What I’ve Learned in Fall 2021

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Hey friends! Hope you all are doing well, enjoying this season that has been fall. Thanksgiving is tomorrow and it’s honestly been such a wild time preparing for this mini break. November is almost over (how?!) and I figured it was time to consider the transition from fall to winter. I am super excited for it, even though I don’t like the cold. I’ve got some fun ideas for the blog during my winter break (my last one eek!) and so I welcome the chill. To kick off our transition, I wanted to share with you all what I’ve learned in fall 2021. Hope this inspires you to take some time to reflect on this season of life and what’s to come as we enjoy the holidays and time spent together getting cozy and warm.

Books & Songs for Fall 2021

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Ladies and gents, we’re back again with this series, books & songs. I honestly thought this was going to be some one time post I did in quarantine, and now books & songs is a series here on the blog, bringing to you songs I’m listening to and books I’ve been reading. It’s a really sweet time marker for me, and it’s just a fun post to write and get creative with, especially after the busy few weeks I’ve been having. These books are a memento of time, and these songs are a clue into my musical taste buds (and to some extent, my emotional state). 

Yet another questions from the web

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Well hello friends! It’s a late night here in Cville and I am definitely behind on work, but a blog post is due for you. I constructed a content calendar for the rest of the semester (which is like 5 weeks), but tonight I am just answering a few questions. So here’s yet another questions from the web blog post. Hope it’s your kind of ~vibe~.

A reflection guide for your weekend

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I recently started doing a Sunday Summary every week on my Instagram, and it’s kind of similar to the weekend reflection guide I posted last year, so I wanted to bring it back again with new questions and a new rhythm in my life. I want to invite you to ponder your own life and look reflectively on your experience and your thoughts.

Lies young adults believe today

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There’s a good chunk of entertainment directed to young adults, and although it looks glamorous onscreen, the lives of young adults play by different rules in reality. It’s expectations bumping up against reality. I went to high school thinking it would at least be as fun as High School Musical, and I was sorely disappointed (I mean who doesn’t like High School Musical?!). Our 20s are such a significant part of our lives but it’s easy to let what’s on screen dictate our day to day decisions and lead us into lies about our stage of life. So here’s to debunking the lies young adults believe~

the beauty of beach retreat + accepting stagnation

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The weekend of October 1-3 was beach retreat. It involved hopping into a car for a 5 hour long drive down from Charlottesville, VA to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. The lead up to that weekend had been A LOT. I had been gone for the two weekends before - one weekend home in NYC, and the next away at a different retreat that I wrote about in my last post. While I knew that the weekend was going to be fun and filled with all sorts of beauty, I didn’t expect much spiritually.

sharing stories at a 24 hour retreat

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College is absolutely hectic right now. Midterm season is crushing me and my sleep schedule is a choose-your-own-adventure of 7 hours, 5 hours, or 3 hours. Needless to say, I’m kind of exhausted but in a week, I should be great. Or at least that’s what I keep telling myself. In an effort to memorialize a retreat I have, I invite you to go a little bit down memory lane with me. I hope that this will remind you to get away and listen closely to the stories others are telling you. And make sure you ponder your own.

the trees are shaking off what is dead

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The trees are shaking off what is dead to make room for the living. This is a weird one. That statement isn’t quite true yet. The trees are still green. Fall hasn’t begun to touch their edges. They are clinging to the last vestiges of summer while we wait in eager anticipation of cooler days and cozy nights.

But in the transition between winter to spring, this is what happens. The trees begin to shake off what is dead to make room for the living. The brown leaves of decay lie on concrete, and slowly but surely, we see new life spring up in the form of bright, green leaves. There are two tales here and one tree.

How to honor the unseen moments

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We spent a lot of our days on autopilot. If you’ve read one of the many books on habits during quarantine, you know that most of our decisions are unconscious ones. And yet the more recognized moments are the ones we put on social media. They are the public celebrations and joys of doing life alongside other humans. There is something beautiful to all the good life seems to offer, but it’s the unseen moments that make up this other part of life we’re not always so keen on exploring.

Weekend-ish in my life

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And friends, we are back with the days in the life posts. These are simple posts to write and yet complicated to put together and here we are back at it again (with the white Vans). This is a weekend-ish in the life. This means I am blogging my Friday and Saturday. I ended up sharing my Sunday on Instagram, so follow me on there for more day to day content.

