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Tuesday, 7 April 2015
Wednesday, 1 April 2015
Lost Art of Self-Preservation
After over two decades of life, you'd think I'd have the hang of taking care of myself by now.
Unfortunately, that's not the case. It's not just me, though. Oh, no. It's an epidemic, infecting my peers left and right. Everywhere, I see people staying up into the wee hours of the morning, making Top Ramen and Mac'n'Cheese the main staples of their diets, watching sports instead of actually playing them, and letting their minds waste away with pointless time wasters, like TwitFaceTube. Many people I know, myself included, have not learned the art of taking care of themselves.
I believe our generation has lost the art of many valuable skills with the advent of new paradigms and technologies, and that this is one of the most important. I believe this common trend will affect the quality of our future lives, and by extent, of our children. Finding balance and maintaining personal health now teaches skills that affect our health and the rest of our lives. The habits we form now will stick with us for the next few decades, and will be harder to break the longer we continue in them. Eventually, these will be the habits our children learn from, that will in turn stick with them.
For example: I learned to stress-clean from my mom. My parents have always been neat and tidy, a trait I've grown to be grateful for over the years. However, that means that when I get stressed, I morph into a whirlwind of Lysol wipes and dishwater detergent. That's a habit that's not going to change, so I wager my kids will pick it up eventually, too. A family heirloom for the personality, of sorts.
Another habit I picked up from both my parents was the ability to work hard. Anyone that knows me can tell you I have a solid work ethic. Staying until close at the library isn't uncommon. My natural inclination is to be lazy, but my parents wrung that habit out of me at an early age.** Thank heavens for that.
Unfortunately, that's not the case. It's not just me, though. Oh, no. It's an epidemic, infecting my peers left and right. Everywhere, I see people staying up into the wee hours of the morning, making Top Ramen and Mac'n'Cheese the main staples of their diets, watching sports instead of actually playing them, and letting their minds waste away with pointless time wasters, like TwitFaceTube. Many people I know, myself included, have not learned the art of taking care of themselves.
I believe our generation has lost the art of many valuable skills with the advent of new paradigms and technologies, and that this is one of the most important. I believe this common trend will affect the quality of our future lives, and by extent, of our children. Finding balance and maintaining personal health now teaches skills that affect our health and the rest of our lives. The habits we form now will stick with us for the next few decades, and will be harder to break the longer we continue in them. Eventually, these will be the habits our children learn from, that will in turn stick with them.
Other lost arts: sewing is incredibly valuable. Also, the art of manliness. If you haven't checked out their blog, DO IT.
For example: I learned to stress-clean from my mom. My parents have always been neat and tidy, a trait I've grown to be grateful for over the years. However, that means that when I get stressed, I morph into a whirlwind of Lysol wipes and dishwater detergent. That's a habit that's not going to change, so I wager my kids will pick it up eventually, too. A family heirloom for the personality, of sorts.
Another habit I picked up from both my parents was the ability to work hard. Anyone that knows me can tell you I have a solid work ethic. Staying until close at the library isn't uncommon. My natural inclination is to be lazy, but my parents wrung that habit out of me at an early age.** Thank heavens for that.
**Funny story: At one point, my neighbors actually called child services because the new neighbors (my parents) were putting their kids to work setting up the landscaping in the backyard. After a few years, the neighbors finally gave up and let it go.
So, what's the point? Why am I writing about this now? Honestly, I would not want my future children to have the habits I currently do. In fact, I'd be horrified. (Sorry Mom. It's not your fault.) I know what I'm supposed to be doing, and I've done it before, but I haven't been consistent. I've heard from a lot of different places how important the little, basic things are, and I believe they're all right. I know I need to do better. So, as of the beginning of last week, I'm recommitting to the small, good habits that enrich my life. I'm working towards forming and solidifying the good in my life now. Not only for my sake, but for all the people I will influence in my life.
Remote Meeting
I was at work when I quickly clocked out to do faux work. Well, technically, it was still legitimate work. School work is work, but it's not work work. Anyways. Enough on work.
For my communications class, my group was required to meet using some remote service to discuss our group project. There are actually a lot of great media we could have used to do this, and I partially regret we didn't look into other methods more, but we just used Google+ since we all already had an account.
Overall, the meeting went well. It could have gone better if we'd all done more work before the meeting that we could have reviewed, but we did nail down some valuable goals for our team. We set deadlines easier than we would have been able to via text or email. We reviewed one of Alexia's documents in real-time, giving quick feedback that we were able to give prompt clarification on if needed.
