Happy Friday!
The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and the temperature was on point. In other words, it was practically perfect day. I hope you got a chance to enjoy the beautiful weather. If not, tomorrow's forecast looks to be something like today. Everybody could use a little bit of vitamin D.
It's official! I'm all moved in the house that I'm renting with three other girls. All I need now is to continue to settle in and few other things. "Adulting" at its finest. I get a feeling of accomplishment and growing up, but as Uncle Ben said in Spider-Man, "With great power comes great responsibility." I know I have more bills added to my budget, but for one, this is challenging me to budget my money even more, and for two, it's most definitely worth it to have independence and a place to call my own (or a fourth of, anyway) for the time being.
There are a few people I need to thank before I get to my post. I want to take the time to thank my cousin, Robert, and his girlfriend, Kathy, for housing me last week while the house was being cleaned. I need to thank my aunt, Jan, and another cousin, Sarah, for helping me out with giving me dishes, pots, pans, silverware, bowls, utensils, and more. I need to thank my aunt, Judy, and uncle, Gerry, for hauling all the stuff I got from Sarah to my brother's place. I need to thank my parents and siblings for helping me move in. I'm truly grateful and blessed to have these people in my life.
Since birth, there were expectations for us and of us. We are expected to learn how to speak, how to spell, how to throw a ball, how to act during certain times and at certain places, and others. These are straight forward or implied by parents, siblings, relatives, friends, seemingly random strangers, teachers, law officials and more.
Detailing the purposes for all these expectations are not for me to list because everyone has different motivations or reasons why they set them. In general, though, they are set for safety, efficiency of day-to-day life, motivation, to hold people accountable and more.
We have different expectations for different people in our lives. We expect our friends to have backs and stand up for us when they know we might be wrong. We expect our family to stand by us when times are tough and be there for us when we need help. We expect our teachers to help us learn.
On the other side of the argument, the people in our lives have expectations of us. We must always try to remember that just as we have expectations of others, they have expectations of us.
This, most of the time, is hold the people in our lives accountable. It's good, healthy even, to have expectations, especially high ones. If you're waiting for the but, here it is. But we need to understand and be flexible if someone doesn't meet those high expectations and also we need to need to draw the line when you've reached your breaking point and can't make any more excuses.
Until next week,
Thought of the day
Happy Sunday!
AND
Hoppy Easter!
Happy Easter, my readers! Did you catch the cheesy pun? Because I have been saying that to everyone today. People are probably getting tired of, but I don't care because I love puns too much. I hope everyone is enjoying this day regardless if you are religious or not. The weather isn't that great today (cold and chilly), but it's better than snow.
I realize the last couple of weeks, including this one, have been late. Friday: I registered for fall classes (adulting=success) and humanities test (ehhh). Saturday: worked and went home. Sunday: working, but I have time to write a post. And I want to apologize for this. My life has been hard and stressful the last couple of weeks. It has been crazy, but I'm going to try harder to get the posts out on time. Thank you for your patience with me!
Here's the link to my latest Odyssey article: An Open Letter To My Sister Graduating College.
I wanted to do something a little differently with this post and see how it goes. Recently, I read an article from a fellow Odyssey writer at UNI. It is titled It's OK To Walk Away. The article is spot on, and even brings up some points I hadn't even thought of. It got me thinking how some people are meant to come into your life, teach you a thing or two, but maybe are not necessarily meant to stay. Now, I am a firm believer in "keep trying and keep putting effort in", particularly specific to marriage; something I've learned from observing my grandparents, parents, and other couples. I guess I've overlooked the life fact that sometimes our best isn't good enough. We can try and try and keep trying but it's simply not enough. There comes a point when we need to ask ourselves a serious question: "Is it time to walk away?"And answer it honestly. This is where the article is amazing and insightful.
In Marketing, I learned about the Consumer Buying Process; the first step is problem recognition or when there is a difference between desired and actual states. It's the same in life. We realize there is something wrong. Just like consumers look for a product, we look for ways to try to make it right. Sometimes there are not products to help the desired state, and sometimes we reach the point to where we've tried and tried but nothing's changing and need to move on.
