a little sunset walk

old man's beard wildflowers <3

       It had been a while. A couple of years ago, I had a routine of going out at sunset every day to either jog, walk, or cycle. Being outside during my favorite time of day &  getting fresh air in my lungs was something I looked forward to daily. Seeing the sky filled with oranges, pinks, and purples... like watercolors.

       That went out the window when I went through a hard breakup. It led to other changes too, like moving to a new place. My daily routine of low-carb cooking & exercise stopped taking the priority that it had in my life with every week & month that followed as I got used to a new reality & dealt with my heartbreak.

       Anyway, long story short... I find myself in a better place mentally now. Emotionally, not doing as great. Physically, def not great. I have a lot of things going on, and after two years of health taking a back burner, I have gained a lot of weight. I made a note a couple of days ago that I need to prioritize writing + reading for leisure, as well as get back to my sunset walks. I started today by going for a walk by my new house.

I regretted that I hadn't been on any walks there in the past 8 months since I'd moved. I was used to an actual exercise trail right behind my old apartment; people were out there at all times of day & night. Here I found a narrow trail around a canal that people in the area have carved out for walks & jogs.

        Apartments line one side of the trail, which means it's littered with old mattresses, broken tv's, sofas, old chairs, etc. The other parts where there aren't any houses, there are lemon groves, honey mesquite trees, open fields, wildflowers. Humans like to ruin everything.

       I really enjoyed my sunset walk today. It'll be great not only for my physical health, but also for my mental health, since now that we're in a pandemic, I've been glued to the computer for months with online classes, all-nighters to complete the final semester assignments, and writing for my university fellowship.

        I'm very aware that I need to be physically active & that I need to start eating healthier. I can't be devoting all my energy to school. I also need to focus on living my life, doing things I love, practicing self-care. I wanna be a happier, healthier human.

first blog as an mfa student

This past December, I had a spur of the moment yearning to be back at the university- the same one where I got my bachelor’s five years ago- so I applied to the MFA Creative Writing program. I worked really hard on my application for the next three weeks, creating four pieces of original work and endlessly revising it, plus gathering documents and letters of recommendation. When I got the notice of my admission, I was ecstatic!

The spring semester is about to end this week; all my work was due two days ago. I had become a caffeinated zombie for the past month, barely leaving my room as I read, researched, wrote, e-mailed, revised, etc. I seriously only left my room to go get food from the kitchen and to use the bathroom, and I came right back into my bedroom to continue working. I wanted to turn in work that I was very proud of, so the perfectionist in me came out and I completely isolated myself. (Not only cause of COVID-19--that’s for another blog.)

I’m happy. I took a workshop course in Non-Fiction, a Form & Theory Fiction class, and a class called Diversity Reading & Writing. We had so many books to read, and I kept being exposed to extra literature that I really wanted to get to once the semester was over, and that’s where I am now. I have checked out several books from the library and downloaded some to my Kindle app so that I can read for the next three weeks while I wait to start the summer semester.

I’m very happy & fulfilled that I get to live, breathe, eat, and sleep my passion, which is reading and writing. Since I was a kid, I have loved both. I have so much writing that I also want to do now that I have more free time. My writing here will just be about life. Not gonna be posting any school work because I’m going to save all that for my thesis. This, as always, will be a blog of random thoughts and things I don’t want to forget.

my writing desk on the last day of classes 🖤