What I’ve Learned This Summer

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Currently in Charlottesville in the midst of my move in day weekend (Monday-Tuesday), and I’m bringing to you this post - what I’ve learned this summer. This was COVID summer round 2. Did I make a lot of changes? Not really. But did I learn things? Yep. Let’s discuss.

In every possible future, you have to die | quote series

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If you were ever to meet me in real life, you’d come to slowly find out that I love sci-fi. Not necessarily the Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica-sci-fi, but YA sci-fi and more specifically, Fringe. Fringe is my favorite TV show ever. I’ve always loved Olivia Dunham and I think it's an incredibly fun, thought-provoking show. It’s been a while since I’ve last binged the series on the whole, but it is on Amazon Prime if you’re interested. 

Books and songs for summer 2021

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Actually, it’s just me. I’ve been waiting for this one. I’m about to head back to school so I wanted to give you my books and songs for summer 2021. I started this series not really thinking it was going to be a series, but here we are! I love music and I love books, so the combo was absolutely necessary. Plus, you, the reader, get to know a little bit more about me. If you want me to learn more about you, comment down below!!

Self-sufficiency is a devastating lie

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Today I scrolled on Twitter. That’s not the most interesting thing ever, but that’s one of the things I did today. I saw on Twitter trending that self-made, this idea of self-sufficency, women were being celebrated. Just also stumbled onto this Twitter thread about people working 9-5 and feeling like they had no hobbies. These two separate posts on Twitter led me to a conclusion- Our culture truly glorifies self-sufficiency but then everyone wonders why they feel so isolated.

How to navigate a journey of uncertainty

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aybe summer is a weird season for a college student, but I’m sort of in this journey of uncertainty. As a college senior in the midst of a pandemic, I am excited, confused and slightly terrified for what lies ahead. For a second there, the pandemic seemed to be turning a corner. But given the way the tides have turned, I’m starting to regret my optimism. I’m confused as to what I should expect a few weeks from now when I start classes again. I’m even more uncertain about what I expect in less than a year from now - when I graduate.

What it means to be healthy

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While the US has made strides towards inclusivity in some arenas, arguably health is not one of them. There is a particular narrative for health and that standard is impossible for some people to meet, specifically those who are excluded due to illness or disability. The thing about beauty standards is that the number is so low to meet them and they ignore those who can never even come close to the opportunity of meeting them (never mind how some standards are toxic). In the same way, those with chronic illnesses or disabilities (visible or invisible) cannot meet health standards in the same way.

The surprising secret to waking up early

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For as long as I can remember, we’ve been fed this idea that 5am morning routines are what make millionaires millionaires. That productivity giants all have one thing in common-this unique gift of waking up early and crack the day while the rest of us snore a few more hours only to wake up exhausted, desperately needing a jolt of caffeine.

How to get your life back on track

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For the past few weeks life has been a little rough lately. I haven’t been super in touch with myself, my habits, and fell off a routine into a deep hole of binging TV shows. Although I’m glad I finally finished the 12 Monkeys (highly recommend if you love sci-fi and you’re not too sensitive about the pandemic thing), I really need to get my life back on track. So while I’ve been navigating how best to do that, I thought I would share with you what I’ve been trying to do to get back to feeling like my best self again.

The hard work of being THAT GIRL

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If you frequent the Internet, you know that the trend of being THAT GIRL exploded all over Tik Tok and made its way to Youtube. That Girl is the aesthetically healthy, has-her-life-together girl. While some people loved the trend of that girl, others found it too rooted in aesthetics of a particular class. That Girl has a connotation that can exclude some people from fitting into the trend. That said, in a healthy context, when That Girl is taken to mean a woman’s healthy version of herself, I believe that girl is actually a beautiful thing to encourage and to have trending. The thing about That Girl is behind being a healthy person, there is so much hard, deep work that needs to be done to actually be well.

I hate endings (of most kinds)

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I love the certain end. A period at the end of a sentence. Or an exclamation point. Something to mark the end of a story. Or of a chapter. A pause. A space to take a breath. Actually, what I really love is a nice wrapped bow. Perfectly tied up in string. I like the clarity that endings can sometimes bring. Sometimes being the key word of the last sentence.

