Learning

I have been writing this blog post since last week, which is a shocker because I usually do everything last minute. However, I set this up to challenge for the month of August and I am prioritizing my creativity, my sanity, and sharing important thoughts with the world. Writing this since last week has proven to have its pros and cons with the authenticity in my writing, I had this drafted and ready to go but when I woke up there was just so much I wanted to change and say so I did - instead of putting something out that did not sound like who I am waking up on August 8, 2025. Last week I was up before the sun writing and published by 7 AM. I had a special weighted blanket on me that just begged me to stay in bed, my five year old golden retriever who is the queen of my room (and life if we are being honest). While I am prioritizing all of the above, I am also prioritizing my health and trying to set better sleeping habits - because it is an honor to wake up in the morning but waking up rested and just waking up are two very different things. So this was posted at 8 something in the morning rather than last week’s sunrise post. Writing challenge still successful because I put this out there.

This blog is run by a 26 year-old who is trying to fight the urge to go back to school after two years post-grad. If you are also fighting that urge, no matter your age, here is your reminder that you do not need the structure of school to give yourself assignments and plan out your life day by day exactly how you want to. 

This week I’ve decided to speak on learning, and if you’re like me  (terrified of artificial intelligence taking over our minds) I invite you to explore Google scholar for fun, support your local library, and explore all of the greatness that YouTube has to offer. I have been doing that over the usual doomscrolling and it is working wonders for my mental health.

I crave information. 

As I mentioned last week, I have a degree in digital media and communication. This is me communicating through digital media. Thanks to Polar Bears International I was able to watch a one hour introduction on strategic communication for climate change. I’m not gonna sit here and lie to you and say that I watched it all in a one hour increment because my attention span had me watch it over the course of a week, but it still was wonderful to be able to access that information for free, and was able to  lean into like-minded individuals who know that these issues are intersectional and to take great care when we speaking on advocating for our planet when there are human beings that are hurting. Though, it is all intersectional. I am putting together the words to speak on that, for now this is just the Friday morning chat that I want to have with my community. 

I am an advocate through and through. I advocate for the marginalized, and I advocate for my neighbor, and I advocate for women around the world always. As I consume more information the more I want to be there for others and care and be a safe adult especially for the children in my life, community, and proximity.

Before I sign off for this week, I want to caution myself, and anyone who is listening to not try and over learn, and seek every single answer in hopes of some sort of clarity on why the world is the way that it is. We will never be able to know all of the “why” that we want answers to. 

But what we can do is what we can, with what we have where we are, and know that knowledge is power. We can use our time wisely, and listen to some good music.

PROMPT: 

This weeks playlist prompt is about memories that you wish you had answers to. I called this week’s blog “learning” but maybe it’s more nostalgia. 

Maybe a song that reminds you of an ex, a loved one that’s passed away, or just a really good song you used to jam out to in college or the one on your way to that one job that you can’t believe you had in the first place. Maybe it’s songs that you used to listen to coupled with newer songs that give you the same feeling. 

And, since that prompt is kind of heavy, it might bring up some emotions for you, as it does for me, I added a few new songs at the end of my playlist, that are danceworthy (in my opinion) that you can add to the end of yours, or just take a second to listen to.You can find it here. 

Eventually

It is not everyday that you are woken up by someone pulling and yanking your hair. Okay it is. My orange cat Cosmo seems to have a need to crawl into my skin especially when it is 4am and all I want to do is get a few more hours of sleep. I then realize he is hungry, so I feed him a can. Rolling over and trying to sleep again, the orange menace is back on my head pulling my hair and begging for food yet again. “He’s a cat” I tell myself as my mind wakes up to a million different thoughts.

It’s August 1st, 2025.

Our fifth August living for the hope of it all and having a theme song for it (Thank you, Taylor Swift).

How has it been five years? Where has the time gone?

I realize I am not alone in these thoughts.

These thoughts cross many minds every single day ever since the pandemic, with so many becoming desensitized to dying and death among many other things.

I’m awake at 5:49 am on a Friday morning, which means I have to wake up and commute to my job (that I am grateful to have but it is on the other side of town).

Welcome to Los Angeles.

Yet, I am already awake. Mind racing against the sunrise so I can try and slip back in bed before the anxiously attached orange cat eventually realizes I am gone.

I have been waiting far too long for eventually.

Eventually, I’ll get my degree.

I did that. In December of 2023 I graduated with a degree in Digital Media and Communication and man am I proud of that.

Eventually, I’ll apply to where I want to be.

Actively doing that. There are not enough hours in the day.

Eventually….

The list can go on. I can sit here and spiral my words and tell you every single detail of every single thought that passes through my head but that is for a journal, not a blog.

As I saw the media getting more and more saturated, I felt fear of sharing my voice. I accomplished all of these incredible milestones and let them all live in my head instead of sharing with “the class”.

You are my class. If you are reading this, you are my neighbor, my friend, someone who has far more inherent worth than you can imagine.

This is a challenge to myself to keep up with.

A Friday morning blog that is public and an outlet for my creativity, thoughts and a community-builder.

Even if one person reads this, I would be so ecstatic to sit with one person and tell them all my racing morning thoughts. Eventually, There could be an entire room full of people I’m speaking to on Fridays. This is meant to be a conversation.

Every week brings new music, new ideas, new beginnings. Every day does.

Consider this blog like a book club, but for short attention spans.

Prompt:

Make a playlist this week with songs that remind you of summer, however that looks for you. Include songs from 5 years ago, 10 years ago, or songs released last night. Take a moment to slow down and listen and enjoy the music and put it in a silly little playlist on your silly little streaming service of choice. Mine is Spotify and here is playlist #1 of my ByEliseRyan blog, https://open.spotify.com/playlist/109rdG6y8GZdmbpOyeGmFF?si=f76sVeGpSM2zx1mktSMY_g&pi=X0Aq1PXfTzm0g

With Love,

Elise Ryan