I Move in 1 Week

Hello,

    Long time no… write? Please forgive me, my sense of humor is the exact same as it was in December when I wrote the first update, and I do believe if it has changed it is only for the worse for the average reader who does not know me well.

     But fun fact. I am moving to Thailand on May 6th. Yes, in a week. Surprise!

     I got accepted into Payap’s MA in Linguistics program on the condition that I pass the summer courses. If I pass the summer courses I will also receive a Certificate in Foundational Linguistics. Very exciting things.

     I also believe that since I last updated this that I am now the Assistant Manager at Scooter’s Coffee alongside my boyfriend who is the ASM at our other store. I was not prepared to be ASM, and I did not quite want another leadership role, but God has interesting plans for all of us, doesn’t He? (When I finally stopped looking for a relationship because I didn’t want to be long distance, God dropped the literal sun into my lap three months before my leaving date.)

     I would also like to say that the many things that I was told to be working on have, on my part, been unintentionally worked on because God knows me well enough to know that I need outside motivation? Support? Care? Speaking of care, I have been so independent and self-reliant for so long that I did not realize that I couldn’t accept care until my boyfriend came into the picture and forced me to be cared for. I also didn’t realize that I was ‘Miss Independent’. Being receptive to care was/is something recommended for me to work on especially in preparation for me to be halfway across the world.

     Also, when I joined PBT I was told to work on being more ‘assertive’ and less ‘people pleasing’. I can confirm that foam sword fighting with my boyfriend has forced me to be more assertive and aggressive because I will not win a fight if I am not assertive. Also, my PBT coaches asked me if my boyfriend thought I was assertive (this happened about a month ago), and ever since then he and I have been observing my behaviors and we notice that I am assertive. All this is in a positive light of assertiveness.

     Another thing that being in a relationship has helped me out with, setting boundaries. I had a lot of issues with setting boundaries before meeting my boyfriend because I had never had a positive outcome when it came to mentioning things that made me uncomfortable or upset me. Anytime I had previously gotten the courage to stand up for myself, I was accused of being so much worse or told that the other person would never change for anyone or was given an example of my own bad behavior with the expectation that I was supposed to apologize and the other person not or that it justified the other person’s own bad behaviors. I am not perfect. I make a million and one mistakes every day, but if you have an issue with me, you should just tell me because I can’t get better or grow as a person unless I am aware.

     I know that being corrected is hard and uncomfortable and that many people do not have practice for accepting it graciously (I am also said people, let me be abundantly clear), but correcting me should not come as a defense mechanism for when bad behavior is brought up.

     I am wildly off topic now, but the point is that my boyfriend is my safe space and that includes actively encouraging me to set boundaries and say ‘no’ and have opinions about things. All things of which I needed to be working on for a while now, and God has just given me the most excellent person to figure it out with.

     I will continue to make updates as I reach Thailand and as I live overseas. I will have a lot more motivation to write and update when it’s the main source of communication most people will have with me. Though please feel free to email me, contact me through the website, WhatsApp me, or find me on social media.

     I love you all dearly even if we’re strangers.
     Lydia
     4/28/26