Don’t forget to check in with yourself by Jenny X. '13

When I think about my time at MIT, my first thought is: it still feels like just yesterday (I graduated in 2013). Last year, I had the chance to walk through campus, down the infinite, with my 9-month old baby — and it all still felt like home. 

Okay, all the places I loved to eat at are gone (RIP Shinkansen, Steam Cafe, Cafe 4…are food trucks still a thing? Someone let me know in the comments 😉); my favorite Hayden Library got a modern makeover; there are multiple brand new buildings changing views forever (looking at you, Music Building; also MIT Nano is very cool to peer into). But! I still have so many specific MIT memories I’ll delight in for the rest of my life, probably in part because many of my closest friends are still those I met at MIT (including my husband), and there are just a whole lot of stories to reminisce about and tell over and over again among us. I am so grateful for this. 

When I think about my blogs on here, the post I think about the most is: “Be yourself or create yourself?” The contrast in the title is a catchy way to describe the challenge of growing as a person, but I’ve since learned that it’s a false dichotomy… because 1) it doesn’t have to be one or the other, and 2) it’s not a one-time decision. 

These days, I instead regularly ask, “What do I want?” What do I want to be, to do, to give attention to? It sounds like a simple question but it can get harder to answer over time because first you have to make time to pause and interrogate yourself and when you finally manage to, you have to be really, really honest. Still, I find it an interrogation worth going through, again and again. 

After graduating (as an architecture major plotting to become a writer), I went into journalism for almost 10 years — until 2022, when I was able to take a 6-month sabbatical of sorts. During this period, I was fortunate to enjoy slow mornings, frequent walks around the neighborhood, and yes, a lot of time to ask, what do I want? 

Long story short, on the job front, I decided to pivot into UX writing/content design (words and storytelling for digital products essentially, which sort of makes sense in terms of combining my writing and design backgrounds). I really enjoy the work and want to keep going in this discipline. But job aside, I’ve also distilled what I want to spend time and attention on into these three things, from the actionable to the abstract:

• I want to write, read, draw/paint. 
• I want to create antidotes to noise. 
• I want to live intentionally and help others do the same. 

The specifics of what I do or the path from here on out and the timing of it all… I don’t know! But it feels good to clarify the general direction (at least for this particular phase of my life/version of myself). Currently, I do a lot of thinking/writing/exploring on those bullet points in my Substacks, most regularly on Ode, a newsletter about shopping with intention and building a fulfilling wardrobe. A recent post on a dozen ways to stop wanting to buy clothes all the time resonated with many. 

Once a blogger, always a blogger! The Seoul sweater in the middle, by the way, was something I acquired during an IAP program in South Korea my junior year.

I’ll end here with some of the biggest influences that have pushed me to think about what I really want vs. what I think I want and what the world seems to want from me: 

• Wanting by Luke Burgis
• Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
• Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard (Patagonia founder) 
• Dries (documentary about fashion designer Dries van Noten that I’ve watched 3+ times — it’s the best reminder to focus on your craft, on your own terms)  

Happy 20th anniversary, MIT blogs! Blogging is back, everyone says, but you’ve been here all along 🙏

Thanks for having me.

P.S. Some more photos from visiting MIT in 2022 (for a friend’s wedding! a lovely reason to return), ft. a peek at the halls around the architecture studios, the remodeled Hayden Library, the new Nano facilities, and a sense of what a perfect summer day on the Charles looks like.