Life Update

It’s been nearly two years since I posted “To Health and Happiness” – here’s where I am today.

I know, I know. I said I would post more in 2023, and here we are nearing the end of 2024. Reflecting back, if 2022 was an earthquake, 2023 was the aftershock. The stressors I went through in 2022 carried over into the following year, and I just wasn’t in the right headspace to create content, let alone enjoy life.

For those of you who read my last post, you may remember that I was working two jobs in order to save up for the down payment of my first house. What ended up happening is that because the economy took such a hit, I was informed about a month before my initial estimated closing date that I would need to put down an extra 10% in order to avoid foreclosure. As you can imagine, for someone who was already working a full-time corporate job and working an extra 15-20 hours per week on the side to secure the minimum down payment that I was initially informed I would need, I didn’t even know where to begin after hearing this news. Ultimately, the house ended up being delayed 3 months, so that bought me enough time to just scrape by. The lesson I learned from this is that new construction homes are not for the faint of heart. Things were constantly changing, which led to waves of stress and anxiety. I am eternally grateful for my parents’ support with everything during this time. I may write a post on things I learned during my real estate purchase experience in the future, but I will leave this topic here for now.

After closing on my home at the end of April, I moved from California to Florida the week before Memorial Day. I had no furniture other than a blowup mattress that I borrowed from a friend. It was just me, my dog, the blowup mattress, and two suitcases of clothes I brought back from California in an otherwise empty house. Over the course of a year, I accumulated furniture, a TV, dinnerware, and other home necessities. I’m glad that I took my time curating pieces that I love (though there are, of course, a few pieces that I have slight regrets on) and waited for discounts. I even managed to snag a 7-foot Christmas tree during Black Friday for less than $100! It has been a great feeling seeing my home come together, and I am so excited to decorate for Christmas this year as it will be the first time I am hosting my family for the holidays.

In other news, I also transferred to the HR department about 6 months ago, which has been such a blessing. In my old department, I worked directly under the worst micromanager. Not only did he not understand the basics of the job even after being manager of the team for over two years, he was someone who would do anything to look good in front of upper management to the point where he would overpromise on deliverables that were truly just not feasible, throw people under the bus if it made him look good, reduce the team to just metrics, and other actions that were even more terrible. It was to the point where I would be drained of all energy and social battery that I barely saw my best friend in the last year even though we had just moved right next door to each other. Every day after work, my mind would go numb and I’d just crash into sleep so that I could disassociate from reality.

Thankfully, my team members and I received a 3-month reprieve while my manager was out on paternity leave. During this time, I had the opportunity to work closely with the director of the department. Due to that, he (the director) recommended me for a transfer to a position that needed filling in the human resources department. I am so grateful towards him, and I really respect him for his candor when he reached out to me with this opportunity and the support he showed towards the success of my future rather than keeping me in his division, even if it meant that his department would struggle.

I am also so thankful for my best friend who put up (and still puts up) with all the vent sessions I had about my old manager. No matter how many times I complained about my day or my manager, she was always there to hear me out and support me.

In my new position, I feel so supported by my manager who trusts me to get things done and leads a collaborative work environment. It is also so liberating to know that my manager is in my corner when I need her and that I can reach out when I need guidance. In my previous position, I didn’t have anyone I could reach out to when I had questions as I was expected to always know the answers and would be chastised if I did not know some obscure statistic or other information off the top of my head. My new manager is amazing and treats me like a human being, not just some machine or metric.

In a way, I am grateful for this experience because I’ve learned my worth and will never put up with working under a manager like this again. I have been enjoying life a lot more since my transfer, and for the first time in a long time, I have time to rest and do things outside of work. I am looking forward to my upcoming redemption trip to Japan next month. It will be my first time going back to Japan since withdrawing from the JET Program, and I’m excited to finally go back to Japan, especially now that I am at a place where I am no longer grieving my withdrawal from the program. Life is starting to look up for me, and I’m excited to focus more on both my physical and mental health moving forward!