I'm Stressed.

Today's Fun Fact:  I can speak German!

Is it just me, or do students just have way too much to worry about?  I mean, we have to keep track of classes and exams, volunteer hours, club participation, internships, friendships and social lives.  There's also the daunting thought of what will happen once we graduate.  The real world.  I'm totally not ready for that yet.  Once I leave college, I have to wear real pants.  No more sweats, seriously?  The struggle is real.  But honestly.  We go to class, work hard, and aim for our degrees, but we are still completely clueless as to what is in store for us in the future.  

And mostly, there's the daily stresses.  I feel as though I'm pretty organized and my planner is my lifeline, but it also gives me anxiety just looking at the color-coded activities and everything I have to do just this week.  

Monday- study session.  
Tuesday- quiz, club meeting, social activity.  
Wednesday- crucially important interview that my future depends on, club meeting.
Thursday- two quizzes, evening exam.  
Friday- two quizzes.

And classes on top of all of that.  I don't want to deal with it!  I want to become a blanket burrito and sleep the week away.  Yeah, sleep is probably my favorite stress reliever.  However, even though sleep is fabulous, it will not make all of my responsibilities go away.  I have to face them.

But I think I deserve some relaxation throughout the week.  Some things I plan on doing to get through this crazy week of interviews and exams are:

• Having random dance parties in my dorm room
• Writing my thoughts (blogging!)
• Getting ice cream with my friends
• Reading a lighthearted novel
• Cleaning (I can't stand working in a messy space!)
• Sleeping 

I believe that I can make it through the week.  And hopefully you'll use some of these to chill out as well!  

Life may seem crazy at times, but it's also wonderful.  Life is too short to be stressed all the time.  I'm a big believer in doing whatever you need to do in order to be happy.  If you are miserable at school or in your job, find something that brings joy to your day.  For instance, I couldn't make it through exams without midnight milkshakes with my BFF to look forward to.  Cramming late at night is actually fun if I study while head banging to Fall Out Boy.  Are you bored in your extracurricular?  Try something new, just to see if you like it! You never know.  

Aaaannnnd, that was a very rambling post.  But at least writing this helped me de-stress a little.  Hope your week is relaxing and enjoyable!  

Now, back to studying and interview prep…. or random dance parties.   

Till next time,

Shelly

Motivation

Today's fun fact:  I have an extremely wide taste in music, ranging from Panic! at the Disco to Nora Jones.  Country, dub step, classic rock, boy bands?  Love it all.  

Motivation: The drive to do something.  It's a funny thing.  I tend to think I lack motivation, but normally I get everything done that is required of me.  Schoolwork, various organization assignments, laundry?  I'm all over it.  Sadly, anything past that is really a challenge.  Instead of practicing violin or trudging onward in Anna Karenina, which I WANT to do, I end up sitting on Youtube or Facebook for hours on end.  I enjoy the mindless internet browsing while it's happening, but afterwords I'm just mad at myself for not being productive or interesting. 

Ironically enough, a Youtube video actually inspired this post.  I was watching "How to Get Out of Bed" (link below) by self-proclaimed lazy person Dan Howell, also known as Danisnotonfire.  This video, along with several other videos of his, really got me thinking about why I get up in the morning and what I plan to do with my day.  I mean, I go to class and eat and chat with my friends and such, but these things really aren't that interesting.  I want to continue to improve my musical abilities, and meet new people, and experience new things!  What do I get up in the morning for?  Class?  Sure.  But life is short, and each day matters.  There is more to life than going to class and studying (I sure hope).

Turns out I just need something to motivate me to start my day.  So, I've decided to make daily goals that make getting out of bed more worthwhile.  Nothing too big or crazy like skydiving or running a marathon (yet!).  More like:

• Have a conversation with a new person.
• Contact my German relatives.
• Find a new piano piece to learn. 
• Begin learning said piano piece.
• Read The Fault in Our Stars.  (I'm so behind the times, I know.)
• Try a new machine at the gym. (I love my stationary bike…)
• Plan a weekend road trip.

These are small goals that will can make my day to day life more rewarding, and motivate me to seize the day when my alarm goes off.  It's a nice change from the daily grind of gym-class-meetings-study-internets.  

If you have any ideas for some motivational activities, leave me a comment!

And shout out to Dan Howell for being awesome.  Here is the video that inspired this post:

How to Get Out of Bed 

(These will open in a new window if you wanna continue reading!)

And here's a few other interesting videos from him that got me thinking about life.

The Meaning of Life

Existential Crisis

(Warning: PG-13 for some language)

And with that, I'm gonna turn off my computer for a while and read a few pages of Anna Karenina.  

