Month: June 2015

10 Promises to Senior Year

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This morning I stood manning the Relay for Life booth at the UGA orientation activities fair, scanning the sea of the school’s freshest new faces and wondering how on earth it has already been 3 years since that was me.

In the cliché blink of an eye I have somehow gone from wide eyed freshman to terrified senior.

And with the final year of my carefree youth approaching at a horrifying speed, I have decided to make myself some promises to get the most out of my senior year.

1. Start Saving More Money

Seems fairly straightforward, but it is something I have managed to do fairly little of (I mean, working for free really leaves a lot of money leftover for saving, right?), but in a year I am going have rent and a call phone bill and you know, other adult things, so I am promising to live beneath my means and put some away for a rainy day (overpriced Atlanta apartment).

2. Stop Making Decisions with Everyone Else in Mind

Selfish right? Well I have decided that I am going to stop taking everyone else’s opinion when deciding what to do with my own life. Not that I am not appreciative of insight, I just refuse to live a life that is a culmination of what other people want for me. The biggest thing I have learned in college? Life is way too short to live someone else’s life for any part of it.

3. Stop Eating like I am Still a Freshman

Yep. No more large pizzas just because it is a Tuesday night and they are $5. Taco Bell is not a place that should be making up a (significant) part of my diet anymore. This year I promise to learn to love the salad and embrace cooking at home.

4. Go with the Flow

I vow to stop being so obsessive over things that I cannot change/things I really do not even need to worry about. Deep Breaths.

5. Get Really Good at Something New

I am thinking running or brewing beer. Maybe both.

6. Make More Time for Friends

Internships and clubs and volunteering are great don’t get me wrong, but your people are what really count once we have to leave this place. I promise to take a few more nights off working and make some more memories with the people that matter most.

7. Plan a Bomb Post Grad Trip

I am going to need a buffer before hitting the swing of full-blown adulting.

8. Do Something More to Help Others

Remember not to get too caught up in the hustle and bustle to stop remembering that serving is what we are all called to do.

9. Do More for Myself

Selfish promise numero dos. But really, I promise to take a little time each day to do something for myself.

10. Get to Know a Professor Better

Something I have tried to do more lately, but getting on the good side of a professor is not a privilege to take lightly. I can use all the recommendations I can get.

Child’s Pose

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Lately I have been thinking a lot about how my newly entered “adult” life never seems to let up, just throwing one challenge after another – leaving me anxious and on edge. So last week I tried to find a few moments in my relentless schedule to take a chance to do some yoga.  I went through the series of Bikram poses growing tired and sore from the exercise that I had strayed one for too long, and was relieved when I eventually settled into child’s pose.

As a sat there lying on the ground with my arms outstretched and my body sinking into the floor I thought about how satisfying sitting there in that moment was. Sitting there in child’s pose is where I came to the realization that that very moment represented the approach I needed to be taking in my hectic life. Child’s pose is not particularly special on its own, if you were to rest in the pose right now there would be nothing stand out or spectacularly relaxing about the moment. But after a rigorous hour of challenging poses and pushing your limits, Child’s pose offers a moment of refuge and peace that awards you for the hour of hard work.

That is life I realized. Finding complete and utter peace in the smallest moments, knowing that those moments are only satisfying because of all the hard work that lead up to them. Life is no longer about waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel, its about enjoying the tiny beacons of light along the way and knowing that you are chugging always forward to the next destination. A cup of coffee on the walk to class. Lunch with a friend you haven’t talked to in a while. A manicure. These are the child’s poses that I have been overlooking lately. The precious moments of reprieve amidst the insanity of this crazy, wonderful, scary, life. These moments may be fleeting, but remember that they are only powerful because of all of the hard work that preceded them.

In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

Khalil Gibran

36 Hours in Prague

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In May 2014 I was selected to travel as one of sixteen University of Georgia students to Prague, Czech Republic. I had the pleasure of wandering centuries old cobblestone paths to castles dripping with history, dining at haunted restaurants, playing pianos in crowded pubic gathering spaces, watching street performers dazzle and amaze, and so much more. Here is an excerpt of my full multi-media tourism piece that can be found at 36hoursinprague.com.