There's a stigma that comes with the decision to walk away. It's means you've failed or you weren't enough. THESE ARE FALSE. That is our brain deceiving us. Failing? No. We tried, therefore we didn't fail to do anything, to not try anything. Not enough? No, you are enough, but the other person's changed and you have no control over that.
This next part is an (short) open letter to everyone who's realized they needed to walk away from a situation or person.
Dear people who didn't stay my life,
It hurt to walk away from you or you walked away. It hurt to shut the door. It hurt to know that I lost someone who, maybe at one point, was an important person in my life, and with whom there are amazing and wonderful memories and experiences that I don't regret.
I don't wish you harm or terrible things. In fact, I wish you well. My decision to walk away didn't have to do with anger. While I don't have to explain it to you, my decision to walk away had to do with me realizing that what I deserve and the current situation wasn't it or couldn't give me it.
Your chapter in my life story is over and my chapter in your life story is over. We can go our separate ways for the better. Because we both shouldn't settle for anything less short of being happy.
Sincerely,
Me
Until next week,
Thought of the day
Happy Friday!
If your week was anything like mine, you most definitely deserve to treat yourself, because, in general, my week was pretty crappy with 3 tests, 1 paper, and 1 group dance project and being awoken at 5:15am for a fire alarm on Wednesday morning. You know what? I got ice cream; it wasn't 4 Queens level of ice cream, but it was a treat nonetheless. So. The point is: treat yourself.
Next week at this time, I will be at home, enjoying the presence of my kitty and my family and away from classes, work, campus, and generally all adult responsibilities that comes with being a college student. No, I won't be spending my Spring Break in partying Florida for two reasons: one, I'm a broke, and two, I'm not a big fan of crowds/partying. Hence why I will be working for most of the break. I'm a real dare-devil.
My latest Odyssey article link: 15 Things Only Fangirls Get.
In the last couple of weeks, I have come to a realization about college. Sure, classes and dealing with some professors and even co-workers (not mine, of course, I have awesome co-workers) can be difficult, generating feelings of frustration or anger. Although, I believe there's something that's even more challenging than those things. Actually it's probably most likely the overlaying cause or theme in a couple of those things.
Not everyone was raised the way you were.
You might be sarcastically thinking, "No, really, Melissa." It's true, though. It's also easy to think that when it's not happening to you. (Like most things in life.)
If you're a frequent reader of this blog of mine, you know how much I love and appreciate my family. I'm so very blessed with a family such as mine. My parents, who didn't have the easiest childhood, know the value of hard work, spending money practically, honesty, a good work ethic, being courteous and kind to others, and many other admirable traits and characteristics. Just like the good parents they are, they wanted to make sure my siblings and I learned and realized how important it is to have those traits and others. (And I'd like to think they succeeded.) How my parents taught us those traits wasn't always a walk in the park; in fact, they were, and continue to be, hard lessons learned. Many times, I couldn't always realize or see what they were trying to teach me. All they've taught me is one of the many things I'm thankful for and something I'll never regret the experiences and hope to pass onto kids of my own someday (in the very distant future).
But not everyone experienced all that I have and I haven't experienced all that everyone has. It can be a hard truth to swallow. Not everyone I help at the library is as courteous as I was raised to be, and I grin and bear it. Not everyone was raised to be kind and do something nice for a stranger, especially when it might slightly inconvenience you. Not everyone was taught to respect co-workers and supervisors and do as you're instructed. Not everyone was raised to not recklessly spend money as soon as they get paid and learn how to save it in case of a rainy day. Maybe most importantly, not everyone was raised to think of others and their feelings before yourself.
Everyone is different, yes. Everyone experienced life a little differently, yes. Is it frustrating when you wonder why someone doesn't know that a harsh truth is better than any sugar-coated lie? Is it hard when you wonder why someone doesn't know that actions speak louder than words; that apologies require a change? Yes. Hell yes, it is. This happens with roommates, best friends, friends, co-workers, and anyone else you come into contact with on any given day. What's probably even harder is accepting and understanding differences in values, opinions, and etc. The good thing is, though, this a life-long process.
Until next week,
Thought of the day
Happy Friday!
