at house, online Passover dinner, making matzah outside
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Negatives: Heat going out, problems with Lap Lap, severe allergic reaction to tea mug repair ingredients, dog peeing on my stuff
April
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Positives: Afikomen hunt, time with Peter, watching King Kong with dad, getting vaccinated, hiking with Eric, Noel, and Henry, pushing forward sex offender registry project, making hand print for Lori’s gift, getting to pet Luna the dog
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Negatives: COVID scare, shoes getting damaged while hiking with Eric, vaccine reaction, big housemate conflict
May
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Positives: Trail cleanup, watching my plants grow, Texas roadhouse, wrapping Peter’s stuff, seeing workout progress, hanging with Eric, second perm sticking, moving to NYC, drinks with Selena, NYC dating, hanging out with Orlando and his friends, Ren fest visit
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Negatives: First perm not sticking, dog-sitting stress, difficulty getting into NYC apartment, not having a great spot to work in NYC, small medical scare
June
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Positives: NYC dating, Yankees game, John Mulaney show, visiting friends in DC, Mets game, coat fitting, fun at Quinn events
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Negatives: Awkward dinner with visitor to NYC, dating jugging stress, stress with New Haven friend distance, pasta class stress, finding out all my plants were dead
July
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Positives: Yale club fun, seeing my hydrangeas bloom, mock trial week, Lori visit, hanging with Eric, my birthday festivities, fancy steak dinner
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Negatives: Scheduling stress during Lori visit, getting sick from birthday festivities, some birthday day stress, questioning if I’ll get a QE offer stress, moving stress, transfer organization going poorly
August
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Positives: Getting to decorate my new space, getting new plants and watching them grow, dad visiting, Mets game, Boston visit, great first day of Business Orgs, making chicken tacos, mani-pedis,
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Negatives: Work friend stress, internet install problems, piercing breaking, toenail problems
September
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Positives: Getting and delivering QTS plants, Nationals game and weekend with friends, tashlich, meeting Handsome Dan, plant shopping with Amir, fasting for Yom Kippur, Yom Kippur break-fast, watching plants grow, seeing progress from workouts, making pears, Sukkot lunch with Max, making golden rice, hanging out with Handsome Dan again, Joshua’s birthday celebrations, getting pass along plant
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Negatives: Getting ultrasound, Nationals game scheduling stress, apple picking with transfers being lukewarm, problems with oven, optometrist appointment
October
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Positives: Zac’s Shabbos dinner, making burgers on the porch, lunch with Harris, Red Hook art showing, Mario Party with John and Silvia, grad Shabbat dinner, seeing exercise gains, pumpkin carving, spatchcocking first chicken, planting sweetheart philodendron cuttings, getting my custom pants, walking with Merlin, practicing piano in YLS, getting night-blooming jasmine, picking out ski helmet, giving candy out on Halloween
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Negatives: Breaking one of my bowls, relationship stress especially around Halloween
November
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Positives: Zoom with Professor Balkin and friends, Eric visit, getting to wear custom coat, eating pomegranates, leaf peeping walk, tiny pie from Courtyard, learning about Israel trip, wine and painting Kehillah event, pets and family and bird time at Lori’s, new plants, lighting menorah for Hanukkah
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Negatives: Stress around Eric visit, pilea pot getting moldy, relationship stress, especially injury during Thanksgiving
December
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Positives: Hanukkah event, seeing workout gains, Kehillah axe-throwing event, Talia’s Shabbos dinner, finding Euro-coin, dog-sitting Poppy, seeing Spider-man movie, seeing dad during Xmas, skiing, Romeo the dog
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Negatives: Hanukkah event delivery problems, exam stress, relationship stressful talks, fellowship applications, weirdness during Xmas visit, car lost and vacation relationship stress
Take-Aways
Positives:
- Getting to cultivate plants indoors this year REALLY gave me a lot of joy. I think prioritizing having a space with sunshine, and plants in that space, will bring me a lot of joy in the future.
- As with last year, interacting with animals continued to be some of the highlights of the year. I REALLY want to try to get a cat next year.
- This year I got to have more time with friends (because less pandemic) and friend time consistently made my Positives list. Unlike relationship time, it’s less likely to be associated with stress. In 2022, I’m going to focus on purposefully scheduling friend time.
Negatives:
- My most consistent stress this year came from various romantic relationship troubles, which is difficult to “fix” because a lot of my big positives of the year came from romantic relationship things too. I’m pretty sure that’s just the paradox of being vulnerable and known with people, but I’ll try to keep my eye out next year to make sure I’m not staying in situations that aren’t great.