I've used the screen share option on Google before when talking with my family, and it was as usual in business settings as it was in personal matters. My only complaint was that because the document was on my team member's computer, I couldn't just click and fix errors I saw. I had to describe to her where exactly I was looking. Another form of media (e.g. GoogleDocs) would have easily fixed this issue. Next time.
Another drawback was that our group kept on losing connection to one of our team members. We'd keep going, then have to catch him back up when he popped onto the Google Hangout again. I could see how that could be extremely frustrating in projects that are more intense. I would probably look at either switching platforms to minimize the problem, or just require all group members to find the best possible internet connection available.
That, or just meet in person. Honestly, so much more gets done that way. Obviously in circumstances where physical meetings are not possible, I'd be grateful the option of remote meetings. But if I have a choice, physical meetings are the way to go.
My brother-in-law showed me this clip over the past summer. The only reason it's funny is because it is entirely, 100%, not-exaggerated-even-a-little-bit accurate. In fact, I showed my group the video after our business was completed (using the screen share option, I might add). After wards, when we were saying goodbye, the same thing that happened to the main guy in the video happened to me. I feel you, man. The struggle is real.
For my communications class, my group was required to meet using some remote service to discuss our group project. There are actually a lot of great media we could have used to do this, and I partially regret we didn't look into other methods more, but we just used Google+ since we all already had an account.
Overall, the meeting went well. It could have gone better if we'd all done more work before the meeting that we could have reviewed, but we did nail down some valuable goals for our team. We set deadlines easier than we would have been able to via text or email. We reviewed one of Alexia's documents in real-time, giving quick feedback that we were able to give prompt clarification on if needed.
I've used the screen share option on Google before when talking with my family, and it was as usual in business settings as it was in personal matters. My only complaint was that because the document was on my team member's computer, I couldn't just click and fix errors I saw. I had to describe to her where exactly I was looking. Another form of media (e.g. GoogleDocs) would have easily fixed this issue. Next time.
Another drawback was that our group kept on losing connection to one of our team members. We'd keep going, then have to catch him back up when he popped onto the Google Hangout again. I could see how that could be extremely frustrating in projects that are more intense. I would probably look at either switching platforms to minimize the problem, or just require all group members to find the best possible internet connection available.
That, or just meet in person. Honestly, so much more gets done that way. Obviously in circumstances where physical meetings are not possible, I'd be grateful the option of remote meetings. But if I have a choice, physical meetings are the way to go.
My brother-in-law showed me this clip over the past summer. The only reason it's funny is because it is entirely, 100%, not-exaggerated-even-a-little-bit accurate. In fact, I showed my group the video after our business was completed (using the screen share option, I might add). After wards, when we were saying goodbye, the same thing that happened to the main guy in the video happened to me. I feel you, man. The struggle is real.
Wednesday, 25 March 2015
Norm Nemrow is my Hero
I spent two-and-a-half years of my college life floundering around, wondering what I should do for the rest of my life. I'd worry for hours on end about it, which was useless. I researched majors anywhere from music, arts, mathematics, humanities, English, you name it. I was interested in all of them. I had too many darn options. It was awful.
Finally, this past Fall semester I took Accounting 200. One lecture from Norm Nemrow was all it took to set my mind at ease. Basically, he said that very few people go through life knowing what they want to do. The majority don't. But really, those that don't know what they want are just as blessed as those that do. They have the opportunity and ability to explore, to try out new things and have a wider experience. The people that know their destiny? Well, they're kind of boring, aren't they? They're stuck in one field for the rest of their life.
Since that day, I've been able to move forward. I thought about that lecture this week, as I've started preparing to apply to the various fields I might want to go into; accounting, information systems, and general management. Whichever of these fields I get into will bless my life, and I'll be able to work with them from there. I'm excited for whatever direction my life takes from here, because they're all good options.
I realized that I'd taken Norm's lesson to heart this week. I truly feel that I've learned a lot of useful skills (my meanderings through all my GE requirements actually paid off) and that I'm capable of many potential life endeavors.
So, where do I go from here? Technically, anywhere. But, to start, I'm going to apply to the Marriott School of Business at BYU.
Finally, this past Fall semester I took Accounting 200. One lecture from Norm Nemrow was all it took to set my mind at ease. Basically, he said that very few people go through life knowing what they want to do. The majority don't. But really, those that don't know what they want are just as blessed as those that do. They have the opportunity and ability to explore, to try out new things and have a wider experience. The people that know their destiny? Well, they're kind of boring, aren't they? They're stuck in one field for the rest of their life.