If you're reading this, you survived part one of the holiday season, and that is awesome. Go get yourself something for making it this far.
Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! Happy Boxing Day! Happy what ever you celebrate, if you celebrate this time of the year!
This is my last blog post of 2015. So, I would briefly like to reflect about what this blog has done for me, what I learned, what this writing means to me and for other people. Kerra (my current roommate and future housemate!) sort of inspired me with her own blog to create my own. It took awhile to get the general layout and sometimes the topics were a little hard for me. This blog taught me that the "best way to cure writer's block is to keeping on writing even if you end rambling about how your cat likes to meow at random objects." Okay, so that never happened to me (at least, not yet...), but the point still stands. Keep on writing even if it doesn't make much sense. Recently, a friend from high school and who I talk to on a semi-regularly basis in collage pointed something out to me about my last post. He sent me the actual quote I was referring to, and he thanked me for writing my posts. Starting out (and for the future), I didn't care how much my posts were read; all I cared about is being able to write what happens to be on my mind that week. Thank you from my heart for reading! It means so much to me.
Yes, as the title suggests, I turned 20 on Monday. When friends and family ask me what I want for Christmas and my birthday, I never know what to say because I have everything I need/want: supportive, loving, sarcastic family and friends. The rest is replaceable if lost or destroyed, but the wonderful people in my life are not. From birth, to age 10, to age 20 (respectively), there have been many people coming and going from my life and there are many people in my life consistently and there are many people in my life currently. I'm grateful for each and everyone of them because they have knowingly or unknowingly shaped who I am today. Thank you, everyone.
With 2015 coming to a close and 2016 looming around the corner, many people are split: reminiscing all the good and bad about the year and looking ahead to the new year for all the changes we wish to implement. I don't think we think how much we do this. Perhaps you realized you aren't happy with the way you look, so you decide you want to eat better or walk 20 minutes in the morning. Perhaps you realized you haven't enjoyed the smaller and often go unnoticed moments, so you decide to slow down and take a deep breath of everyday life.
Reminiscing and looking ahead is in itself a paradox. Usually we do either one or another. For some, we live our lives always looking ahead or always looking behind or some even live their lives looking ahead to keep up and only looking back for guidance or past experience when we need advice. No matter how you live your life, it's almost impossible to not think about the past and look forward around the holidays.
My challenge for you is to stick to your resolutions for more than just 2 weeks and incorporate the change into your day-to-day life.
Until next time,
Thought of the day
Happy Friday!
It's Friday once again, readers! And I'm just going to say it. FINALLY. This week seemed long, and I'm glad it's over...for the most part. I hope everyone had a good week, and if they didn't, I hope you have a relaxing weekend.
A quick update on my life. It's been stressful this past week, and next week and the following week will be the same way. But after my last final on Thursday, I will be officially done with the semester! THEN CHRISTMAS BREAK.
Here's the latest articles I've published on The Odyssey Online: 10 Things College Students Are Thankful For and Life Lessons In How The Grinch Stole Christmas.
Countdown until Christmas break: 14 days.
Onto today's post topic. There is a couple of things I wanted to talk about but with they sort of overlap so I will just combine them in one big monster post.
A past professor posted a status about one of her students receiving some terrible news and asking for prayers. This status made me stop to rethink my week. While I was on the struggle bus all week with allergies and stressing over projects and tests, this student received the worst news so close to Christmas. As college students nearing finals week, we often get caught up between studying, procrastinating, complaining about our finals, worrying and stressing over tests, and other things. And we forget that others around us are facing bigger challenges than a test or project. I'm not saying that's a bad thing; I know all too well of just trying to get myself through the days and not thinking about others and their struggles.
This is the season of giving and being thankful. My mom always told me that classic line "it's better to give than to receive". As a wee child, I didn't understand it, but as I have grown over the years, I realize it's true. Giving someone a gift, whether it's homemade or bought from a store, and seeing their eyes light up because they are surprised and overcome with joy is one of the most amazing feelings, in my opinion. It's one of the reasons why I love giving people gifts because when I get the chance to make someone's day with something they really wanted or always wanted (and maybe couldn't afford to buy it) or something they need, I love when their eyes light up, they have a huge grin on their face, and generally look like they are on cloud nine.
