Yello's Personal Thoughts
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June 25, 2025 - Gratitude and growth
Today is my birthday! My own birthdays have always been a hit or miss because mid-year times tend to be breaking points for a lot of people, including those in my own life. I could have a truly special birthday where I feel loved one year, and the other I'm crying myself to sleep because of a horribly timed fall-out of events (true story). And thankfully this year, my birthday so far has been the former.
Yesterday, I spent the entire day during a heat wave in a mall at Level99 with my sister and new group of close friends. And needless to say, I had such a blast and felt very loved and appreciated by everyone. Level99 is an entertainment facility with a bunch of challenges that combine escape rooms and Mario Party minigames together. We spent close to 7 hours working together to solve each challenge that we could. And since we were at the mall, we also got to walk around, window shop, and I even got Skyward Sword HD randomly from GameStop by a generous friend. A 10/10 pre-birthday celebration.
As I turned 25 today, I was reflecting on how pivotal 24 was. If I had to sum up what that entire year was about, knowing my worth comes to mind. Not only did I come out of my shell even more with actual social skills, but I also learned how to better stand up for myself, even if it meant ruffling a few more feathers than I'm used to. I've already experienced how isolation slowly kills any motivation I had to better myself, so I made less excuses and began switching up my lifestyle to allow myself to grow.
Instead of finding excuses to stay inside, I pushed myself to join a local Pokémon GO group, meet new people at local events, and even help create a group passion project with new friends. All of these new ventures had me terrified. But the difference is that I did them anyway. And I'm so happy I did.
I also finally grew to advocate for myself more. As a chronic people-pleaser, I HATE confronting people because of the conflict that brings. But apparently when I was 24, I had enough. My career path was a constant talking piece with my family because somehow you're "supposed" to have a stable career by your mid 20's. Any other path wasn't even a consideration because it wasn't the traditional path.
But because I built up my own life with my own connections and my own projects with tangible proof of growth throughout the past year, I began standing up for the future that I wanted for myself, even if it meant more uncertainty. Yes, that manifested in leaving an "easy" minimum wage job and many disagreements with my parents, but I was ready to defy expectations this time, because I listened to my gut rather than my doubts.
Even though I joke a lot about growing older as a bad thing. I'm actually looking forward to my late 20's because of the personal growth I'm seeing now. I can totally see a reality where I'm a lot more self-assured and take pride in my own arduous path. Because what's the point of stability if I'm miserable? So I'm very proud of my 24 year old self. I grew in many aspects in my life past my work and I'm excited to see what unimaginable things I'll do and see next.