Sometimes I think I can be Wonder Woman. I see problems or opportunities and I want to fix them all, experience them all, better them all. I get myself involved in everything possible and end up in way over my head. That's why I have so many jobs and so many extracurricular projects. But I'm starting to see that, when I spread myself so thin across so many activities, I get burned out fast. I do okay at everything, but I end up not doing anything really well. Doing too much is my kryptonite. It hinders me from success.
I've just found myself falling apart lately because of everything going on in my life. I completely forgot an entire 2-hour shift at the Writing Center. I have missed whole days of school already due to sickness because I run myself ragged and my immune system feels it. I have turned in half-completed assignments and made up answers on others just to get them done on time. I barely remember where I am supposed to be at what time and I’m not giving my all to the things I care about most. It's like I can't keep up with my own life.
So I recently decided to quit my job working at the student radio station, Resound. What I really wanted to do there was start up a radio news program that linked up with Cedars to get news on the air to students. But I was the only one in charge of this endeavour—I had no team to train. I had to find the people, train the people, get the news, record the news, edit the news and air it. And this was just ONE of my jobs. Yet I convinced myself that I could do it all by myself. I could make Resound better. But I couldn't. And frankly, it isn't my responsibility since I'm not even interested in broadcast journalism. I just wanted to open up positions for people who might be interested in broadcast news in the future. But I realized I have to let some other people have opportunities and focus on what I already have on my plate, especially in this last semester when I have a million worries on my mind.
I am trying to work on my time management skills now. Being that it's my last semester of college, it may be a bit late for that. But I'm hoping it will help me get my life back together and re-motivate me so that I can pour myself into the things I am passionate about and keep my life together.
I found this site from the Mayo Clinic that suggests some time management tips that I am hoping to study and incorporate into my life:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/time-management/wl00048
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Panic Strikes
Unemployment—it’s a word that plagues our nation, and it’s now the word that looms over my future and pokes fun at me every time I send out a job application. Along with unemployment is the term miserable employment—working a job you absolutely despise just to make money.
As I near the end of my college career, I have realized two things: (1.) I may not get a job right out of college. (2.) If I do find a job, it might not be in the field I’ve been studying in for the past four years. And now I am scared to death.
I have been applying to scores of jobs on careerbuilder.com—everything possible in the media realm, from newspaper writing to editing to radio gigs; but I have only heard back from one. And that response was a rejection e-mail.
I have been pouring my entire life into journalism since I chose the major. I’ve been involved in Cedars student newspaper, Resound radio, the Xenia Gazette, social media…anything I could get my hands on that dealt with my studies. In my mind, it’s all I am really good at. But maybe I’m really not good at all, at least not by “real world” standards. In all honesty, the journalism program at Cedarville is very new, has few students and only two or three professors, so how can I be assured I am getting the best education in journalism? Maybe I will get out in the real world and the idea that I can write will turn out to be just a sham in comparison to what’s out there. Or maybe there are just no journalism jobs available.
According to The Daily Beast, journalism is number 1 among the 20 most useless college degrees: http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2011/04/27/20-most-useless-degrees.html
So I started applying for other jobs as well—jobs I figured I could at least manage through. I applied for administrative assistant positions, receptionist jobs, tutoring jobs…nothing that I really want to do or have been trained to do, but it may be my only option to keep myself afloat.
There’s always the possibility that I will find no employment at all. Even McDonald’s didn’t take me two summers ago. So here the panic strikes. Here I realize that the plan I made for my life might include newspapers only in that I will burn them to keep warm in the box that I live in.
As I near the end of my college career, I have realized two things: (1.) I may not get a job right out of college. (2.) If I do find a job, it might not be in the field I’ve been studying in for the past four years. And now I am scared to death.
I have been applying to scores of jobs on careerbuilder.com—everything possible in the media realm, from newspaper writing to editing to radio gigs; but I have only heard back from one. And that response was a rejection e-mail.
I have been pouring my entire life into journalism since I chose the major. I’ve been involved in Cedars student newspaper, Resound radio, the Xenia Gazette, social media…anything I could get my hands on that dealt with my studies. In my mind, it’s all I am really good at. But maybe I’m really not good at all, at least not by “real world” standards. In all honesty, the journalism program at Cedarville is very new, has few students and only two or three professors, so how can I be assured I am getting the best education in journalism? Maybe I will get out in the real world and the idea that I can write will turn out to be just a sham in comparison to what’s out there. Or maybe there are just no journalism jobs available.
