starting anew
another moving to austin update [2]
Hi friends,
Welcome back to Life With MD, where I explore quarter life crises and most random thoughts about relationships, work and creativity. This week around, I’m writing from my new makeshift workspace/tiny bedroom in a giant (but is not untypical Texan) house.
I started work this past Monday, and officially began a life as a professional full time salary earner. It’s somewhat unreal yet bland going through the motion of professional life, you always see the adults doing the 9-5 but you never really envision yourself being in one. All that aside, I am incredibly x2 grateful for my job and honestly, just exhilarated not being a broke college student and being surrounded by frat boys anymore (yuck! i’m sorry)
Life hits:
Valentine’s Day is coming soon… and in true Minh Dang fashion, I will only ever recommend non-romantic content. JK, treat yourself to a soothing and grounded 30 minutes yoga practice, whether by yourself or with your partner.
Settling in Austin: My room currently looks like a dumpster with card boxes strewn everywhere (see photo above) and practically no furniture aside from a desk and table. I currently have 1.5 friends in the city and would love to make more.
Asking for a favor: If you or a family member or a friend of friend has a friend in Austin that wants to make friends, please connect us together!! I’d love to meet new faces :)
Book recommendations (W1):
(since a lot of you have asked for it)
Know My Name - Chanel Miller
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid
Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find- and Keep - Love- Amir Levine
Celebrations:
My sister got into the final round of her United World College application process, it’s the second time around and we are rooting all the way for her this time!
My friend Shayne just won a case competition with McKinsey in all Asia region :) Shayne is a dear friend and a super talented person all around. Go Shayne!!
Essay of the week:
Digital Nomad 2.0
*Written on my last day at home, before leaving for Austin
We are made for hard things
I was born in Hanoi, Viet Nam. In 2017, I left home for college in Minnesota.
As my life straddled between Minneapolis, Hanoi and everywhere in between, I found the definition of 'place of residence' transient. I never thought about living in Minneapolis post-graduation. My 'home home' is Hanoi but I barely spend over a month there every year, if that.
Each time I flew back and forth, sometimes in as short as four months, many things changed. I flew to the U.S. last August 2021. The night before my departure, I stood on our family's apartment rooftop peering down into the intersection below, quiet and still at midnight, illuminated by the streets' yellow lights. Each time I stand there at night, usually by myself, I think about the future.
That summer, I landed my first internship with a Fortune 200 company. My first 'official' win of a four long and serpentine years in business school. I didn't know what the future holds. The company I interned at like me enough to already mentioning a return offer, for which (as ungrateful as this sounds), I was tepid towards.
I didn't want to continue staying in Minnesota. I wanted to move to somewhere warm, and work somewhere cutting edge things were happening "exciting. I was expected to graduate soon, everything else was a black hole.
Today is February 1st, 2022. I'm back with my family in Hanoi and find myself admiring the intersection below our apartment building again. In that five months, nothing and everything changed.
Nothing changed because I am back home again, standing at the exact same spot, doing the exact same thing. I am still me, the fickle, dreamy, indecisive.
Everything changed because I graduated university, said farewell to Minneapolis and realized my life was about to pivot to a completely different directions. I am moving to Austin, Texas.
There it goes again, my definition of 'place of residence' dislodged, getting looser by each unabashed shake by life.
"My girl is moving houses again." - my dad said as I fervently squeezed, pushed and wiggled my yoga mat into my big suitcase.
Yes, I am. "Moving houses", from the fourth floor university dormitory, to an off-campus high rise in Minneapolis, a townhouse in Brisbane, Australia, two apartments I found on various Facebook groups in Ho Chi Minh City, and now a house in suburban Austin.
I am nowhere and I am everywhere.
As often as I move around the world, the nervous feeling of coming to a new city never really goes a way. As a woman, it might be a helpful instinct that prevents me from getting into trouble. I am anxious, anticipatory, excited, all emotions bundled into a ball of emotions complexity. As demonstrated in the book I adore The Absolute True Diary of a Part - Time Indian “Nervous means you want to play. Scared means you don't want to play.”
I am, indeed, very nervous about this move.
It can be tempting to attach a place as your designated home, a place of permanence and long time residence, where you will be building roots. But it's hard for me to call anyplace 'home' anymore, Hanoi doesn't feel 100% like home, but no place is either.
I am nowhere and I am everywhere. Thanks to the nomadic nature of my life, friends can be found all over - whether in America, Thailand or the U.K. And each time, I settle into a new place, I find my mind expanding, incorporating new thoughts and values into the brain, soul enriched with the new friends I make along the way. Soon enough, the walk home will feel familiar.
Thanks a ton for subscribing to my newsletter.
You are an absolutely rock star and incredible human being.
Before leaving, please consider:
Letting me know your win of the day/week/month in the comments or by replying to this email.
Letting me know a book or multiple books you are reading.
Leaving a feedback on this week’s newsletter.
Talk soon,
m.d.d
Hi there, thanks for your compliment. I was a runner up in the last case so I expected a lot when becoming the finalist of the competition. And, I made it this time. I did win the first prize. But now it feels like nothing. Of course, people might think that I can say whatever I want because I am the winner. However, the fact is that it is just a prize in the end. Nothing more. I guess what I valued most after all of these was the experience that I fortunately had. I had Trang and you who were always really supportive, especially when I had to think about the slide every single day. I had great teammates and mentors who did stick with me to figure out the best way to deliver our idea. And, I also had the chance to experience both failure and success within just a few months, from no one to someone. Such things help me realize that the journey itself is the destination. Enjoy it, and not overthinking. We will feel the beauty of every moment in our life.
Have a good day!!