My revealing trip to Vermont

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This past weekend I was lucky enough to take a trip to Vermont for my cousin’s high school graduation. I was lucky enough that in the midst of school, I could take some time to get away and celebrate my cousin’s accomplishments while also seeing different scenery for a little bit. NYC to Vermont is a little over 5 hours driving distance. New York is a huge state and we spent a ~long~ time on the road. We left on Wednesday morning June 9 and returned Saturday evening June 12. It was a decent length trip to Vermont.

What I’ve Learned from Fourth Years

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Every year on the last day of classes, IV has this thing called Fourth Year Share. That’s exactly what happens. Fourth years share what they’-ve learned from their college experience. Due to a beautiful concert my first year, I didn’t get to attend that fourth year share and thus did not collect any material from that experience. However, these last two years I have attended and have written notes on what people have shared. I am not going to share what fourth years have said but I will give the gist of it and I hope it will be of some help to all of you.

Reflection on my third year of college

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So here’s the post you’ve all been waiting for, or at least the post I keep referencing in my last few previous posts - my reflection on my third year of college. This one is hard to write, and maybe that’s why I was sort of putting it off. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to write it but writing it means I have to come face to face with the fact that I technically am a college senior (or as TJ would love us to say fourth year). And that’s wild to me. I started this blog in the winter of my first year, and being so near to the end - whew! I’m just not ready to confront that fact quite yet. But this post needs to be written.

Stained Glass Reminds us of the Broken Parts

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I have just finished How I Met Your Mother this week and it’s been weighing on my mind - stained glass and broken parts.  There’s a flawed logic in HIMYM. Not everyone’s story gets wrapped up so wholly. Sometimes we’re left with are questions and fragments of memories. I think that’s the thing about consuming TV shows and movies and novels - somewhere along the way, you start thinking life has perfect beginnings, ends, and middles. That everything always gets wrapped up in a tight little bow. Maybe I need a break from consuming for a while. A little detox. Detoxing the idea that things will have conclusions and give me closure.

Fighting for faith on a winding path | quote series

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I’m currently in the middle of reading The Winding Path of Transformation for the second time. The first time I read it was first semester of second year. It was transformational like the title states. I’ve mentioned it a few times, but I’ve never written a whole post about it. It’s one of those books you stumble onto, and you wonder how you stumble onto a little diamond hiding out in the rough.

Journaling Prompt Challenge Part II

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Back in March, I wrote a post on journaling prompts and I gave you 5 questions to write about during your week in order to be more intentional and reflective on where you are in life. I wanted to do another one of these because journaling is such a good way to process ideas and turn thoughts into an action plan. It’s also great when you feel overwhelmed with your emotions but don’t necessarily feel like unloading on someone when you are full of emotion.

Sweet days in my life at UVA

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Welcome back to Studying Life with Gigi! Due to moving back home to NYC, traveling fatigue, and adjusting to a relatively new environment, the blog has been a bit quiet lately. Finals and moving and saying goodbye to friends took tons of time and mental energy, so I didn’t have it in me to keep the blogging going. But now that I’m trying to figure out my summer 2021 routine and plan out the next few months, things seem to be steady enough to type away at my laptop again about a few good sweet days in my life.

Dreams, Grief, and Fruit

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I mentioned a few blog posts ago that I’ve been loving my Next Right Thing Guided Journal. I truly recommend it if you ever need some questions and guidance to help you journal. And of course, I have tons of blog posts on journaling. But for me, I’ve been noticing this theme of returning grief. I wrote about grief a while back in this post. And while that was super helpful to get off my chest, it doesn’t feel quite finished.

How Writing Academic Papers Sucked the Life out of Me (+ How I’ve Been Recovering)

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As someone who has wanted to start a blog and then started it, I love writing. I love putting words on a page and making the thoughts in my head coherent. But academic writing has always been the sort of writing that was draining instead of life giving. I have loved all of my English teachers immensely. They’ve boosted my love for literature and I don’t fault them for my troubles with academic writing.

