Lemons and Lemonade

Admittedly, I have a tendency to speak in cliches, but the only way I felt I could start this blog post is "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." This generic, overused phrase is pretty much the nicest way to explain my long absence from blogging. Short and sweet, 2015 has not been my year. There have been a heck of a lot of downs, but I've been able to keep my head up...most of the time. So now that I've been accumulating lemons for several months, I think it's time that I start making lemonade.

Source: BarnImages

One of the things that discourages me from blogging most frequently is how saturated the market is. How am I supposed to stand out amid millions of other voices with similar stories to mine? This desire for originality and fear of being another carbon copy has prevented me from typing out words to share with this audience. But now I realized that notoriety and expansive readership isn't the point. My blog is a space for me to share my passion projects and what makes life glow a little more. The content that I have from the past still holds true to that. People like Vito and Samantha still inspire me and I hope to share more stories of others who inspire me.

Moving forward, I intend to be less concerned with having a polished, final product and focus more on creating real content that expresses who I am as a writer and a person. I feel like my life has been a little murky for the past few months without a clear purpose, but now that I'm confident in what I want and the future I see for myself, I can't wait to share the journey with you.

If you've been having a lemon-filled life as of late, feel free to share your story in the comments or shoot me an email/tweet. It's always nice to know that you're not alone.

Senioritis Hacks

During 99% of my academic career, I've been extremely studious, but lately the academic setting has had little appeal for me. I'm ready to join the work world and I'm desperate to get a head start. A lot of my free time is spent looking at online job postings and stalking out people on LinkedIn whose careers I admire. With this one-foot-out-the-door mentality, I've struggled trying to focus on my schoolwork.

Photo Credit: Liz Sauerbrunn's "College Graduation

Fortunately, I packed a lot of work into my first three years of college and now have a fairly relaxed senior year. My culminating project for my major was completed during my junior year so now I'm merely racking up the credits I need to graduate. The only downside to this is that I don't really feel as compelled to give my all to the assignments because I don't perceive them as having as much value as my past classes.

In order to make the best out of this final semester, I've decided to come up with some "hacks" to make getting through the end of my college career a little simpler and hopefully more fun. But coming up with these hacks means nothing if I don't hold myself accountable so at the end of the week I'll be posting updates on how successful I've been at overcoming my senioritis. Here are the hacks I'll be using this week:

1. Find your passion project: I think what is holding me back the most with my school work is that I don't really feel passionate about the work I'm doing. Constantly reading things that I don't care about or resonate with gets me down, and I don't feel obliged to struggle on. However, if I take time out of my busy schedule to do something that sparks ideas and promotes creativity, I find it a lot easier to get back into the boring doldrums of regular work because my mind has be stimulated again. 
2. Start a countdown: As a visual learner, I've found that the best way to remind myself that graduation is close is to put up a calendar, mark the day of graduation, and cross out the days that have passed. This way I can actually see myself getting closer to graduation and not get stuck on how much work is left to do. I can see that in the scheme of my lifetime, I'm so close to starting the next chapter that I feel the immediate weight of readings, papers, and tests lifted off my shoulders. I recommend using a printable calendar, posting it on a bulletin board, and marking each day off with a neon pink sharpie
3. Network: Whenever I find myself feeling bored by academia, I look for opportunities to network. Talking to people who have finished their degree and are living their dreams is an ideal way to gain inspiration and potential contacts. I would recommend going to any networking events that your alumni relations office holds because you get to see people who survived graduated from your school and have most likely been prosperous. Bonus: These events usually have free food, which is perfect considering your student loans will start looming soon enough. 

On Sunday, I'll update you with how I'm using my hacks and hopefully show some progress on defeating my senioritis. If you have any tips of your own, please share them in the comments and maybe I'll implement them in my strategy!

Marveling at Life

Although I use this blog in a professional capacity, I thought it would be fun to provide a glimpse into my every day life. I got this list idea from Ashley from Sed Bona and Samantha from Mastering Oxford—these ladies are brilliant and certainly up-and-coming in the social media sphere. Without further ado, here's what I've been up to lately: 

Enjoying: My last semester as a student—at least for awhile!
Listening: Ellie Goulding's "Love Me Like You Do" 
Wearing: Camel & black J Crew heart sweater, old black pencil skirt, Banana Republic leopard print scarf, thrifted black heels, and black Ann Taylor tights.
Making: Edits to my resume and cover letter
Cooking: Instant Oatmeal
Drinking: Ginger ale over ice. The ice is key.
Feeling: Stressed. Very, very stressed. 
Reading: Textbooks :(
Looking: At my sweet little pup curled up on a pillow
Wishing: For a miracle & a trip to a tropical paradise
Liking: Season 5 of Downton Abbey
Waiting: To get my nerve up
Snacking: On cashews
Coveting: A pastel blue/periwinkle coat a la the Duchess of Cambridge
Hearing: My fan on for white noise
Learning: That taking a philosophy of religion course is a lot harder than I thought!
Loving: My internship with YCP's Alumni Relations Office
Watching: An Idiot Abroad with my family
Admiring: The grace and kindness of my friends
Getting: Excited for what the future holds
Wondering: What plans I'm going to make for my birthday
Playing: Every day & embracing my inner child
Noticing: That the future has started to look a lot brighter
Giggling: At random text conversations & how funny I think I am
Bookmarking: Profound HuffPost pieces such as this one on Nice Girls
Deciding: To take risks
Hoping: To continue improving upon my happiness
Contemplating: How to plug away at this thesis paper
Wanting: Better sleeping habits
Thinking: About my Twitter usage and how to increase my following 
Knowing: I am loved
Opening: A window and closing a door
Feeling: Content
Marveling: At life