Be who you want to be.

but how?

Some people are extroverted. Some people are introverted. Some people drink a lot. Some people smoke a lot. Some people get highly involved in whatever they're doing. Some people keep to themselves and soul search.

I feel like life is like finding the right recipe of actions, substances, and relationships and implementing them all properly enough and in the right order to eventually, without even trying, create the person you want to be. It's a recipe you don't know, and you have to test the recipe using various ingredients, so you end up trying over and over and over.

Ugh, this epiphany sounded so much more eloquent in my head.


Honestly, it's the "outgoing personality" that baffles me.
Whenever I hang out with someone dashingly outgoing, regal, and clever, I just wonder, HOW DO YOU DO IT?!

I'm not talking about the ordinary "outgoing" I'm talking about the "outgoing" that makes it obvious that everyone in the room likes this outgoing person. Everyone wants to talk to him/her, everyone likes what he/she has to say, he/she feels comfortable around the majority of people, et cetera.

One reason I got into psychology is because my entire life I've always been interested in HOW people become just WHO THEY ARE. In counseling classes it was amazing learning about how influential life experiences and growing up are on the adult's personality/psychology.

I feel too young and naïve to really understand this concept; even if the answer sat itself in my lap... But I want to, so badly.

3:24am 24 December 2011

ADD.
Whether I have it or not, I sure as heck know that I suffer from attention problems.
I just want to sit here and write a quality blog post.
I just want to sit here and let it all out.
Let it all out and organize itself.
But I can't.
My brain is everywhere all at one time.
It's hard enough to form these sentences.
Maybe it's the time of night.
Maybe it's the naïvety of my age.
But I can't seem to make this ink stay.

Handling relationships

One of the hardest things about relationships, is that we all have our own opinions. Sometimes, we have our own opinions about how relationships are supposed to be handled.

A handful of situations in my life have caused me to build up an unbreakable wall. My most personal/secret information is not allowed out.

Of course, I shoot my mouth off about unimportant things, surface level things. But other things, certain things, I will never reveal again, thanks to a difference in relationship handling opinions.

That said, I don't have much time to make a long post about it, so check back, and hopefully I'll have gone more in depth about it.

The Story of Stuff

Pride is not a feeling I feel very often, but last night, when my (University Program Board National Events) committee and I implemented an incredible, intellectual event we've been planning for months, I couldn't help but show my pride in the biggest grin stretched across my face.

Before you continue reading this post, please take 20 minutes of your time and go to www.storyofstuff.org and watch, at least, The Story of Stuff.  Annie Leonard is the director of the Story of Stuff project, and the featured speaker for the documentary you just watched. As you can read on the website, she traveled the world for 20 years researching STUFF: where it comes from, how its made, how we use it, and finally, where it goes when we dispose of it.

Before I saw this documentary, I had my eyes were opened wide when I was living in Chile and I realized how less wasteful Chileans were in comparison to United Statesians.  In common chilean homes, their garbage containers weren't as big as ours, and there weren't as many. My host mom would take her re-usable bags and cart down to the market to buy fresh fruit a couple of times a week. They never bought anything unless they NEEDED it. My host mom made a lot of clothes and crafts. It sure was a different world there...

Anyway, I had to watch the Story of Stuff documentary in my Human Relations 102 course in 2010.  Ever since then, I've more often considered the "reduce, reuse, recycle" methodology. First, see if it can be reduced. Do you really need it? Don't buy it. Do you really need 3 servings of this food? Save it for someone who actually needs it. Second, reuse everything that you can. And this means avoiding disposable items. Its hard though, when industries purposefully TRY to make things disposable, especially so that you buy a new one or latest model every few months. Finally, recycle. When you've used something to its last thread of life, search for a way to recycle it before throwing it in the trash, where it will end up in a landfill.

The National Events committee that I facilitate invited Annie Leonard to SCSU to screen her documentary and speak about her travels and knowledge on sustainability and being environmentally conscious. I wish I could have somehow recorded the entire event, because I wish I could somehow share it with all of you. Annie is an incredible and skilled speaker and it was such a high honor to have her on our campus. Over 350 students came to this event, and my committee and I couldn't have been happier with how smoothly it went.  Several students and faculty stayed when she was done, even after the Q&A, in order to speak with her.

Possibly the most incredible part of her speech was that through her messages about the world going to shit, people needing to be more active in sustainability, and how bad things are looking for the near future, she remained and continues to remain so entirely HOPEFULL.  Her smile and excitement never faltered, on and off stage. She is truly someone I look up to and will never forget. Its hard to believe I got to meet her and spend alone time with her, discussing college, students, and green initiatives.

Interesting fact...
About 3 minutes into the event, so 3 minutes in to the documentary, a woman stormed out of the auditorium. WHen I asked her what was wrong, she muttered between clenched teeth somethign along the lines of "This is why there is so much hate.... *grumble grumble* ... and *** occupy wall street *grumble grumble." I think the part she walked out on was probably where the documentary talks about the wasted money poured into the US military... I'm not really sure what her problem was... but it excited me that I helped facilitate an event on campus that sparked controversy.

I wish I was more eloquent with my words; though, no matter how I post about the event, I'll never feel like it will sufficiently represent how life-changing and amazing this event/speaker was for me.

In all,
I found a reason to take pride in my position with UPB and future aspirations. I got the chance to meet someone I look up to, aspire to be, and respect. I successfully implemented an event that I'm going to be proud of for the rest of my life.

A few committee members, my adviser, Zach, and Annie Leonard, after the event. She is the biggest sweetheart!