I’ve been enduring an extended visit from my old pal anxiety, who has insisted on making everything more stressful and difficult and overwhelming than necessary. My days have felt busier than they actually were, since in hindsight I really haven’t achieved much? Blogging in particular took a backseat while I tried to sort out all my academic and personal shit.

Still, it’s not nearly as bad as last semester. I’m doing pretty well in classes; I’ve gotten to hang out with my friends; I’ve had time to decompress on my own; I still have hope for a personal comeback in March.

All things considered, my February really could have been worse. 

This Month’s Goals

Reading & Blogging

• Read 10 books (or half of total read count) for #StartOnYourShelfathon. ✓
• Read 3 books for #YARC2020. ✓
• Bloghop at least once a week. 🗙
• Schedule posts at least a week in advance. 🗙
• Get through review backlog for Dec 2019 and Jan 2020, plus any other ARCs. 🗙

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Academic/Career

• Apply for summer internships. 🗙
  • I continued to lack the bandwidth to deal with updating my resume/LinkedIn, writing cover letters, researching positions, etc, etc. Though I did apply for a summer study abroad program, so at least there’s that.
• Come up with possible topics for senior honors thesis for next year; also think about which professors I might ask to be my thesis adviser. ✓
  • Since my proposal isn’t due until May, this has been on the backburner; I came up with a few more concrete ideas, which is enough for now.
• Finish Spanish Duolingo. ✓
  • This is probably my biggest accomplishment of the month, culminating in a 51-day streak.

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Personal

• Get through 20-25 days of the 30-day Break Up With Your Phone plan. ✓
  • More on this in an upcoming blog post 😉
• Hang out with friends at least once a week, including one-on-one. ✓
• Solidify night routine and fix sleep schedule. 🗙
  • I’ve been going to bed late and getting up late, as has been my tendency when overwhelmed by everything I need/want to get done. This goal will therefore need to be continued next month.

This Month’s Media

Posts I Wrote

• February Preview
• [Blog Tour] Selected by Barb Han
• I Made A Playlist & Character Aesthetics for Genie Lo
• [Review] What Kind of Girl by Alyssa Sheinmel
• Why Do “Book Boyfriends” Upstage Heroines?
• The Anti-Valentine’s Day Tag
• [Book Recs] Black History Month
• I Made “Becoming” Quote Postcards
• [Nostalgia Project] The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

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Posts I Read

• Clo @ Cuppa Clo: Is A BuJo Right For You?
• Kelly @ Another Book in the Wall: How to Blog When You Haven’t Read Anything New
• Ren Strange @ Strange Storyteller: Shadows Linger (An Original Story)
• Sam @ Fictionally Sam: Things I’ve Learned During A Book Buying Ban
• Haley @ The Caffeinated Reader: NB Magazine Blogger’s Choice Awards
  • You can (and should) vote for Haley from Feb 24th to Mar 6th!

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Things I Watched

• Disney’s Hercules 
• Fruits Basket Season 1 (2019) 
• Russian Doll Season 1 – for class
• Anne with an E Season 3
• bestdressed [YouTube]: how i learned to love being single (+ why you should too)

This Month’s Highlights

• Writing center tutoring started. I hadn’t totally forgotten that writing, editing, and tutoring are distinct (if related) skill sets, but I’ve been reminded of the fact every week.
• Since my Fridays were still pretty open, I attended two professional development workshops: one on personal branding and one on building inclusive professional relationships. I’m still working through everything I learned, but hey, at least I got (literal) free lunches out of it.
• I also attended a student/alumni Intercultural & LGBTQIA+ Networking Mixer. I didn’t really make any new connections, but free food, customized business cards, and networking practice made the night still worthwhile.
• With some help from YouTube and blog articles, I taught myself to mirror knit. I’m one of those people who doesn’t like purling, and I also like learning new ways to do familiar things, so it’s been fun.
• My friends and I selected our housing for next year — the majority of us will be in the same block of on-campus apartments (and most of us in the same building), which will be an exciting throwback to freshman year when we all lived in the same dorm. Ending our college years as we started them, as it were.

• What goals/plans did you achieve this past month?
• Are there any that you didn’t quite reach? Will you be trying again next month, or moving on to other pursuits?
• Of the many awesome posts I couldn’t include in this roundup, are there any that I should make sure to hop to?