New Year, New Me

Photo Courtesy of Pinterest

*editor’s note* (it’s me, I’m the editor) Hi friends, long time no chat! I have been thinking about coming back to this space for a long time. Creating this website gave me so much joy, but at times it felt like a rat’s race to keep up with new content. As you’ll read below, I am feeling especially revitalized and have a new sense of motivation for all things creativity! I can’t wait to be writing more in the upcoming year and until then, the only quote that can describe coming back to this space is, “where the hell you been loca?”.

December 4th; December 3rd; December 3rd. When I look on this website and see that those are the dates of my last blog posts that doesn’t sound too bad, right? WRONG! Those dates are from 2024!

My, my, my how I have changed since then. In 2025, I took some time to re-evaluate my life and how I had been living in 2024. All of the things I changed last year helped to set me up for the new me that is going to emerge in 2026. 

I know … I’ve seen it on every post on social media and I hate how it sounds as much as you do. Primarily, I don’t like the phrase “new me” because I don’t want to become a “new” person. I love being Marissa! I love the things I have accomplished and the struggles I have conquered. However, I don’t think there is any other way to describe this version of myself besides “new”. 

Obviously, I could dig into the dictionary and use words like “redefined”, “reimagined”, or “current”; but, newness is going to be a big theme this year. 

Before I go into what this newness will be, I think I need to give you some context. Back in November of 2024, I got fired from my marketing agency job that I had worked for since I had graduated college. It was my first job out of undergrad and it helped me become the big girl I am today. Trust me, being fired is scary, but it is not the end of the world! I was scared, I was uncertain, I was anxious, but I had to remind myself, “I can’t be that broken up about losing a job I didn’t even like,”. I was at a bit of a cross-roads in life at that point. I wanted to get another job ASAP because the fear of instability was creeping upon me more and more every day. However, despite those fears, I knew my next job had to serve me in a way my other job never did. The marketing agency was a blessing – it gave me an introduction to the professional world, it gave me a salary that I could support myself with, and it introduced me to all new kinds of people – but blessings can also be double-edged swords. This job also made me stressed–stressed like someone’s life was on the line even though it was marketing–and it didn’t align me with the things that make me feel the happiest and most like the Marissa that I want to be. By giving myself the time to not jump into the next job, I gave myself the space to re-evaluate what my life had become and if I wanted to continue onto that same path. And the truth was … I didn’t. So, I decided to change my mind about marketing. 

Now, I don't want you to think this change came instantly. In reality, it came about 2 months after being fired. Let me be the first to say, when you stop working all you really do is sit on the couch for a couple weeks. This was a harsh reality I learned, and one of the first harsh realities I learned in 2025. When I was working I would always say “gosh if I didn’t have to do this I would run a marathon or solve world hunger”, but in reality I became a couch potato. But, like with everything I learned from this major change, that’s okay! After being fired I needed the time to let my nervous system reset and to let myself be comfortable with the thought that I didn’t have someone checking my Slack status.  I haven’t even gotten to the good part about how I changed it all around!

So, after about 2 months of doing nothing, I decided on a whim to apply to grad school. You know, the thing people do to avoid working? But, I knew if I was going to go back to school it would be intentional and it would be career-changing. I just said I’m not doing marketing again so why would I get a masters in it?? Nope, instead what I decided was to go back to school to get my teaching credentials. Big switch-up, huge (cue Julia Roberts). 

If you’re lost on our timeline, this application came around January/February of 2025. 

Growing up, I knew I wanted to be an elementary school teacher. I loved volunteering in the community and when I was in a room full of other people and learning and sharing new ideas I always felt comfortable. No, I was never the teacher’s pet, but sometimes being a good student isn’t just about answering all the questions, it’s also about listening to what others have to say and taking new knowledge from every individual around you. I knew I wanted to dive back into this pathway because it gave me all the things that marketing lacked. In marketing, I was on an island trying to forge my own path, I couldn’t always see my impact (especially not on the community or the world around me), and I worked from home in solitude (even going into the office everyone was too busy to chat - I guess they had work to do or something). In teaching, I have found connections and community and I am reminded of how important I am to the world around me (and remember, we are all important to the world around us!). 

So, when I heard I got into the teaching program at USC, I knew I was going to take the opportunity handed to me and run with it! And run with it I did.

By June I was starting classes on campus at USC and by August I was in the classroom student-teaching. 

However, as much as I have loved teaching and finding a career path that serves me, in 2025 I also learned that my job does not define me. Learning how quickly a job can be taken from you, I wanted to make sure I always felt secure in myself and knew myself enough to be independent of these external factors. In 2025, I started a YouTube channel and re-connected with different forms of crafting. I especially took to sewing and made myself a variety of bags and pouches. With crafting, I even solved my mentality around creating just to create. In the past, I always saw crafts and hobbies as something that should eventually become monetized, but I learned that sometimes you just need to put paint on a canvas to feel better about life. And let me just say, the paint is most likely going to look like SH**, but it was still fun to create. 

2025 went by fast, and I’m sure during this time next year I will be saying the same thing about 2026. 

As I said before, “new” is going to be the word of 2026 because of all the new things coming my way. New career. New creations. New travels. New knowledge. New sense of self. New degree!

In this new year, I have the foundation for a healthy job that I enjoy, hobbies and crafts that allow me to be creative, and the opportunity to continue becoming my most authentic self. In 2026, I am going to create more, become more of myself, and seek out the experiences that fill my cup the most. One way I am going to do this is by coming back to this space and posting more on all my socials to continue feeding the creative monster that lives within me. As always, the goal is to do the things that mindlessly feel like me. Because after all this is Mindlessly Marissa.