Hello, 29.

Hello, 29.

You are now entering the story of a woman who drinks iced coffee even on the coldest days of the season. The story of a woman that has a k-pop boy named Kang Seungsik plastered on her bedroom walls after once feeling ashamed of doing so for her age. The story of a woman that travels an hour and a half to work on public transportation; the woman who is the youngest worker in her office. A woman who spends her Friday nights on the phone with her friends that are across the country. A woman who spends a couple days of her week with someone that she vibes so well with. A woman who goes to the gym to work out all the stress of life and work away. A woman who gets lost inside her mind through the lives of her fictional characters.

You are entering a story that took years to write and put together, and one that finally is publishable to the world.

29, you are entering the story of a woman named Liz. The story starts off with tons of trauma and mental health issues; Liz used to define herself through her struggles and even then couldn’t overcome them because she was consumed by the identity of being mentally ill. She saw early on that although she would be understanding to those around her and their mental issues, not everyone was like her and not everyone will be understanding about mental health in a world where it was still considered a taboo. She leaves everything behind from her early twenties as she triumphs into a new identity, hoping that everything would fall into place with the time she had to find herself. She discovers a new love for a genre of music; one that opens her up to a world she never thought she would be a part of. She spoke to so many people in a community she felt too old to fit in, yet that same community was the place where she met some of her closest friends; those who she has never met but still feels like she’s known for her entire life. She rekindled a relationship she never thought she would, hoping that with the time apart and lessons learned that this time around, things would be different. She quickly learns that things are different.

29, you are entering the aftermath of a two-year journey of weight loss; something she never thought would happen for her. In two years, she has managed to lose 120 pounds, but you are entering a time where she fears that all that hard work will go to waste if she isn’t careful with her diet.

29, you are entering the last of Liz’s twenties; the last chapter to a story about a girl that turned into a woman. She went to college and grad school and published her thesis in an academic journal and became friends with her thesis advisor. She sought out therapy when she needed it and got the professional help in order to deal with years of undiagnosed depression and anxiety. She tried new things that she either enjoyed in the long run or immediately stepped back from after learning she didn’t like it. She loved and lost family in her twenties; a grandmother on her father’s side due to breast cancer, an uncle on her father’s side after an unexpected heart attack, and a grandfather that was diagnosed with lung cancer and told us had 2 more weeks to leave after passing away just a day later. She lost her childhood pet; a white lab mix/dalmatian breed named Pal, who grew to be 15 years old before he passed away in 2016. She lost her cat, a black bombay cat named Babygirl, who we rescued from my mom’s office and brought her home for the last 5 years of her life. But in the things she lost, she gained in its place; a pet turtle named Squirtle that her sibling brought home one day in 2019 and two grey tabby kitten brothers, Porkchop and ShyGuy. She learned to take everything one day at a time and to appreciate everything that comes along with the day. She learned to leave work at work and to not bring it home, she learned that support is something she values the most in professional environments, and she learned that she can confine in people without feeling like a burden to them.

29, you are entering a story that is continuing to prosper, but you also are ending a chapter of Liz’s life that she’s known for the past 9 years.

11:59pm… 12:00am.

Hello, 29.