Since that day, I've been able to move forward. I thought about that lecture this week, as I've started preparing to apply to the various fields I might want to go into; accounting, information systems, and general management. Whichever of these fields I get into will bless my life, and I'll be able to work with them from there. I'm excited for whatever direction my life takes from here, because they're all good options.
I realized that I'd taken Norm's lesson to heart this week. I truly feel that I've learned a lot of useful skills (my meanderings through all my GE requirements actually paid off) and that I'm capable of many potential life endeavors.
So, where do I go from here? Technically, anywhere. But, to start, I'm going to apply to the Marriott School of Business at BYU.
Friday, 20 March 2015
Happiness in Any Circumstance
In the past week, I had the chance to hear Stephanie and Christian Nielson speak. In 2008, they were in an airplane crash with a close friend of theirs. Their friend died, but they miraculously escaped alive. 60% of Christian's skin was burned past the point of recovery, and 80% of her own was burnt to a crisp.
Stephanie described the arduous, exquisitely painful road to recovery. The details are hard to hear, and she could tell it better than I can summarize it, so check out her blog if you want to read the full, harrowing, inspiring story.
She is an incredible woman, the kind of strong, faithful woman I hope I am. Before the crash, she was gorgeous. After the crash, they had to replace the skin on her face with skin from her scalp. As a result, the skin grafts appear pinkish and deformed. She lost her beauty, but none of her inner glow. She says that every morning, she wakes up and looks at herself in the mirror. She clearly sees her imperfections, how ugly and weird her skin is, but she also sees hope. After hearing everything she went through, I understood how meaningful that word was to her. She said that she saw her face, but she also saw a strong, faithful, resilient woman. She saw a survivor who found happiness in the promises of her beliefs, her family, her husband. She did not let her circumstances define her life.
I learned so much from Stephanie and Christian that night, but more than anything, I learned that we can be happy no matter what happens to us. Happiness - I'm talking the sincere, deep feeling of joy - is entirely our own choice. It depends on how resilient we choose to be. If Stephanie can not only get over her past, but then re-live the terrible moments of her past to strengthen others, yet still be joyful, then what excuse could I ever have to not be?
Stephanie described the arduous, exquisitely painful road to recovery. The details are hard to hear, and she could tell it better than I can summarize it, so check out her blog if you want to read the full, harrowing, inspiring story.
She is an incredible woman, the kind of strong, faithful woman I hope I am. Before the crash, she was gorgeous. After the crash, they had to replace the skin on her face with skin from her scalp. As a result, the skin grafts appear pinkish and deformed. She lost her beauty, but none of her inner glow. She says that every morning, she wakes up and looks at herself in the mirror. She clearly sees her imperfections, how ugly and weird her skin is, but she also sees hope. After hearing everything she went through, I understood how meaningful that word was to her. She said that she saw her face, but she also saw a strong, faithful, resilient woman. She saw a survivor who found happiness in the promises of her beliefs, her family, her husband. She did not let her circumstances define her life.
I learned so much from Stephanie and Christian that night, but more than anything, I learned that we can be happy no matter what happens to us. Happiness - I'm talking the sincere, deep feeling of joy - is entirely our own choice. It depends on how resilient we choose to be. If Stephanie can not only get over her past, but then re-live the terrible moments of her past to strengthen others, yet still be joyful, then what excuse could I ever have to not be?
Friday, 13 March 2015
Here's To You.
You know those friends you have that no matter where you're at in life, no matter what you're doing or how long it's been since you've seen them, you just pick right back up where you left off?
Rebecca is one of those people, and I'm so lucky to have someone as incredible as her in my life. She was in my ward freshman year at BYU, and we ended up together in the same ward sophomore year, too. We got each other through a few rough times last year, and she's still someone I go to whenever I need to celebrate, rant, or just party. She had spring break this week, and chose to come down to little ole Provo. We went to the Food Truck Round-Up for dinner and got some kick-taste-buds Korean BBQ.
BEHOLD, THE WONDERFUL WOMAN HERSELF:
Yeah, she's a babe.
She has an inspiring story, too. Like I said, Rebecca was in my freshman ward here at BYU, but she now attends USU up in Logan. How did a true blue, cougar through-and-through end up 2 hours north? For a lot of reasons, she was meant to be up there.
For her two years at BYU, Rebecca worked hard to get into the Music Dance Theatre (MDT) major. She auditioned multiple times, but for reasons no one could explain, she didn't make it in. Everyone she knew in the major assured her she would get in, that with her talent there was no way she wouldn't make it in. But, again and again, the MDT major refused her. It was heart-wrenching every time she was rejected, especially because no one could give her a good reason. She'd spent over a year and a half of her life pouring her heart, life and soul into preparing for this, and the only reason they gave her for why it wasn't working out was that "it just didn't work out." It was maddening for me to just watch her go through that, so I can't even imagine how she was feeling.
