if harry potter is your thing, then you've probably heard of the new ilvermorny sorting quiz on Pottermore. if you don't keep up with the magical times, then you might be wondering what's going on?

A soulmate is...

• out there somewhere

• an illusion

• a psychic twin 

• strong where i'm weak, weak where i'm strong

i guess this question primarily struck me because of where i'm at in my life. i'm 24, turning 25 in a couple months. my friends and i have graduated college and find ourselves in that never-ending cycle of being an adult and working.

when people ask me how my university experience was i find myself describing it as a wonderful bubble; a fictional world presiding on the cusp of reality.

when you're in college, the world it exists in and the people who live inside of it become your reality.

school is composed of begrudgingly waking up in the morning trying to decide if you want to make it to your 8AM class or if you can merely survive off of other's notes and your own studying, late-night hours at the library with various cups of coffee, parties and social gatherings on the weekends (or even weekdays) interacting with a multitude of people in hopes of finding your social niche, deadlines that creep up on you for neglecting to keep an orderly schedule throughout the semester, winter and summer breaks that mean finally reuniting with your family who you haven't seen for months and finding an odd sense of nostalgia when you return home, and eating endless amounts of horrible food with little to no exercise.

when you graduate this precious bubble bursts. it just goes " p o p " and you're sucked into reality- that foregone world you left behind for a couple years while you were off making memories and rejoicing in your youthfulness.

around this time two years ago, when i was about 23, things began to shift a bit. sure, i was still in that bubble of college, but there was a certain unease that began to filtrate its way inside my enclosure.

it was a sort of signal, alerting me to the fact that we were going to leave this place in about a year's time. it was also about everyone reflecting on their lives and what they were studying, where they were going from here.

post-graduation became a major theme of our conversations when we would meet up with one another after class or on the weekends and ask "where were we heading? what's to come?"

now, a year after having graduated and settled down a bit, the conversation has shifted once again to "will we find ourselves alone or with that significant other anytime soon?" 

some of us might not want to admit to it, but on some level, finding a person who makes you feel right and good, makes you laugh, who you can confide in and drag to all your own dorky things is a mate who your soul finds solace in (at least for some period of time).

for those of us who are single and just doing our own thing, this other unknown person starts to appear in our minds more. now our bubble is gone and it's hard to meet other people. my generation says the way to go are dating apps. that whole bumping into a stranger thing or meeting people while you're out is a farce.



when i took the ilvermorny quiz and got to the soulmate question, i sighed and said, "hmm..." while i don't take the idea of a soulmate so seriously as to there's one and only one destined for you, i think finding that compatibility is pretty one of a kind, and it's something that the majority of my generation is searching for.

this is why the guys in fictional stories are so eternal. they steal hearts and show up at the right time and place (well, usually). what's your take on soulmates and who is your current fictional heartthrob?

xo Alex

i'm a little late on this one, but it's still Monday and that's all that matters.

i've been thinking lately about who we surround ourselves with. positive energy radiates from not only within, but from those around you. over the years i've narrowed down my close group of friends, sticking with those that have not only seen me at my best, but at my worst.

i can be very pessimistic and cynical at times, overdramatic as well, but that's when my friends come in and snap me out of it. they uplift me and try to see where i'm coming from. i've realized that you shouldn't want people who instantly agree with you. you should have friends who question your train of thought and motives. they should make you see both sides of the situation- not just yours.

as we become older, everyone seems to be on this daily routine of work, come home, eat, sleep, repeat. the weekend is the time to sleep in, exercise, run errands, see family, and occasionally hang out with friends.

gradually though, that last point has become more prominent in my life. i think it's so important to hang out with friends, especially while we're young. we should be making travel plans and scheduling our next trips. we should check out that new coffee shop we heard about or grab some dinner after work.

make sure you have those people around you who are open to new things, who push you, and themselves, to not only experience what's directly in front of them but what's around them. like that famous saying goes, "if not now, then when?"

when you have friends like this, those that inspire and radiate positivity, you tend to feed off of that as well; in turn, you garner some of this same energy; and who doesn't want more happiness in their life?

with the new year right around the corner, i want to fully take advantage of these opportunities with my close group of friends. they are not the best at coordinating but i might just have to give them a little push. it's always nice to catch up in person, not just through text messages or group chats.

i want to go back in time when people still called each other instead of text. i want written letters and mailed postcards.

if you change your lifestyle to solely focus on those who love and cherish you, friends who are more worried about living their lives than seeing others through social media, i think we can construct our own perfectly, un-perfect utopia.

there's just something about Mondays, isn't there? a supposed fresh new start that signals the start of the week. the day that screams, "READY OR NOT HERE I COME." a day that many dread and few embrace.

i think 'monday thoughts' will be a new weekly post on this blog; a way to write out all my weekend happenings, because this is the time where you find yourself finally able to go out late, sleep in if you want and just find a moment for yourself. life continuously churns and sometimes the weekends can feel as though time lazily stops for a few minutes or aggressively powers through quick, hazy afternoons.

today i'm stuck contemplating the feeling of growing up. it's a funny thing because at 18 you're considered an adult, or at least here in the United States. this is usually around the time that you find yourself graduating from high school and going away to college.

you move from a structured, educational system, teachers still coddling students, offering extra credit assignments and distinctly telling you what to do to a more liberal environment; one where you're not explicitly told what to do, but where you're the one expected to make your own choices and decisions.

looking back while i was at university i lived in a bubble; a warped version of reality where schoolwork entirely consumed you, but wasn't necessarily a true representation of the outside world. you still didn't get the opportunity to firmly stand your ground in the "real world" and know what was coming upon graduating.

it's not until you do your 4 years, obtain your degree, apply for jobs, and start working that you realize it's all been a bit of pretend. i graduated in May and it's been about 8 months so far of working full-time and moving back home.

i feel as though it's taken this long for me to realize how the "real world" truly functions. adulting is hard. when you're young all you want to do is grow up and become an adult, a magical age where you automatically reach maturity and are able to properly sustain yourself.

but life isn't that easy. you have to work, work extremely hard, to reach your goals- even the small ones. i'm still young, i'm only 23, going on 24 pretty soon, and sometimes i look around and think is this it? it would be easy to think that way.

yet, there is still so much to do and experience. as time continues to pass, the more i find myself becoming my own person, leaving major life events behind, like graduating high school or college, and developing more of my own values and outlook on life.

i don't want to confine myself to certain time regulations, i.e. "by age 30 i need to have this or be here in my life." but i do want to come into a more defined version of myself, someone sure in what she wants and want she likes. someone who can support herself and help her family. a young woman with a solid group of friends and a long list of things she has yet to do.