Introducing 6 Things Thursday!
Happy New Year!
This newsletter is very late, but Happy New Year, everyone!
I skipped last week entirely because it started shakily. I was slated to fly home to the Bahamas on Monday, 30 December evening after packing up the apartment in Miami since my friend couldn’t be there, and it all got bungled thanks to the moving company.
They showed up hours late; we’re unable to begin the process and so I ended up doing a lot of running up and down trying to coordinate the movers and was unable to finish the cleaning. Though it gave me all of Tuesday to finish and tie up loose ends, I flew in New Year’s Eve night. I was so drained I didn’t even ring in 2020.
Since I’ve been home it’s been an adjustment. Mentally, emotionally and physically. The physical aspect came to a head this week when my allergies, sinuses, and lungs went haywire. I almost had an asthma attack twice and had to use my rescue inhaler more than I’ve had too in the last 2 years.
Needlessly to say writing has been a chore. It feels like I have an emotional hangover from December while still dealing with the neverending state of being unsettled. I’m trying to work through it but it’s not going well. Send help!
This GIF adequately describes my existence within this shared existence.
6 Things Thursday
Adding a new day to the mix to spice things up before I begin rolling out content for the paid newsletter— which should be announced by the end of the month. On Thursdays, I’ll give a nice listicle of 6 things I love, interested in, thinking about, consuming, etc. Today we’re taking a look at the decade that just closed.
6 Things I Loved About the 2010s
1. Living, working and exploring new countries.
During the 2010s I lived in 4 countries and I enjoyed every moment of it. I’ve always been enamored with travel. As a kid and throughout my teens my family took yearly vacations to the US and even short trip stays throughout the year to Florida and we explored some of our outer islands here in the Bahamas.
In 2010, I moved to the Republic of Georgia in Eurasia to work as a volunteer English as a second language teacher with the Teach and Learn with Georgia program. It was a very unique experience that taught me a lot about the world, cultural norms, blackness and how its viewed in places where it doesn’t exist and myself.
2011 I lived in England for 6 months, 1 month in London and then the remainder of the time in Chelmsford, Essex. Like Georgia, England taught me a lot about what happens when they see us and the perception Europeans have of black people depending on where they are from. I did not enjoy my time in England and would never live there again because racism isn’t something I wish to experience on a day to day basis ever again.
Summer 2011 I began working at an English immersion summer camp for french teens. 2012-2016 I worked with the same company in the summer as Assistant Director/Head Language Counselor. It was a fun escape from teaching high school throughout the year—a working holiday that afforded me to see areas around France I wouldn’t normally.
August 2015- June 2018 I moved to France to study French Language & Civilisation followed by Art History and Archaeology. I left June of 2018 to get a grip on my physical and mental health.
August 2018- December 2019 I lived in Miami, Florida. I’d never spent longer than a month in the United States before that. The experience was pleasant. I avoided a lot of social situations because I was there to heal what was ailing me.
2. Story Telling was lit! From YA Fiction to Movie Adaptations to Tv Shows
In the 2010s we got some premium storytelling. I’m an avid consumer of stories in all their mediums and the decade did not disappoint. I began reading YA fiction in 2007 when a student of mine begged me to read Twilight so they could discuss it with me. I shameless admit that I loved Twilight. That year I also read the Harry Potter novels starting with book 6 for the first time just before Deathly Hallows was released. Growing up Christian meant that I wasn’t allowed to read them.
After 2010, I consumed YA fiction faster than anything else I loved reading. There was always a quick satisfying read to get into or a fantasy series to consume. My favorites of the decade were:
The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare
The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare
The Dark Artifices by Cassandra Clare
The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare (do you see a pattern?)
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sara J Maas
A Throne of Glass Series by Sara J Maas
All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness
Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo
Daughter of Smoke & Bone Trilogy by Laini Taylor
The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
So many books I could list but those stood out during the decade. I also read great historical fiction by Ken Follet, Elizabeth Kostova, and contemporary-dystopian fiction by authors like Eden Lepucki.
