Hey, guys – welcome back to TNTH!

So, it’s January. It’s Birthday month. It’s that time of year where I share some cool and interesting things that I did and learned while being 24. When TNTH first started, I posted 22 Things That Happened/I Learned While Being 22 and during TNTH’s first birthday celebration, I posted one for 23.

So, without further ado, bon voyage to 24.

Continue reading “24 Things That Happened/I Learned While Being 24.” →

Hey, guys – welcome back to TNTH.

If you haven’t been hiding under a rock for the last 72 hours, you would’ve have heard about the Lifetime documentary that everyone was talking about; yes, the one entitled Surviving R. Kelly. Having watched the first two nights on television when they premiered, I felt a wide range of emotions; I felt anger, sadness, empathy, and straight up powerfulness and bravery that these women represent in a movement like the one we are actively bringing awareness to. Upon the various Facebook posts, one person shared a post regarding the question of “Why are people so shocked that R. Kelly got away with his shit for this long? Because millennials were too young to understand what was going on at the time. The youngest we could’ve been was 10 years old, and we were not the ones who were buying and selling these bootleg sex tapes on the street. We are talking about it now because we do not tolerate the shit that older generations weren’t aware of when they were our age. We’re a different type of breed.”

I slowly looked up at our phone and thought, “hell yeah, we most certainly are.”

To clear up any confusion on what a “millennial” is, the millennial generation is different than the millennium. The millennial generation is considered to be the group of people who were born from 1981 to 1996; anything younger than that is considered Generation Z. The millennium is when the year 2000 hit… simple as that. People really do have misconceptions about the millennial generation; people think we were all raised on strictly technology, that we don’t know what good music was, that we are all just whiny young adults with issues because we were “babied” throughout our lives. Millennials, in simpler terms, are being confused with Generation Z babies.

Millennials, they are a force to be wrecked with.

You see, many of us are in our adulthood, and if not, just starting out adulthood. Most of us either are settled down with kids or had just graduated college. We are the generation that still appreciates a good, physical book. Rarely are any of us listening to Top 40 mainstream music. And most of us, if not all, are very understanding that the life that we grew up around and the things that were happening when we were kids, will not be tolerated anymore.

We are not just eliminating the N-word out of our vocabulary, but all offensive words that degrade other people’s cultures, beliefs, sexual orientation and identity, and lifestyles. We are not supporting anyone who is all for hurting others for power, supporting anyone whose beliefs are inhumane, and allowing people to spread ignorance in our society thinking saying or doing things towards different types of people is alright. We are the generation that is trying to actively stop the nonsense of those who were able to get away with things for years on end. In this situation, we are finally calling out R. Kelly and boyscotting his music due to his abusive behavior towards women, and calling out his fetish for young, teenage girls. No more “Ignition”, no more “Step in the Name of Love”. We will not support anyone who intentionally hurts and silences other people, especially women.

Although we have a lot to learn about this world and where we belong in it, I personally feel like we are a strong handful of people in which I hope one day can make this country an even more progressive country than it’s becoming. Yeah, we still have people with traditional, sexist, racist, and misogynist views, but I know for a fact that we will once outweigh those people who still try to keep society’s norms and traditions the same. We, as a generation, have come so far already.

We’ve made so many amazing voices heard and we’ve made such progress in making the world as united as we can get it. We, in my opinion, are a generation of dreamers, believers, and fighters; we’re going to be just fine.

So, beware of us millennials. We’re here to stay and to fight for what’s right in this world.

-Liz. (:

Hey, guys – welcome back to TNTH!

So, quick funny story: five years ago, I was watching a story on the news about how women are cutting their hair into pixies more than ever, and they were looking at tweets regarding this story to see what the public has to say about it. I wrote something along the lines of “It’s so hard not to reach for a pair of scissors and cut my hair really short!” Five minutes later, they featured my tweet on the news. This has been my third appearance on the news, and no, they were not for negative things. 

I wasn’t lying when I said that I would cut my hair really short into a pixie. Something about cutting your hair extremely short like that felt liberating and exciting to experience, but I always felt way too scared to go for the big chop. I was never a stranger to a pair of hair-cutting scissors; I mean, I pretty much rocked every hair length you can imagine except for a pixie. So when I was looking at pixie haircuts online last month, something told me to just go for it. You have to try things at least once in your life, and this was something I personally had on my bucket list.

So, a month later, I’m here to tell you about my experience about this rocking short hairdo.