Reflection on 2021 New Year’s Resolutions

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While the initial New Year’s buzz is fun and exciting, launching off a new year with whole new possibilities, those possibilities are improbable to become reality if we don’t stop and reflect on what progress we’re actually making. If something isn’t working for you, change it. It’s that simple. I want to take it a step further. If you made a New Year’s Resolution but now feel out of alignment with that goal despite many attempts to accomplish it, change your goal. I’ll go first. 

Hour by Hour (almost) Day in the Life

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As you all know (or can tell), I love a regular day in the life post. These are so simple to write as a college gal going through paper ~szn~ and it’s sweet for my past self to look back on. I definitely will get back to writing the deeper questions type posts when school dies down and I come up for air. It’s actually been a hot minute since I’ve done a deep dive post and I’m definitely missing it.

Travel in the time of COVID

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This weekend, I went home to New York City. I know, travel in the time of COVID is controversial. It’s important to be safe and not contribute to spreading COVID by reckless outings. But since my parents were planning to come to me, I figured it would be safer for me to come to them. I took a test before traveling and I made sure to travel safely.

College Friday in my life

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There weren't a lot of pictures so bear with me as I describe my Friday. I woke up at 7:30 because I have my Sociology of the Family at 8:00, and this Friday I had a debate on whether or not marriage makes women happier and healthier. Since I was on the pro side, we went first. I think it went super well. My partner and I were super in sync even with the technology hiccups. Because Zoom, you know?

Seeking Solitude in Isolation

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This is the story of how I decided seeking solitude in isolation was a good idea. UVA has been doing Break Days for students’ mental health and because we no longer have a week of spring break off from school due to the pandemic. For my break days, I told myself that I would not want to do work or make it a catch up day. It’s tempting to use the day off as a way to get back on track with classes or even get ahead, for overachievers. But the way I see it - these break days are few and in between. I want to use them wisely and maybe challenge myself in how I spend my free time.

5 Day Journaling Prompt Challenge

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If you’ve been here awhile on the blog, then you know my love for journaling. I consider reflection and stillness to be an important part of life in order to truly learn from the past and be present in what is to come. I decided a 5 day journaling prompt challenge would be in order. I want you to save this post and keep it with you as you go through your 5 days.

I’m uncertain about what to say

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For the first time in a long time, I’ve been struggling with what to say. It’s not so much that I have nothing to say but that I have no aim. Usually there’s a topic floating around my brain that I just want to share, so I do. But this time, I feel like I’m at a loss for words. Maybe it’s because there’s so much I want to share. Or that the world keeps changing so quickly that my brain hasn’t quite processed fully.

books & songs at the beginning of spring 2021

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Last week I thought I was sure of my class selections, and then yesterday, I made the switch again. I refuse to take classes that I can’t balance well alongside my other ones. Today we’re bringing back the series of books & songs with books and songs at the beginning of spring 2021. At the end of my first week of classes and being back at UVa, Ms. Hayley Williams released her second solo album. I didn’t see it coming, but I’m not mad about it. (Actually, it would be kind of nice to have a new Paramore record. Just saying.) So that inspired this post! Here are some things I’ve been reading and listening to lately.

Our upbringing informs our relationships in a remarkable way

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Given some reading I’ve done, The Defining Decade by Dr. Meg Jay, a lot of my conversations with friends have circled around how our upbringing informs our relationships. I’ve been lucky to have been going on walks with friends and getting to have conversations about on these sorts of things. It’s intensely personal but getting … Continue reading Our upbringing informs our relationships in a remarkable way →

First Day of Third Year Second Semester

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I’m back in Cville and classes have started up again! Here’s my first day of third year second semester. Woah, that was a mouthful, or a typeful. Anyways, I just wanted to show you a little day in my life. I have a few of these on the blog now, and I feel like the blog has become a place to write this all day and get a little snapshot of my life, especially when I look back on my college life.

New Year’s Resolutions Reflection Guide for 2021

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Hey friends! As January nears its end and February picks up on a Monday, I wanted to write an New Year's Resolutions reflection guide. It’s a new year (yay 2021!), so it’s important to track your progress and get down to the core of your feelings. Maybe January has been a month where you fell back into the bad habits you ended 2020 with. Or maybe January has been a month of slow growth in the right direction. In order to move forward, you’ve got to assess where you’ve been. Do you like how you’ve been doing?

