Confessions of a happy person

Thank you to my family for being the safe home I can come back to Thank you to my friends for enjoying this life with me Thank you to my mentors for seeing potential and believing in me Thank you to my mentees for letting me help them by giving back Thank you to my friends and their significant others for showing me that their kind of love does exist Thank you for reading my blog!

When I need a pick me up: Don't Be So Hard On Yourself - Jess Glynne Hold My Hand - Jess Glynne Stand By You - Rachel Platten Fight Song - Rachel Platten Love Myself - Hailee Steinfeld  Something Better - Audien, ft. Lady Antebellum  You - Lost Kings, ft. Katelyn Tarver Close Your Eyes - Meghan Trainor  Shake It Off - Taylor Swift Just Haven't Met You Yet - Michael Buble When I just want to be sad: Hello - Adele She Used To Be Mine - Sara Barreilles New York City - The Chainsmokers The Giving Tree - Plain White T's Already Gone - Kelly Clarkson Wildest Dreams - Taylor Swift I Almost Do - Taylor Swift Like I'm Gonna Lose You - Meghan Trainor, ft. John Legend I Was Me - Imagine Dragons Someday We'll Know - Mandy Moore, ft. Jonathan Foreman

The Fight Within Be understanding of others But have high standards for yourself Have emotional intelligence But be above self-pity Forgive those who mistreat you But have self respect Recognize other people's talents But reach for your own potential Why waste time fighting with others When we're already battling with our inner demons And with all fights Some we win and some we lose But they don't know about the ones you win And you only see the ones they lose

A few days ago I realized that I forgot the most important part of dealing with getting hurt . It's something that I didn't realize I was struggling with all summer. I had come to terms with the fact that: Yes, there are worse things than being single for the rest of my life (p.s. a lot of people seem horrified that I would think that would happen but trust me, it's one of the most freeing/best ideas I've ever had my entire life and requires it's own blog entry)  Yes, he probably didn't want to hurt me. Yes, life happens the way it's supposed to .  But I left out what I think hurts the most. Yes, I am lovable. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I didn't know that I have people who love and care about me because I do know that. However, I still say I was struggling because I was constantly justifying to myself that I was even like-able...  but you know, I just preferred being single (to be honest though, I do love how uncomplicated my

Today's post is addressing something that has been a little unsettling for me ever since I started this blog and I don't think I knew exactly how to confront it until now. I come from a well-off family that has loved and supported me my whole life, I'm educated and working on my doctorate at a prestigious school, I make friends easily, and I'm also young, healthy, relatively thin and attractive. So who the hell am I to be saying that life is so hard? I'm talking about privilege.  Yes, I do know that life could be a lot worse. But I think it's important to appreciate our lives for what it is, not for what it isn't. And none of it changes the fact that I still have feelings and things that can hurt me. We all think we can solve each other's problems ("if the poor weren't so lazy" or "you're choosing your unhappiness") but a lot of the times, I don't think it's the problem that's the problem. What I mean

Day 1 of starting my (fill-in-the-blank)  [fellowship application] Step 1: Open and look over application Step 2: Get overwhelmed Step 3: Close application and go do something else Step 4: Repeat steps 1-3 at least three more times

We always think we know better Me included (why else would I think my thoughts are worth blogging?)  We believe we bring perspective, our experiences are more relevant, and we're open minded. We see everyone's egos except our own (thinking you have less of an ego or that you're more aware of your own ego is still ego...) And then we're always terrible at taking our own advice.  If you disagree... my ego says that's your ego talking. 

So most of us don’t even really follow football but my friends decided to start up a fantasy football game (? I'm not even sure what they're called) anyway. It’s actually pretty fun even though I don’t know what all the points mean. What we look forward to the most however, is the predictions that one of my friends makes each week and they’re just too funny not to share, even if you don't know football. This week's predictions include Taylor Swift, crazy ex-girlfriends, and a mini-rap. Plus there's a lot of sh*t-talking 'cuz that's just how it goes. Welcome to The Week 5 Smack Board David Seto (Oct 8 6:44 PM): WEEK 4 RECAP: 3-5. OVERALL: 4-12. WOW. BAD, IT’S LIKE THE 2000 RAIDERS TEAMS LOL. BUT JUST LIKE THE RAIDERS, IMPROVING. MAYBE IT’S KARMA FOR TRASH TALKING EVERYONE. FINE, I DESERVE IT. SO THIS WEEK I’M GOING TO GIVE A POSITIVE SPIN TO EACH PREDICTION David Seto (Oct 8 6:44 PM): LAST WEEK’S STUD AKA “MATT DAMON ON MARS”: BAJA HA’S. I’M SPEECH

I wish I could fix everything by telling you how sorry I am That it's selfish of me to decide what's best for you Especially after everything I put you through But I know my words don't mean sh*t . And it kills me that I couldn't do just ONE THING AND STAY When I know you would've done anything for me.

Last month, I wrote an entry comparing mental illness to cancer ( http://honyinchiu.blogspot.com/2015/09/what-do-cancer-and-mental-illness-have.html ) which led me to start wondering if our immune systems (which helps our body fight against disease and the area in which my graduate study is in) might be involved in mental illness.  Digging further, I then spent a crazy two days reading scientific research reviews and papers (even in prominent journals like Nature and Cell) and uncovered this whole field of study that has been around for 20 years known as psychoneuroimmunology which studies the interactions between the immune system and the nervous system (our brain, spinal cord, nerves and sensory organs) and how these interactions affect both our mental and physical health.  I was surprised to find that it's actually been pretty well established for about 20 years that depression is an inflammatory disease. ( http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S02785846100

I just finished reading We Learn Nothing which is a collection of essays and cartoons by Tim Kreider . I became interested in the book after hearing him interview on RadioLab on NPR . During the interview he shared a story about a friend that basically lead a secret life kept hidden from their group of friends the entire time they knew him (the story is in also in this collection). Tim Kreider is a satirical cartoonist and his essays are both really funny yet profound. As I was reading though, I realized that the book was basically about human psychology. There was his uncle who suffered from bi-polar disorder, another friend who went through a sex change, and then of course there was the friend with the secret life who was battling severe depression. Even though these characters are dealing with issues that most of us have never experienced, he's somehow able to make it relatable. Tim himself is a bit of a contradiction. His writing is funny, yet serious, and he's cynical