Hoping your days are filled with excitement,

Shelly

Why do we love celebrities?

Today's fun fact:  My favorite movie is Pirates of the Caribbean.  

Let's do a little activity.  First, name 5 winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine.  Got it?  Maybe?  No googling!  Ok.  Now name 15 actors.  Next, how about your state representatives and senators?  And for the last category, list 15 singers.

How did you do?  I'm guessing that you aced the actors and singers, and could've gotten way more than just 15 of each.  And you maybe got 1 Nobel laureate and possibly your district representative and a senator for good measure?  

I recently did an activity like this during one of my organization meetings at school, and I completely failed on any category that wasn't pop culture related.  At first I blamed myself for being totally ignorant about my government or important scientists.  And while I am definitely responsible for my own ignorance, I also think there is another culprit.  Check out any website like Yahoo, which has news stories on the main page.  Other than the how-to cooking articles and heartwarming stories, every article is about a current movie being made, or what Leonardo DiCaprio eats for breakfast, or how many people watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians, or who is performing at the Grammys.  And this really made me think about who we hold high in our society and who gets virtually ignored.  

Now, there's nothing wrong with enjoying your favorite actors on the big screen or learning every fact about the latest British boy band.  I am totally guilty of this.  But the thing that people tend to forget is that these famous people are just people.  Robert Downey Jr. isn't actually Iron Man, sad as it is to think about.  He's a person whose job is to act in movies.  Same goes for singers.  They provide entertainment for us with their music.  If they weren't idolized as they are, they could have a second job as an elementary school teacher or something.  

A Little Talk About Friends

Today's fun fact:  I play the violin! 

Let's chat about friendships.

I am one of those people that makes friends and keeps them for a long long time.  All of my friends have been my friends since middle school.  Or earlier.  Like, the first grade.  I literally made no new friends in high school.  I just kept the ones I already had!  Nothing wrong with that, right?

Well, not really.  But then came college.

I chose a school hours away from my home, and none of my friends were going with me.  I know that most people that go away to school probably start out with no friends, but since I hadn't actually made a new friend for like 6 years, I was completely terrified.

I really didn't need to be so scared, as I found a little group within the first week.  However, none of them were in my major, and none were very social…  So, after my first year of college, I had literally one friend.  And that really hasn't changed.  I have more acquaintances and people I sit with in class, but at college I truly have just one friend.

This is really difficult for me because I do have lots of friends back home, and I'm always looking forward to seeing them at breaks.  Yet my one college friend is quite the opposite.  She made tons of new friends at college!  She hates going home, and I always feel guilty about being excited to see all my old friends.  It's a bit of a tough situation.

Make new friends, and keep the old.

I'm really hoping that as my classes become more specialized, I'll grow to think of my classmates as more than mere acquaintances.  For now though, I'm living in two different worlds.  One has all my old high school gal pals, and the other has my new college friend.

Have you had an experience like mine, going away to college and leaving all your friends?  Any tips for helping me make friends in the middle of my college career?  I'd love any comments or suggestions :)

And sorry it's taken me so long to write!  My goal was to make a weekly post, and I have just totally failed.  So that's my belated New Year's Resolution: Make a weekly blog post!

See ya next week,
Shelly

My First Post

Hey there!

So, this is my first ever blog post, and I'm kinda super excited to start blogging.  I've been meaning to do this for a while now, but I just went through the most grueling semester of my life and I had to make it through finals.  But finals are over, and I can finally breathe!

I started thinking about blogging after discovering the world of Youtube vloggers.  I found it interesting that these totally normal people were sharing their lives and their thoughts with thousands of complete strangers, I being one of those strangers.  Then I started thinking, "I could totally do that! I think I'm mildly entertaining..."  But I preferred being anonymous to putting my face on camera for the world to see.  Also, I keep a journal with my daily thoughts and insights so I'm already comfortable with writing about what I'm thinking.  I figured my feelings may very well be shared with some other people.  Why not share them with others and see if I can start some interesting conversations?  

Also, I'm at that point in life where I'm dealing with a lot of change and new experiences.  I find myself contemplating life and the future and relationships and careers and goals and all kinds of other topics.  It's a lot to deal with, and writing it out really helps me sort it out.  

And so here I am.  I'm wanting to use this blog almost like my personal journal to share my thoughts.  Thoughts that you may be dealing with, or thoughts that may be totally unique to my crazy brain.  

One last note: A journal of this type will obviously encompass some personal information, but I'm wanting to remain as anonymous, just for some mystery.  However, every time I post, I'll list a "Fun Fact" or something of the sort.  Maybe one day all the facts will come together and you'll discover that I'm actually your real life best friend!  But who knows.  

Have a fabulous day.

Shelly