When Love is Worth Keeping Around

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Everyone has that show that they love. For some it’s Friends. However, for others it’s the Office (for reasons I still don’t understand). For me, it’s How I Met Your Mother. Ted Mosby tells his kids the long, long, super long story of how he met their mother. The show has incredible storytelling features and is set in New York City (my hometown), and to the joyful displays when it means to be friends and do life together.

books & songs during winter break

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We’re back again with the series of books and songs - this time during winter break. Funny enough, Taylor Swift released another album(!) and so she inspired another post where I must rave about my favorites from evermore. I definitely love evermore more than folklore. It has a sadder, lyrical vibe that I just flow with more.

2021 New Year’s Resolutions

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Good riddance! 2020 is finally over and we’re so lucky to come out the other side. This time of year is when there seems to be the most hope. After the delight of the holiday season, we get to look forward. No more time spent looking at the past and all the wayward things of 2020. We get to usher in 2021 and we get to set our intentions for the type of year it’s going to be, and create some New Year's Resolutions.

What I’ve Learned in 2020 + 2020 Highlights

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I took a little mini break from the blog for the holidays and honestly, to relax and not think about being on my computer. But I’m back! 2020 has been a weird, strange, crazy year and we’re almost at the end. Congratulations! You’ve made it through!!

Holiday Gift Guide: For the Cozy Minimalist

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Hey friends! I know this holiday gift guide post is coming on a different day than usual, but I figured that the earlier that I got it out, the better. I only just finished up my Christmas shopping and I realize a lot of people are mostly shopping online to avoid potentially getting sick.

Reflection of Third Year First Semester

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Hey friends! It’s finally that time of year - a time to reflect on the past semester and relay to you all what I’ve learned. I actually had some trouble writing this post for some reason. This semester was different than what I thought my third year would be. Given how much a pandemic factored into my experience, I’d say that I made the best of this semester.

Weekly Reflection Guide

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Hey friends! I thought I’d take you through a week in my life - not down to the minute - but the moments that I captured on camera and what they mean to me. Also, just giving you questions to reflect on as time passes by. I hope that as much as you live in the moment, you also live with discerning eyes, eyes that hold this moment eagerly and reflect in order to do the next moment better.

Planning for Winter Break in 2020

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2020 has been rough. *ahem* That’s an understatement. 2020 has been one hell of a year. With COVID going all across the country, lockdowns, doing work/school from home, not to mention the general uncertainty, it’s a strange time to enter the holiday season. School is currently wrapping up for me. I have 2 more weeks of classes and then a week of exams before I get to fully rest up and recover from the 14 weeks of Fall 2020.

Music and Moods

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I am up late on a Monday night because I got locked out of my room, which spurred a wonderful conversation but I truly lost track of time, and so here we are and it’s almost 1 am. Oops. Given the uncertainty of the state of the U.S., I wanted this post to be more chill - exploratory and fun. I honestly had my emotions swing from low to high today and so, I felt like giving that range of emotion vs music.

Fixed Ideas + The Realm of Possibility

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Every night, surrounded by twinkle lights, I flip the pages of my journal to a blank one and begin writing. Some days my pen scrawls back and forth across the page, moving slower than my mind can think. Other times my pen is still, eager awaiting my thoughts to formulate an idea, any idea.

What I’ve Learned from The Defining Decade

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I’m in the pivotal stretch of life. Actually, arguably all of life is pivotal because everything hits hard in the present moment. Anyway, aside from that tangent, I turned 20 in August. Hooray!! I have now entered my 20s in the middle of a global pandemic and will be graduating college in 2022. If I’m being honest, I’m a little overwhelmed, stressed out, and just nervous for what’s to come. But lucky for me, I came across The Defining Decade after seeing 2 people I follow on Instagram read it.

Cultivating Boundaries

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In my first year of college, I used to be really bad at this. Cultivating boundaries. Relaxing when I needed to. Doing work when I was supposed to. Having time to eat and take walks and chat with friends and study. We are all really bad at this. Cultivating boundaries. When was the last time you didn’t feel guilty for sitting on the couch? For watching TV without the looming fear of your work week? When was the last time you didn’t dread Sunday? You didn’t frantically check your email to get ahead? You didn’t wish your weekend was longer?