According to The Daily Beast, journalism is number 1 among the 20 most useless college degrees: http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2011/04/27/20-most-useless-degrees.html
So I started applying for other jobs as well—jobs I figured I could at least manage through. I applied for administrative assistant positions, receptionist jobs, tutoring jobs…nothing that I really want to do or have been trained to do, but it may be my only option to keep myself afloat.
There’s always the possibility that I will find no employment at all. Even McDonald’s didn’t take me two summers ago. So here the panic strikes. Here I realize that the plan I made for my life might include newspapers only in that I will burn them to keep warm in the box that I live in.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Arch Nemesis: Senioritis
Madness. Sheer madness. That is my life. At any given time, I have a million things on my mind and at least three places I should be. With four jobs, eighteen credit hours, an internship, a long-distance relationship, and a social life, my life can get ridiculous. Sometimes I feel guilty just going to the bathroom because I feel like I don’t have enough time for that “luxury.” The past three and a half years, I’ve somehow learned how to balance a busy schedule. But suddenly, as I stare down graduation day in a hundred something days, I’ve found myself slipping.
I blame it on my new arch nemesis: senioritis. It’s that whisper in my ear that says, “go back to sleep” every time my alarm sounds. It’s the thought that passes my mind every time I open a book, that my GPA can’t really drop that much in one semester. Facebook could be much more entertaining. How much could skipping one assignment hurt?
I have already made some slip-ups. I used one of my eight chapel skips on the third day of school. Not because I was sick or because I had to do homework. I just wanted to sleep in. I also didn't even bother to bring any binders or books to my first few days of classes; so all my syllabi are folded in half and crumpled into one or another of my purses and buried in the giant heap of books, papers and clothes in my room. I've been too lazy to clean that too. Part of me wants to crawl under it and sleep until graduation. Either way, I'd be buried in textbooks.
But when I want to skip class or slack off on assignments, I try to picture—even though I hate exercise—running a race. I’ve worked so hard these past three and a half years, just like running hard for the majority of a race. But if I stop my hard work, it’s like if a runner slows down and gets distracted by the butterflies on the side of the track; he isn’t going to finish well. I want to finish well…to spend my last few months here giving it my all.
I found an article on Yahoo! about ways to fight senioritis. According to the article, these are the Top 5 Ways to Battle Senioritis:
1. Take care of yourself.
2. Stay organized.
3. Get motivated.
4. Be realistic.
5. Visit the career center.
To read the article in detail: http://news.yahoo.com/5-tips-battle-college-senioritis-181445141.html
Together, we can find a cure.
I blame it on my new arch nemesis: senioritis. It’s that whisper in my ear that says, “go back to sleep” every time my alarm sounds. It’s the thought that passes my mind every time I open a book, that my GPA can’t really drop that much in one semester. Facebook could be much more entertaining. How much could skipping one assignment hurt?
I have already made some slip-ups. I used one of my eight chapel skips on the third day of school. Not because I was sick or because I had to do homework. I just wanted to sleep in. I also didn't even bother to bring any binders or books to my first few days of classes; so all my syllabi are folded in half and crumpled into one or another of my purses and buried in the giant heap of books, papers and clothes in my room. I've been too lazy to clean that too. Part of me wants to crawl under it and sleep until graduation. Either way, I'd be buried in textbooks.
But when I want to skip class or slack off on assignments, I try to picture—even though I hate exercise—running a race. I’ve worked so hard these past three and a half years, just like running hard for the majority of a race. But if I stop my hard work, it’s like if a runner slows down and gets distracted by the butterflies on the side of the track; he isn’t going to finish well. I want to finish well…to spend my last few months here giving it my all.
I found an article on Yahoo! about ways to fight senioritis. According to the article, these are the Top 5 Ways to Battle Senioritis:
1. Take care of yourself.
2. Stay organized.
3. Get motivated.
4. Be realistic.
5. Visit the career center.
To read the article in detail: http://news.yahoo.com/5-tips-battle-college-senioritis-181445141.html
Together, we can find a cure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)