SIMPLICITY

This is my new top thing that I would like to achieve in my life.  I am not really sure if this a measurable goal or if it is a goal that has a definite point of accomplishment.  However, it is something that I can work on little by little, step by step.  

While packing my suitcase for Spain in January of 2012, I had a major panic attack, like I always do every single time I am packing a suit case.  I had no idea how to pack two suitcases for five months abroad.  I really had to prioritize and to pack light.  While in Spain, I got in the habit of wearing the same running clothes for days, because I never knew when my Senora would be doing laundry.  

When I arrived back in the U.S. I had another panic attack.  This time my anxiety was about the amount of clothes, shoes, and other random items that I owned.  "Why in the world do I own this much stuff?!" I asked myself.  Although it was nice to once again have a selection of clothes to choose from, I couldn't help but feel a slight longing for a more simplistic and less materialistic lifestyle, like the one that I had experience while living in Spain.  

Sadly, I am the type of person that can't sit back and enjoy downtime.  If I am not working on schoolwork, I am trying to get ahead on homework, readings, or papers that are due in the future.  On the rare occasion that I am so far ahead that I have absolutely nothing to work on, I don't know what to do with myself.  The first step that I will have to take in simplifying my life is to accept the fact that I don't have to constantly be working on school stuff.  It is OKAY to take a night off, relax, and watch How I Met Your Mother on Netflix.  

I need to be okay with not having everything perfectly planned out all of the time.
I need to be okay with a little disorganization now and then.
I need to stop and take time to enjoy the little things in life.

Perspectives

 

Part of Speech: noun Definition: view, outlook Synonyms: angle, aspect, attitude, broad view, context, frame of reference, headset, landscape, mindset, objectivity, overview, panorama, proportion, prospect, relation, relative importance, relativity, scene, size of it, viewpoint, vista, way of looking

As I was stretching in my room after my run this morning, I was thinking about perspectives.  It's interesting how differently any given task or accomplishment can be viewed depending on the person. 

Alyssa visited me this weekend, since it was the end of her Spring Break and she didn't have a track meet.  On Sunday we did a long run together.  I did my usual 10 miles and then she had to do two more, since her long run is 12.  On a normal long run day, I get back from my long run feeling extremely accomplished and on top of the world.  Although of course I still had that feeling, I couldn't help but think about how maybe I should have just done those extra two miles with Alyssa.  Sure 10 miles sounds amazing, but 12 sounds even MORE amazing.

But like I said, it's completely a matter of perspective.  Many people will never even run 10 miles at once in their entire life.  On the other hand, there are those people who train for marathons or iron mans that have 20+ mile long runs.  Why must we always compare our successes or accomplishments to those of others?  I am going to make it my goal to do this as little as possible.

The one synonym that really sticks out to me is mindset.  It's so true.  On Twitter today I saw that the Dalai Lama tweeted today "Whether we are happy or not depends on our attitude; compassion, for instance, leads to a calmer mind."  I just love the Dalai Lama.  He's so wise and so cute.

I have a feeling that this blog is just going to be another means of homework procrastination for me.  As if Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest weren't enough. 

Hello.

Well, I have randomly decided to start a blog.  How often will I actually write in it? That is to be determined.  My biggest fear is that I will try to sound clever or creative or like some hardcore blogger and then I will look back and says to myself "Why did I write that?"  However, I am willing to take that risk.  Every time that I read an older post, I am not going to be exactly the same person that I was when I composed it, so that feeling is probably inevitable anyways.  

I decided to keep a blog for the following reasons:
1. I was just creeping on some girl's blog that I know from high school.  It was very well written, very sentimental, and very enjoyable to read.  
2. I FINALLY made a follow up post on my blog from Spain, which I finished in May of 2012.  I probably should have wrote one about 10 months ago, but what can you do.
3. In the Advanced Composition class that I am taking this semester, the professor has focused the class on "The Personal Essay" and the personal essayist.  Not only do we read personal essays, but we are required to compose our own as well.  In some sense, a blog is a sort of personal essay I suppose.  

I am not really sure about the direction that I want to take this blog in, so I will leave it open and say any.

My 22nd birthday is four days away.  I am still in denial that I am that old.  I am at the age where Facebook is constantly announcing the newest engagement.  I am at the age where a lot of my friends are, or are soon to be, out in the real world, with real jobs and real responsibilities.  I am going a fifth year at Illinois State, so luckily the "real world" isn't on my mind a lot right now. 

Isn't it funny how they say that you leave college and enter into the "real world."  What is college then, the fake world?  Actually, it sort of is.  Sure, we are on our own, buying our own groceries and managing our own time and money, but issues such as finances, bills, debts and unemployment are of little concern.  What is a concern is that I have absolutely no grasp on figures concerning prices, such as salaries or house payments or car payments or how much a car or a house even costs.  When someone says to me "So and so makes X amount of money" I like to display a neutral expression of shock.  That way if it is a unusually low or an unusually high salary, I am safe either way.

I think that is sufficient for a first blog post.  Although it is the end of March, we have the first snow day that ISU has seen since 2010.  I am angry at this weather and so ready for Spring.

Hasta la próxima vez