More Questions from the Web

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Hey friends! Given the busyness of the semester (can you believe it’s already the 7th week of the semester!), I didn’t have it in me to write a well thought out post this week. If you have any blog post ideas, feel free to send them my way! My life has been pretty okay. I think I’m still experiencing some ear pain from the first presidential debate, and I’m feeling a little tired today. I spent ~lots~ of time with friends this weekend and though that’s nice, I really need to hunker down for the week.

Growing & Feeling

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3rd year and honestly my whole college experience has not been what I wanted. I thought it would be full of adventure and I will feel more secure and certain in my future and friend groups and that’s just not what happened. In fact, COVID hit and made it even more difficult to connect with people and just to be a student, trying to learn and study and grow.

Sunday Day in the Life

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I decided to do a Sunday day in the life of college because each day is different, and I honestly never know what it’s gonna be like by the time the end of the day comes. I also figure that when I look back on my college experience, it would be nice to have some days in my life for remembrance’s sake. I’ll probably end up doing a few of these this semester.

Dorm Tou of Junior Year

Dorm Tour of Third Year

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Welcome to my 3rd year dorm tour! The dorm tour that should’ve occurred in August but COVID’s been turning this year upside down. It’s ~finally~ here!! Woooo!!! Maybe I’m the only one excited because when I look back on my college years, I won’t have to use my faulty memory to remember what my room looked like and how I decorated it. So ultimately I write for posterity.

How to Improve Time Management as a College Student

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As a college student, I’ve had no choice. I’ve had to figure out this whole time management. In between classes, 3 organizations, this blog, friends, my mental health, and whatever else you can think of, I have to do homework, study, and enjoy my time at UVA. I have a long list of tips to … Continue reading How to Improve Time Management as a College Student →

How to get through a bad day

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Life in quarantine hasn’t been great.

Lately I’ve been hit with some disappointment about my 3rd year and being at home for so long. My mood has been so low that sometimes I don’t really have the desire or energy to do anything.

books & songs in quarantine

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I love reading books and I love listening to music. For the most part, I try to stick to reflection, intentional living, and college posts on the blog. But every once in a while, I’ll get super into something and I want to share it. I’ve decided to start a new series: books & songs.

Why avoiding commitment leads to decision fatigue

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Most of your choices you never even think about. They’re automatic. You reach for your phone when you first wake up. You head to the kitchen and make coffee (or tea - if you have taste lol).

3 Ways Uncertainty Changes Your Mindset

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The uncertainty of this time feels scary and out of control.

*cue thunderstorms in the background*

I’m not trying to be dramatic, but especially since the world’s gone upside down, it’s so hard to make any decisions. I keep checking my email, waiting for something to change. Waiting for news that’s supposed to come.

Life Update in Lockdown – July 2020

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It's been a hot minute since I've written a life update. Given that I'm still in quarantine, you have to wonder what the heck I have to update you on. Well, there are plenty of things that have changed. I finished Zoom University online for the spring semester, getting the best grades I've seen since I started at UVA. I have since had about a month to relax and work on my own side projects. As of now, I have started summer online classes, taking Media Ethics, Podcrash, Writing for Television, and Multimedia Production. I'm only taking two classes at once and I am also doing an internship, learning about dialogue and how to navigate difficult conversations with people who are in conflict with one another.

Longing and Yearning | quote series

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Maybe some people aren’t like this, but I spend a lot of time in the past, some time in the future, and not nearly enough time in the present.

Life these days is shaping up to make me even more like this. Dreaming of classes full of students, off campus trips downtown, and weekends away from Cville. Dreaming backwards. 

What I’ve Learned From Journaling

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I have been journaling for the past 5 years. It’s been a WILD journey. I wasn’t consistent at first, but I grew to love it, made it a New Year’s Resolution to do it everyday, and now it’s a part of my everyday life. There’s definitely a lot that I have learned from journaling and … Continue reading What I’ve Learned From Journaling →

What I’ve Learned From Podcasts

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This year I hopped onto one of the hottest trends. I got an iPhone and swiftly fell into the world of podcasts. I’m honestly terrible at finding new music for myself to listen to - I like what I like, why would I want to change? - and so, when I get tired of listening to my music, I really like to listen to someone else speak on a variety of things - Faith, love, life, etc.

