Going to college 3,000 miles from my hometown – my friends, family and the people who shaped me – was hard, but necessary. I spent 18 years in a sheltered, minimally diverse Long Island town. One six-hour, cross-country flight introduced me to more than BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people, but new friends, stories and experiences that educated me and inspires me to push for racial and gender equity in our communities.
The Black Lives Matter movement inspired my hometown friends and family to educate themselves, too. All year, I was blown away seeing hundreds of social media posts of resources, articles and book recommendations to help white people understand the injustices BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people endured. The movement transcended millennials, it found influence on moms’ Facebook pages and dads’ signatures on a town petition to change the high school mascot from “Indian.”
Moving back in with my parents at 22 years old during quarantine was a blessing in disguise. I got to watch and grow with the community that shaped me. I caught up with my best friends during weekly virtual wine nights that would usually last for hours. I learned new information about injustice, myself and my friends.
My friends and I became closer than ever during COVID-19 because of the constant connection we committed to at the height of quarantine. Facetimes. Group texts. Zoom calls. We did it all, and found new topics of conversation in what we were reading or what was making us go stir-crazy.
It’s this experience, and the year 2020, that made me realize my heart is home. As I navigate my seemingly never-ending quarter life crisis about wanting to live in NYC with my best friends, close to my family, but knowing an aspiring sports reporter’s career doesn’t start in a major market, I can’t help but ponder, what in the hell is life about?
Is it about being around those who inspire you? Uplift you? Chasing your professional dreams? Is it about finding love with another person or a love based in faith? What about just loving yourself? Is that enough? Is that it?
I have to answer this question before I head into my real-life adult job search. But the problem is, I haven't the slightest clue to what the answer is.
For the meantime, I guess I'll continue to be proud of progress, share life with those I love and work to report on topics that inspire me. Here's to hoping where that will take me, physically and mentally, is fulfilling enough.
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