Finally, she felt like she should start looking elsewhere than BYU. She didn't want to, but she knew what she wanted to do with her life, and BYU wasn't giving that to her, as much as she loved it. So, she drove up to Logan and auditioned. Then and there, at her first audition, they offered a full-ride scholarship for Vocal Performance at USU. She took her chance and ran with it.
Within 6 days, she'd decided to look elsewhere than BYU, auditioned at USU, was offered a scholarship, accepted, and transferred. If I'm remembering right, this was all during finals week at BYU. Talk about life changes.
The reason I find her so incredible is because she didn't let something she loved get in the way of something she loved more. She is following her passion for music, despite how hard and uncertain her future is sometimes. She knows music is a hard career to be in, but she wouldn't do anything else. She isn't willing to give up on her dreams. To someone who gave up on her love of art and music for accounting, that's amazing to me. Through her example, I again find the inspiration to keep my other passions alive. I started looking for inspiration for a larger watercolor piece, and suddenly I'm seeing everything with an artist's eye again. I notice how the light falls, how colors contrast and meld together, and I imagine how I would make those colors come to life on the page. Our passions never die, but lie dormant until we give them the freedom and energy they need to thrive once more. Thanks to Rebecca, I'm going to be paying more attention to that in the future.
Rebecca, you're incredible and I love you. Thanks, girl.
Thursday, 5 March 2015
Bollywood, Bollywood, Very Very Hollywood
I just watched Bride and Prejudice (a.k.a. the Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice). Oh, the terrible decisions I make at times.
The horror of how terrible it was is still fresh. I'm making it sound like I hated it because of it's Bollywood influence, but nothing's further from the truth. I love Bollywood. My favorite Bollywood is Yeh Jaawani Hai Deewani (Go Bunny). That movie is a blast to watch. But this movie - this Bride and Prejudice - this abomination - was not Bollywood. It was faux Bollywood at its worst. It was just too American. The beauty and energy of Bollywood was ruined by the American filter. I'm still reeling at the fact it was in English.
Here's my issue: I like American movies. I like Bollywood. Why do I hate them together? Isn't the fusion of cultures supposed to be celebrated? Isn't that how we overcome differences/achieve world peace/etc.? If that's what they were trying to do, they failed.
Bride and Prejudice shows just how important staying true to your roots is. I hadn't realized how much I would dislike a diluted Bollywood movie. Bollywood is beautiful because of the wonderfully un-American enthusiasm for vibrant colors, for the distinct flavor of ancient traditions swirled together with the modern world, for its unashamed cheesiness. I don't think trying to mix the two cultures together here is the solution to bridging the gap between cultures. Accepting another culture as is - that's where the beauty of our meshing world comes alive. That's where the beauty of each culture still comes through fully and completely. Warping them together - destroying the distinct beauty of each - leaves a jaded shadow that leaves so much wanting of each.
So, to get preachy: Accept the differences. Celebrate your own. Everyone's better off.
The horror of how terrible it was is still fresh. I'm making it sound like I hated it because of it's Bollywood influence, but nothing's further from the truth. I love Bollywood. My favorite Bollywood is Yeh Jaawani Hai Deewani (Go Bunny). That movie is a blast to watch. But this movie - this Bride and Prejudice - this abomination - was not Bollywood. It was faux Bollywood at its worst. It was just too American. The beauty and energy of Bollywood was ruined by the American filter. I'm still reeling at the fact it was in English.
Here's my issue: I like American movies. I like Bollywood. Why do I hate them together? Isn't the fusion of cultures supposed to be celebrated? Isn't that how we overcome differences/achieve world peace/etc.? If that's what they were trying to do, they failed.
Bride and Prejudice shows just how important staying true to your roots is. I hadn't realized how much I would dislike a diluted Bollywood movie. Bollywood is beautiful because of the wonderfully un-American enthusiasm for vibrant colors, for the distinct flavor of ancient traditions swirled together with the modern world, for its unashamed cheesiness. I don't think trying to mix the two cultures together here is the solution to bridging the gap between cultures. Accepting another culture as is - that's where the beauty of our meshing world comes alive. That's where the beauty of each culture still comes through fully and completely. Warping them together - destroying the distinct beauty of each - leaves a jaded shadow that leaves so much wanting of each.
So, to get preachy: Accept the differences. Celebrate your own. Everyone's better off.
YES: YES:
NEVER AGAIN:
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