Slow Living Habits

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In quarantine, we have an opportunity to live differently than before. We have the option to do less or to live at a less hurried pace. Even for those with children and work right now, every day doesn’t have to be a sprint. We can choose the pace at which we live in order to add more peace into our lives. 

From Grief to Healing

Posted on by studyinglifewithgigi

Life is a mess. It is filled to the brim with the beautiful, the boring, and the broken. The things that break us.

Our feet hit the floor one morning without a single clue that when our head returns to the pillow our hearts will be fragile once more. Things breaking, that’s normal. And it’s sad that that is our reality, but it is. It hurts. 

Reset Guide

Posted on by studyinglifewithgigi

Every now and again, you need to reset. You need to start over. When you feel like you’ve been living life doing the same things over and over, when you feel stressed out and overwhelmed, when you feel like your brain is a mess, you need a reset.

Deep Questions from the Web

Posted on by studyinglifewithgigi

Hey friends! I’ve recently been scrolling through the world wide web as one does, and I found some really interesting questions I wanted to ponder with you all. Instead of answering standard questions for you to learn a little more about me, I figured you all could get to know what I think and believe and learn more about me.

Why do we like sharing our lives online?

Posted on by studyinglifewithgigi

These days, everyone is on social media, creating content, posting memes, or taking that dog filter selfie. Creating videos, taking pictures, and posting it to the Internet has become the norm, and not the anomaly. 

Favorites: Podcast Edition

Posted on by studyinglifewithgigi

This post is a little different from my usual. I just wanted to let you all in on the things I’ve been enjoying so you can enjoy them too! Welcome to my favorites! I won’t be doing this every month, but I definitely will be updating you guys as I go along, some things I’ve been enjoying and why.

The Truth about UVA

Posted on by studyinglifewithgigi

Welcome, future freshmen, or should I say first years, that have been scouring the internet, looking to find out what exactly they signed up for. Hello, I’m Gigi, and I will be giving you a report on what being a UVA student really means.

Faith isn’t easy.

Posted on by studyinglifewithgigi

Faith isn't easy. Despite the perception of burying your head in the sand and believing what you want, this world won't let you. There are mass shootings, millions of immigrants and refugees, the deterioration of the earth due to climate change, political corruption, and more.

College Bucket List

Posted on by studyinglifewithgigi

As a college sophomore, I feel it is fitting for me to write out the things I want to accomplish in the next 3 years. While this could have been done as a first-year (or in my freshmen year), I think learning all the things I could have done helped me create a bucket list that both honors UVA and myself.

Life Update of August 2019

Posted on by studyinglifewithgigi

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve done one of these. So, here it is - a life update. I have moved back to Charlottesville. I came on Monday and Wednesday, I fully moved into my dorm. The process was a lot, and I will most likely go more in-depth into it in my dorm tour. 

Life is messy, folks

Posted on by studyinglifewithgigi

One moment I woke up to use the bathroom at 5 in the morning. The next moment I stood horrified at the figure before me - my cousin had arrived home from her night shift at work. For me, this is the thing. 

For you, it may be the way your smile doesn’t quite reach your face after a long vacation with family. Or it’s all the picture-perfect photos on your wall. When your room has been messy for a month. It’s going on a walk and finding out that you have dog poop on your shoe as you enter the house. 

Why I Journal + Journaling Prompts

Posted on by studyinglifewithgigi

I started journaling in 2015, kind of on a whim. I’m not even sure why I started. I just remember that my aunt took me to the store and I saw this notebook I liked with “Trust in the Lord” on it. Although I went to church with my parents and attended Sunday school, I don’t think I believed in God. But I picked up that notebook, and my journey started.

Self-doubt and Impostor Syndrome

Posted on by studyinglifewithgigi

Hey! It’s me, the one who has a face mask right now and is still in school clothes, the one who has decided a blog post should be written. Here I am typing to you across the webverse on my little corner of the Internet. I have been struggling with school lately, and it’s some … Continue reading Self-doubt and Impostor Syndrome →

Give Her Grace

Posted on by studyinglifewithgigi

During this semester, I was struggling in my French class. I had just received a low grade on one of my exams, and I was feeling stressed. One of my dormmates consoled me and encouraged me. “It’s just one bad grade. You have so many other chances to improve,” she said. In my journal, I’ve … Continue reading Give Her Grace →