Life Markers - by Jane Zhang - Thoughts by Jane

For the last three years, I’ve found myself on the same couch in Miami on December 31st. The same exact leather square. The same knees, pulled into the same sitting position. And a similar yet different reunion with my overwhelming feelings of the year’s end. I see this moment as a life marker. A point in time where I can relive a moment from the year before, but in a different self. This past month, I stepped onto a bus headed toward summer camp grounds for my fifth annual Contrary retreat—a gathering of all the people that were Contrary venture scouts during college. Imagine wooden cabins, sparkling fires, laying amongst forrest trees, and looking up at the night sky, with my now half-decade long friends. This time, I sat on the right side of the bus, in a window seat. Just like I did three years ago. I was just finishing my internship at Google, and I remember watching cows, maybe they were goats, pass by. I remember making a personal agreement with myself to make the most of the we

For the last three years, I’ve found myself on the same couch in Miami on December 31st. The same exact leather square. The same knees, pulled into the same sitting position. And a similar yet different reunion with my overwhelming feelings of the year’s end. I see this moment as a life marker. A point in time where I can relive a moment from the year before, but in a different self. This past month, I stepped onto a bus headed toward summer camp grounds for my fifth annual Contrary retreat—a gathering of all the people that were Contrary venture scouts during college. Imagine wooden cabins, s