hello world.
Flashback to my freshman year of college: I sat on the floor of a dorm room with one of my new friends who I met during orientation week. She was showing me a basic coding exercise from one of her introductory computer science courses. I watched in fascination as she typed away into a little terminal box and was amused to see the output message displayed on the screen:
Hello world!!
This experience defined my state of emotion at the start of my college experience. I was eager and wide-eyed, ready to take on anything and everything that came my way during this new phase of my life. And, man, did I need that energy to get through one hell of a journey.
4 years later, and here I am – just graduated college, got into a grad school program, and am getting ready to start my first big girl job in a few months.
Hello world, indeed.
To celebrate our college graduations and mark the official start of our new era of womanhood, my best friend and I booked as many flights as possible and greeted the world.
Although everything has been moving so fast between graduating and traveling, we’ve taken time to slow down and reflect along the way. To set intentions on the kinds of women we want to be as we face the next chapter of our lives as well as appreciate how far we’ve been able to come.
My best friend is someone who’s truly seen me through it all. As such, I’ve always felt most comfortable embracing my vulnerable side with her, allowing me to fully be honest with her and, in turn, with myself about what aspects of myself need the most attention. We truly complement each other in ways that allow us to bring out the best in one another. This has allowed us to dive head first into each new environment we landed into, turning heads and making lasting impressions wherever we ended up on the map.
“The world looks good on you,” noted one of our friends.
I couldn’t agree more.
One of the things I admire most about my best friend is her unapologetic nature. Even throughout the toughest, most confusing circumstances, she’s managed to emerge more resilient as ever with an unshakable confidence and undeniable gusto.
Spending my days with her has allowed me to fully observe this quality in action and reinforce it within myself. She’s taught me how to slow down, take time to appreciate life and take things as they come — we don’t chase, we attract.
As women of color, we have faced the cultural and intergenerational expectation to place other people’s needs and desires before our own, shamed and stigmatized if we should ever practice selfishness in any way, shape, or form. This trip with her has allowed me to see that the world truly is our oyster, offering us endless opportunities to thrive and prosper. We enable each other to give ourselves permission to be young and imperfect; a work in progress; a beautiful mess.
Ultimately, we are in our prime, and I’ve learned that “selfish” is exactly what we need to be. I now intend for my 20s to be all about feeding my insatiable desire for growth, knowledge, and experience. If it doesn’t fuel my inner fire, I don’t want it.
I am proud of how far I’ve come in my personal, professional, and academic growth and accomplishments. It takes a lot for me to truly recognize that sometimes, but I am now focused on empowering myself to the point where self love and personal TLC become second nature to me.
—
vi·ra·go
/vəˈräɡō/
noun
a domineering, violent, or bad-tempered woman. "the campaigns of these indignant viragoes will come to naught"
ARCHAIC a woman of masculine strength or spirit; a female warrior.
—
Underneath my candy-coated exterior, I consider myself to be a virago. I have a masculine side that threatens to take over whenever I have a goal set in mind – always working, never satisfied. This version of myself can be unpleasant to deal with, often subject to tunnel vision and an aggressive drive.
As of late, the only times I’ve really channeled her were to chase my academic and professional goals. However, while I managed to accomplish many of these ambitions, I fell short in my personal development, as I became accustomed to consistently kicking my own needs and deeper desires off the priority list.
While my masculine energy had allowed me to hustle and succeed, I realized a balance was crucial for me to not only survive, but to thrive. I needed to cultivate my feminine side more, the side that actively creates space for me to savor and romanticize life while nurturing myself. By labeling my own needs and personal cravings as “anti-productive”, I was really just focusing on everyone and everything else but the most important person: myself.
Something I’d noticed about my best friend and I was that, energetically, we are magnetic. Together we’d managed to make an impression everywhere we went and attracted so much abundance in the form of people, experiences, and emotions.
Every character we’d encountered had also left a bit of their energy with us and, iconically, all have been fire signs so far:
In London, we’d embraced the socialite energy of an Aries from Orange County who constantly had a circle of influential and dynamic individuals around them — from Doja Cat’s producer to the Malaysian owner of a fashion tech startup. Be bold, always.
In Milan and Rome, our duo became a trio with the addition of an ambitious Sagittarius, a woman of color in finance whose simultaneous spontaneity enabled us to throw ourselves at the moment. Work hard, play hard.
In Santorini, we romanticized life in the spotlight with a British Leo, an aspiring GQ photographer with a desire to feed the soul. There is beauty everywhere.
In Spain, we stayed with my best friend’s host family from her study abroad days. Her host mom, a straightforward and strong-hearted Sagittarius, empowered us to never lose sight of our spirits as we grapple with the gendered pressures and expectations within the workspace and at home. Live to leave a legacy.
I flew back home from Europe yesterday, and I now radiate the energy that these individuals and places have infused into me along the way. I could not be more grateful for what I got to experience, as it’s definitely shaped me into the woman I am today. I feel like I’ve grown so much in a matter of a month and am more ready than ever to embark on this next era of my life.
HELLOOOOOOO WORLD!!
She’s here.