To tie back into the first paragraph, I have only recently understood that "it's better to give than to receive" doesn't only apply to physical items but also to non-tangible items like praying for someone who needs it or listening to someone vent if they had a bad day or giving someone a hug if they look like need one and so on. So instead of worrying about my problems, I will take the time to pray for anyone needs it, listen to anyone who needs a listening ear, and give anyone a hug who needs one.
Until next week,
Thought of the day
Happy Friday!
For some of my readers, they had to work today, and for the others, they had the day off. Either way, it's the weekend! I hope those who shopped today didn't die and got the deals they wanted.
As I write this, I'm watching the Iowa vs. Nebraska football game and I realize my break is almost over. Which is sort of saddening because I feel like I have wasted it or haven't used as a break. My break has consisted of reading and/or doing homework, helping my parents around the house, visiting/spending time with family and friends, and sleeping but mostly doing reading.
Black Friday. Did I go shopping today? Nope. Did I go shopping Thursday? Nope. If that surprises you, you must not know me as well as you might think you do. To begin with, I'm not a huge fan of shopping. Now add twice as many people, and you wouldn't see me anywhere near a store. Fighting other people for the same items to only save a little? Nope. That's not my main reason.
What gets me is the day before, Thanksgiving, is for being thankful for what we do have, and the very next day, we need to shop for more and more things. In recent years, this pandemic has gotten worse with stores opening up on Thanksgiving. Rather than enjoying the day off with family and/or friends, many people would rather shop. Sure, there is the argument that they are spending time with family. The only question I have for them is: is it really worth fighting others for the same gifts in the end?
To me, I would rather spend time with family without being rushed and doing something I actually like doing.
But if that's what you like to do, then keep doing what you want to do.
Until next week,
Thought of the day
Happy Friday!
Guess what? You made it through another week. Treat yo self however you want, whether that's a half hour nap or getting a pint of Ben and Jerry's to eat while you're watching a movie or both.
Me? Right now at this moment, I have a sinus headache, stuffed-up nose and a runny nose, and a sore throat. I will try to keep this article relatively short so I can nap and maybe eat some ice cream or drink tea to soothe my sore throat. Yep, those are my plans as a college student on a Friday night. Allergies suck. If you didn't know that already.
My latest Odyssey articles link are here and here. I hope you enjoy them!
Fast. We live life in the fast lane. It's hard for us to slow down. Why? We hate being left behind.
We often forget that we need to slow down every now and again. A car can't forever run on E. Not only is that bad for the engine, but also it hurts. We are the same way. When we are always running from place to place without slowing down, it's mentally and physically painful and/or exhausting.
When we finally run out of gas, we just can't go anywhere until we refill our "tanks". However you relax is completely up to you; just make sure you do it. I'm not sure if this happens to anybody else, but when my allergies flare up or get sick, I feel like it's my body telling me, "Melissa, you need to slow down and recuperate." Or when I had my wisdom teeth out, I needed to slow down and to give myself time to recover. It wasn't easy for me to sit around and not being able to get back to going from one thing to the next.
So, how am I slowing down? I'm taking the time to thankful just a few of the many important people in my life for being there: my parents, my siblings, my aunts and uncles, my grandparents, cousins, friends, mentors, and awesome co-workers. I'm truly blessed when it comes to people mentioned above; they put up with my Grumpy Cat obsession, my bouncing-off-the-wall personality when I've had too much coffee/caffeine, my delayed reactions when I'm going on less than 5 hours of sleep, my addiction to coffee or anything that has even a little bit of caffeine, my habit of talking to myself more than what's normal, and etc.
Until next week,
Thought of the day
Happy Friday!
Guess what? You made it through another week of life. And if that's not something to celebrate, I don't know what to tell you. It's been quite a week for me, and I'm ready for a break. Strangely, I'm usually always ready for the weekend.
Here's the links to my latest articles from The Odyssey.
A little update on my life. On Wednesday, I had an interview with STEM on campus for a student communications assistant position. It went as well it could, and I'm hoping things will work out like they should. If I get the position, it would be an amazing opportunity for me. If not, I can take comfort in knowing I tried and I gained more experience with interviews. I'm just trying to keep a positive mindset.
