September is my reset.
It’s the month that I hit restart. It is the most natural month to do so after spending the majority of my life in school. And after the summer that I had, it’s the best way to start things anew for the upcoming months ahead.
My summer didn’t turn out the way that I had expected to. I had decided that after almost two years of almost year-round classes and the stress of my dad’s illness that I would take the summer off for myself, to re-centre, relax, and get some rest, etc. Funnily enough, that did not happen. What happened was that I fell into a spiral, one of the darkest ones I’ve been in, in a very long time. It was something that started to creep in at the end of June and progressively over the summer became this bigger and bigger beast. It’s arguably the worst that I had felt in a very long time.
Luckily, I’ve been able to climb out of it with the support of friends and a lot of coping mechanisms that have worked for me previously. If you are are in a similar situation, I feel you and I hope you find the support and help that you need as well. And a big shout out to all friends who are there in the best of times and the worst! You are lifesavers.
Looking back, the summer did have its bright moments. I read some good books, got to have a boozy getaway weekend with two of my oldest friends, watched some great TV, and found my favourite new podcast. I also did a lot of baking. So, so much baking.
TV & Movies (YouTube videos)
One of the best videos that I’ve seen in a long while on YouTube is Amy Lee’s video/vlog on her trip to Kauai with her dad (LINK). Not only was it a beautifully shot and edited video, I loved the message of the video and what it encapsulated. It’s one of my bucket list goals to take my parents and my sister on a vacation that I would fully pay for and say thanks to them for supporting me. And while the goal is moving further and further away as my dad’s illness progresses, it’s still something that I want to cross off one day.
Elementary is a show that I have been watching since its inception and one of the best series finales that I’ve seen in a very long time. It paid tribute to the show and its characters in such a beautiful way. I loved the episode and am sad to see the show end, but thankful that it had such a beautiful ending on the show’s terms. It’s one of the most unique interpretations of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock that I’ve watched and/or read and one of the best. Lucy Liu and Jonny Lee Miller were perfect as Joan Watson and Sherlock Holmes. If you haven’t watched it, now you can binge all 7 seasons. Enjoy!
Netflix has been on their game this summer with the premiere of Wu Assassins and the romantic comedy Falling Inn Love. Definitely go check out both if you’re looking for some A+ entertainment.
Books
On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong is one of the best books I read this year. It’s a book that speared my heart and my soul and one that I think everyone should read. It’s a tale of family, of love and loss, and finding one’s path in the world. It’s not the easiest book to read, but it’s forged from this very real place even though it is a work of fiction and comes from one of the best writers that have emerged in the past few years. Ocean Vuong is a poet and it shows in his prose and this is a fucking beautiful book. Go read it!
(Also check out this video of Ocean talking about this book, it’s also beautiful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQl_qbWwCwU.)
Podcasts
Ologies with Alie Ward is a podcast that I stumbled upon and have not been able to stop listening to since. It’s a comedic science podcast that explores different -ologies in each episode like diasterology (the study of disasters) or scorpiology (the study of scorpions) or selenology (the study of the moon). Not only do you get to learn a great deal about these fascinating topics but you get to hear these individuals who are so passionate about what they are doing and what they are discovering and learning which is really magical. It’s also one of the things that allowed me to think about something else and step back and not focus on my depressive mental state. It really helped pull me out of my spiral these last few weeks. I highly recommend you check it out if you haven’t already.
Let me know one thing that you really enjoyed over the summer and something you’re looking forward to for the remainder of 2019.
Thank you for reading!
A Work in Progress 