• When I first cut my hair, it felt extremely weird to not have hair go down my neck. It constantly felt like I had a high ponytail on. The best part about not having that much hair on the back of my head is that I didn’t have to use that much shampoo and conditioner like I used to! The bad thing… my hair gets a bit greasier when I sweat, and on the warmer days we had last month, it was brutal hoe greasy my hair got. Another bad thing was that whenever it was really cold, my neck got cold as well. Seriously, I walked around my house a couple of times with a scarf on because my neck was so damn cold!
• Knowing what to wear without feeling too frumpy or tomboyish was a challenger; I’m not a girly dresser to begin with. I learned that certain necklines on shirts and sweaters did not look well with my short hair, and I learned some looked great with my short hair that didn’t when I had longer hair. Same came to jewelry: I quickly realized that the only pair of mini hoop earrings I wear did not look so great with my hair anymore, so I gravitated towards stud earrings, which I never really liked when I had longer hair.
• Surprisingly (and this could just be because I don’t go out much and socialize), but I didn’t get the “mad attention you get when you cut your hair into a pixie cut”. I mean, the only person who gave me that attention when they first saw it was my partner, and I was surprised that he really liked it! Maybe short hair is just so common to see women rocking now, it’s not a complete head-turner anymore. Or maybe I’m just delusional and don’t see people looking at me when I walk by. Just saying!
• There will be days where you don’t feel pretty with short hair as you do with longer hair, and that just goes with the phases of having a short haircut. There are days where I look in the mirror and think “oh God, please grow already” and then there are moments where I’m like “I’M A HOT ASS CHICK!” I think it’s just us trying to break those boundaries of what beauty really is in society, and long hair does not define it.
• When rocking a pixie cut, you have to decide real quick if you want to grow it out or maintain the pixie haircut look. As a person maintaining my haircut, I have to get my hair trimmed at least once every two weeks, because you start to notice just how fast hair really grows when it’s short like a pixie. Although I’m nowhere near that “awkward grown out pixie” stage, I can only imagine just how annoying it’s going to be when I get there, and I honestly believe that’s one of the things you have to consider before cutting it really short. Are you ready to maintain it and style it differently? Are you ready for bad hair days during the awkward stage? If so, cut the damn thing off!
• Lastly, rocking a pixie cut has given me some of my confidence back. It’s not my hair that’s talking for me or hiding me, it’s not “societal beauty” that is making me instantly attractive. Most importantly, my hair isn’t a security blanket anymore. I’m out in the open, and at times quite exposed. It’s also teaching me that it isn’t scary to try new and exciting things, and for a person with anxieties like mine, that is a major deal. I probably would’ve regretted this decision by now. This experience is teaching me that I am in control of my life and my body, and I’m allowed to do things (like cutting my hair short) to experience something like this in my life. It’s a major step, and it’s going to be years until I start seeing some length again, but it’s not impossible!

That’s basically it. My pixie haircut has taken me on an interesting journey this past month, and I’m glad that I got the balls to actually try something like this! I know it may be too old to try and chop up all your hair now (seriously, I should’ve waited until the summer when all I want to do is go completely bald), but when that warm weather comes along, you know what to try next! 😉

Happy chopping, hair folks!

-Liz. (:

To the January 2018 Liz who felt the same level of positivity, optimism, and excitement for leaving a bad year behind and entering a complete brand new one:

Hey, girl. Congrats on seeing a brand new year.

I know how difficult 2017 was for you and how happy you are able to leave that chapter in your life in the past. You went through enough fights and anxiety to really last you a lifetime at this point. You’re probably excited to finally be entering your final semester as a grad student and to finally get a hold of your Masters degree later on this year. You worked hard, and I know you are more than ready to get up out of that school and start beginning to live your life. You’re excited for your 24th birthday that will be coming around in a week. You’re excited to see what the next 12 months have in store for you, and my dear – your dreams and goals are endless right now.

While you’re living in your “new year honeymoon phase” currently, I must warn you: you will be happy, you will be sad, you will be anxious, depressed, worried, stressed; whatever you can possibly feel, you’ll feel it. Because this year is going to be a weird one. You don’t really know what life holds for you once you wear that cap and gown and leave your life as a student behind. You don’t really know the hardships you and those closest to you will experience because things inside of you are simply changing. In simpler words: you’re going to be growing up.

You’ll be seeing life through a more realistic lens: “what type of job should I be looking for? Will I get stuck working at a job just to say I have a job?” “was I really blinded by the definition of a family my whole life, or am I now just mature enough to finally understand that my family isn’t perfect at any means?” “am I where I need to be, or am I wasting my time?” These questions will forever be on your mind this next year. You will look back and realize that you’ve lost a lot of people this year, whether they physically leave or they turn into people you don’t recognize anymore. You will feel lonely on certain days, you’re going to feel like you have absolutely no purpose in life because your life isn’t going the way as you planned earlier into the year. You’ll become suicidal, and I’m not saying this to scare you, January 2018 Liz, I’m saying this because, despite the extremely rough points of 2018, you will gain so much from it.

You will learn that although you may have a big heart, you must have that same love for yourself. You must have the same respect you have for others for yourself as well, and you have to take action when you need to take action. Later this year, you will finally swallow your pride and speak up at a doctor’s appointment and tell her that you have been experiencing really bad anxiety for the past couple of months and would like to seek professional help. When therapy doesn’t work, you will swallow your pride again and say that you are ready to take medication for your mental health. You will put your foot down more than you ever did in life; some you’ll regret, and some you’ll stand by. By the end of the year, you will look back and see just how different you are as a person, and not because you were beaten down a couple of times throughout the year, but because you grew and still remain hopeful that you will get through whatever life decides to throw at you. You will feel courageous to try new things, like speaking at an open-mic event, being a Teacher’s Assistant for a graduate class, participating at a graduate research conference, and taking your first solo trip to see an old college friend. See, despite all that’s happened, you still managed to take control of your life once again and do things that challenged you, excited you, and made you grow.

So, January 2018 Liz, hold on for the ride this year is going to take you on. Spoiler: you get through it just fine. 

Yours Truly,

January 2019 Liz.