Also on Wednesday, my big brother, Billy, turned 26 years old! It's hard to find the words to describe how much I love this guy. He's been there for me when I had my accident and whenever I needed advice about anything from car troubles to stressing over classes. He's not perfect (no one is), but he's taught me right from wrong, how to be sarcastic, how to ride a bike, and so much more.
Thank you for always being you, Billy!
"Bro.ther (person): 1. a role model for learning how to be a good person. 2. a model to compare potential boyfriends against. 3. a best friend for life."
Onto my topic of this post which is....I don't know. I know I have called wolf many times when it comes to saying that. There are too many thoughts going through my mind for to pick just one to talk about.
Okay. After procrastinating long enough, I decided on a topic. This topic is something that many people take for granted sometimes and play a big part in our lives. We sometimes forget to take the time to thank them for all they put up with. Something I have touched on a little bit already.
Siblings
I realize that not some people are not as fortunate as I am with two older siblings. Sometimes I forget to thank them for all they have taught me, all the good and bad times, all the crap they have had and continue to put up with me, all the love and support I have received, and all the times they needed to snap me out a bad mood.
Sometimes, we fight like no other which makes my mom just shake her head most of the time. But there are other times we are getting along, laughing, and just enjoying time with each other. It's those times where my mom just looks between us and smiles that secret smile of hers. I have thought about that smile so many times and what it might mean. My theory is that she's happy and content with her children getting along and experiencing what it is like to means to have someone who will be there no matter what.
I saw somewhere that asked the question, "Do you ever look at someone and they could be doing the simplest thing and think to yourself, 'Man, I really love you.'" That happens with my siblings and extended to my family. Sometimes I love just watching them all getting along, making memories, enjoying each others company, and I am completely content with my life in those moments.
Thank you, Rachel and Billy for putting up with me.
P.S. You are sort of stuck with me either way.
Until next week,
Thought of the day
Happy Friday!
I would like to take a moment to thank each and every one who reads my blog. Whether it's every once in a while or every post, it means the world to me that people want to hear what I have to say. It's an amazing and empowering feeling. I can finally say: "I have a voice, and this is what it's saying!"
Thank you for giving me that feeling!
In the spirit of being thankful, I would like to take the time to list only some of the many things I have to do thankful for.*
*In no particular order :)
Things I have been blessed with:
a FAMILY who loves and supports me
a few FRIENDS who I can count on being there when it matters
a JOB that I can make money and be given the experience
a ROOF and BED to stay and sleep
the OPPORTUNITY to get an education
the A/C on hot days like today
all the SACRIFICES people have made for me
ELECTRICITY to allow me to charge and power anything I need
WI-FI and/or INTERNET that allows me to connect to other people
BOOKS when I need an escape from life
MUSIC when I need to get out of my head for a little while
GOD and all the ANGELS in heaven looking out for me every day
I could go on forever (okay, maybe not forever) but that wouldn't necessarily be a good use of a post.
We take things and people for granted. Don't deny it. I can't deny that fact any more than I can deny the fact my name is Melissa Curtis.
I don't mean any harsh feelings by saying that. It's a fact or statement that is open to interpretation. Whether we mean to or not, we do take things and people for granted. We forget that life does not owe anything. The same can be (most of the time) said about people. Being a good father or mother or sister or brother or friend is a choice. Meaning, they don't have to be to you.
It's for this reason that we have days like Mother's Day and Father's Day and the lesser-known Grandparent's Day. We take advantage of the fact they will always be there. There will be times when they can't be there or are no longer able to be there for us.
This does not only to parents and grandparents. This applies to everyone: friends, family, pets, teachers, professors, mentors, godparents, doctors, nurses, dentists, etc. Or basically everyone in your life or who have ever been or will be in your life. Please remember to thank them for all they do. They all have helped shape who you are today.
If you read this and all you see on the news are terrible things, click here and read the article. Here is your one good piece of news. A nice reminder that there are good people out in this world that is seemingly full of hate and destruction.
Sometimes we underestimate what a simple "thank you" will do.
Until next Friday,
Thought of the day
