Should I make this a thing on Unfiltered now? I think I should.

The last time I wrote a thoughts of a 20-something post, it was in March of 2021 and I guess looking back on it, my life was completely different than it is now. It’s almost been two years since that last post and as you probably know (if you’ve been following along with my blog, and if you are I’m humbled), there’s been an array of changes in my life.

BUT, I’m not here to talk about those changes because I’d be repeating what I’ve already said in a different way. Instead, I’ve come to talk about the things I hope to ring out of 2023. And I think I’ll keep this post short and sweet.

This is none of that “new year, new me” bullshit.

This is simply the same me trying to maintain the main character energy I’ve worked hard to curate for myself throughout 2022. I remain a work in progress, a woman still very much in her healing phase, but one who’s trying to get back into her roots in terms of hobbies I enjoyed prior to my career becoming my focus.

That doesn’t mean I’m not going to be levelling up again this year though.

My energy will be put into a number of different priorities throughout the year that I hope I can keep up with and not just in my downtime. I’m about to start the final 12 weeks of school before obtaining my expensive piece of paper, professionally referred to as a Bachelor of Arts degree and officially graduating in June. I will be doing this while still holding it down as a coordinator at Universal. This will undoubtedly be the busiest 12 weeks of my life, but I’ve been a lot busier and still came out with my sanity (…well, most of it — reference 2021).

I’ll be seeing how the beginning of the year goes in terms of how my life is planned out as is, because I don’t want to overextend myself or spread myself out incredibly thin like I did during the first half of 2022.

I do plan on reintegrating back into creative writing (and have used the slower half of last year to dip my toes back). I’ve missed writing fictionally and intend to explore a lot more of my author side beyond writing poetry. Writing poetry has been great and has taught me so much about the publishing world. Maybe there’s a future for me being a published author through an actual publishing house, over being self-published and doing all of the work on my own. Strong ambitions with this one, but hard work makes the dream happen.

Of course, my writing also extends to updating Unfiltered a lot more and sharing my interests with every visitor who comes across this blog. There’s a lot more of me that I’d love to share and a lot more of me I’d love to get back to (like the Almost Love retrospective that I started and didn’t get to finish).

The possibility of maybe even exploring content creation when it comes to how my personal life oftentimes clashes with my career (ie. the after-hours events, activations, concerts, etc) is also on the table, and I’ve begun to do a bit of that on my personal TikTok and Instagram accounts, as well as give my then-photography account viewsfromel a bit of a rebrand.

I’m excited to see where these take me since I’ve always wanted to dabble in content creation a little bit, but I’ve always had an issue and somewhat of an insecurity with looking at numbers (likes, views, comments) as validation. Honestly, I just want to have fun with it and show people an actual side of my life that’s quite new to me myself, and if people fuck with the content it will serve as motivation to keep going, sharing, and connecting.

I will not be shying away from any challenges this year and will continue to welcome them with open arms. Working hard, hustling, and grinding is in my blood and I intend to do just that in order to further progress my career in music and establish myself in the industry. That means taking on more, doing a lot more, and working towards that seat at the table.

Keeping in mind that I am indeed a 20-something, I won’t be a stranger to having fun either. That’s how your 20s were always meant to be lived: figuring yourself out but also having fun, making memories, and connecting with friends along the way.

I am manifesting A LOT this year, same as I did last year but I have faith that what is meant to be this year will be. There’s so much I hope I get to do and hope I can accomplish, but much of that will not get done without hustling once again.

Stay tuned for the madness.

ED out x.

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Listen to: FOREVER // Jessie Reyez ft. 6LACK

Listen to The Sound of Unfiltered HERE