A year ago today: 2024 & 2025

For Christmas of 2023, I was gifted a notebook. I decided to use it for keeping track of the things in my brain. For 2025, I’m repurposing the notebook for journaling, and so I removed the old pages.

A year ago today, I listed all my homework and responsibilities. What can we learn from taking a look at them? (They are at the bottom of the post for reference throughout).

First level

On the front side, we have my homework, yay!
I was not completely consistent nor organized with these, but essentially I’d organize the assignments by class period order, and then do them in order of due date. On the most basic level, you can see that I took

APUSH (APUSH book questions),

a math class (algebra 2 CP, from the math Qs),

a language class (Spanish, from the VHL),

and something else (TINS from AP Computer Science).

On the back side, we have my “January responsibilities.” It is not the most organized thing, but you can see from a base standpoint what’s on my mind.

NHS (National Honors Society; I tried my best to keep up with the events),

CSF (it was reapplication season), DMV (I hadn't gotten my permit yet ;-;),

band (I was in 3 leadership roles), colleges (Moorpark information) SAT (hadn't taken it yet),

election worker (I had to train for that position still I think?),

chores,

and VGC (my club!).

I had this image in my head for an aesthetic layout of these items but it clearly didn’t work out.

Second level

Looking under the iceberg unveils a bit of my mental state for junior year. I was busy and unorganized, but doing my best to keep track and keep up. I had so many goals that I tried to capture in words.

However, life isn’t words enclosed in boxes. Writing “DMV” isn’t going to plan how I’m going to get my permit, how I’m going to practice driving, and how I’m going to pass the test. It simply reminds me of something I hadn’t done yet. This format left so many goals unfulfilled, or halfway done.

I think that the way I did things before wasn’t the worst, and I give myself credit where credit is due, I was able to manage that schedule relatively well. However, my methods were unorthodox.

It’s similar to code, where the code can work but kill the computer. You want to OPTIMIZE your work and work smarter, not harder.

Third level

Looking to the very bottom of the iceberg, it tells me something. In the moment, APUSH seemed like the end of the world. What if I don’t get those book questions in on time? What if I don’t understand the Edpuzzle?

But looking at it now, it seems so small. APUSH is an important class, you want to do well. But it isn’t the end all, be all. Everything I listed is so, so tiny in the grand scheme of things.

If I could tell Priya from a year ago something, I would tell her this: ** “None of this is as big as it seems. Think of what you imagine life will be like for me; or you in a year from now. Take a moment to breathe. Appreciate the fact that this isn’t going to last forever, but it’s going to help you get where you want to go.
And, most of all, appreciate everything you have today before it’s gone tomorrow. A year from now, I won’t have the same friends, the same work, the same time. Appreciate it, and keep doing your best.” **

Final Thoughts

Today, I appreciate what January was then, and I appreciate what January will be now. To the new year!

…and thank you for reading :)