TV shows were also lit during this error and I only consumed shows that I couldn’t miss. Some were popular teen shows that had themes I loved, while others were hard-hitting adult shows. These are in order of how much I adored them.
Game of Thrones
Bates’ Motel
American Horror Story
The Vampire Diaries
Pretty Little Liars
The Originals
My favorite movies of the decade are harder to quantify but I’ll give the top 6:
Get Out
Inception
Interstellar
Deadpool
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens
3. Self-Awareness, Discovery, and Acceptance
The 2010s decade I grew up a lot. I started it at 25, and during this time I inadvertently launched myself on a journey into self through the unconscious decisions I made. Travel was a catalyst and ever since then, I’ve been uprooting childhood conditioning, brainwashing and subverting societal expectations.
During this time I left Religious Conditioning behind and created my brand of spirituality which involves witchy woo-woo. I discovered and accepted marriage isn’t something I want. I embraced being child-free and unearthed the most important reason for it.
I accepted my otherness and stop asking why am I like this (though I only ask the question ironically now), and I began working through my past traumas. I decided to truly address my mental health and began telling the truth about myself and to myself.
4. Accountability Culture & Wokeness
In this decade we began calling society and people out for racism, homophobia, transphobia, social inequality and injustice, misogyny, rape culture, patriarchal systems that suppress and marginalized anyone without a penis, police brutality, corrupt judicial systems, etc.
We demanded to be heard, we held perpetrators of sexual violence against women accountable and began unspooling centuries of oppression and gender inequality. It’s been a great time to fight to be treated as humans on equal footing by virtue of mere existence.
Black people in the African Diaspora underwent an awakening, began searching for their origins pre-transatlantic slave trade, started shedding the shackles of European beauty standards and began living unapologetically. As a community, we still have a long way to go to heal the spiritual, identity, and cultural erasure but we’ve come a long way in freeing our minds from the ramifications of European imperialism.
5. Social Media
The internet got hot while I was in high school in the 90s. As an older millennial, I got to experience the changes in social interactions on the internet went through. From IMs to chat rooms, to MySpace and then to the start of Facebook in 2005 (that’s when my university got it anyway but I didn’t join to avoid the drama).
I love Social Media. Do I see and acknowledge the negative impact it’s had on face to face interactions and overall mental health, yes. However, I enjoy the benefits of being connected to having access to friends all over the world, sharing information and consuming relatable content.
Will I ever be a social media maven? Probably not. I’m not vain enough about my physical aesthetic to want to take that many photos of myself and post them witty captions. No thank you. But I enjoy it, it feeds my introversion and allows me a safe sphere to be endlessly social while remaining a hermit.
6. Music’s Evolution and the Artists I Love
Music did not hold up well in the 2010s. The 90s we had bangers in every genre and eclectic listening was a given for many. When the 2010s rolled around things began to get a little wonky. Even the way artists began to drop their hits. Rap nearly died with the start of mumble rap by way of trap music.
Streaming killed radio, Youtube and Vevo killed MTV and VH1. But all was not lost. Some artists still brought a host of good music out in the 2010s. I’m listing my favorite albums and then songs of the decade. In no particular order.
Favorite Songs
Somebody That I used to Know —Gotye
Formation —Beyonce
We Are Young —FUN feat. Janelle Monet
Chandelier —Sia
We Can’t Stop —Miley Cyrus
Work —Rihanna
Rolling in the Deep —Adele
Born to Die — Lana Del Rey
Born This Way — Lady Gaga
Truth Hurts — Lizzo
Love on the Brain —Rihanna
Favorite Albums
Anti —Rihanna
Lemonade —Beyonce
A Seat at the Table — Solange
CTRL —Sza
Damn — Kendrick Lamar
1000 Forms of Fear —Sia
Ceremonials — Florence & The Machine
Born to Die — Lana Del Rey
Dirty Computer —Janelle Monae
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy— Kanye West
That’s all for today and it was plenty. See you next week for Mindful Monday!
Candidly,
Nicole