Dangling with Drive

Every time I start to think about a blog post, I consider how much has happened in my life since the last time I reflected on it. Each day I try to have a worthwhile experience and really live a purpose driven life because within the last year that has been instilled in me as a great way to drive yourself towards your goals.

As I was thinking about this post, it became clear to me how monotonous life can become. I think a whole lot about my future goals in life but I have no clear direction on how to reach the desired outcome. So instead of driving myself every day to learn something new or challenge myself to become a more purpose driven individual, I get into this routine that seems pointless.

I guess it could be a side effect of this transition period of my life. But since I don’t have a direction right now, I have started to consider that I might walk off this campus with a few more regrets that I was expecting. Was I involved enough? Did I really experience everything this town has to offer? Did I invest enough time in this campus that I will forever call my home? These questions arise from my feelings of disconnect with major parts of this university. Of course, I have checked the box on many of the typical experiences that UGA students are supposed to have but have I really driven myself to think outside of the box with my own college education?

I have a short four and half months left in a place that I am not sure I ever want to leave and to be honest, that scares me. It scares me enough to change my attitude. I want to feel that constant drive to work towards my goal. I want to be able to say that I sucked all of the life out of my education and the opportunities it afforded to me. I want to be able to say that even though there were weeks when I didn’t feel that deep down motivation to live life to the fullest, when the pendulum started to swing in the other direction I didn’t want to look back at the monotony.

My goal of 2012 was to live life to the fullest and even though it’s not time for my reflection, I think I succeeded until the tides turned in a different direction. This transition period in my life is going to make for a very interesting 2013 because in a matter of 12 months my life is probably going to change multiple times and each time I am going to have to reflect on my purpose and continue to feed my inner passion.

In my leadership program, we had a speaker come talk about his career at Chick-fil-A and he mentioned that my generation is so different from his because we talk about passion constantly and his main focus in college was to get a job. So what if you didn’t enjoy it? My generation is going to be the group of people who either leave an organization if our values don’t align or build up this inner drive to influence the organization significantly in our favor. I want to make sure that I have that inner drive and that I am making sure my activities are aligning with the passions that make my come alive inside.

I guess the point of this post is that times of transition lead to great opportunities to experience everything that life has to offer. In terms of one door closing and another one opening, I want that closed door to be the exit of an empty room and I want to be stepping into a room full of possibilities. And I guess thinking about my how I haven’t been taking advantage of life recently, I want to reignite my drive to live life to the fullest and not let my laziness lead to regrets and unfulfilled opportunities.

Dangling through Thanksgiving

The holiday season is upon us again and this year I am really trying to focus on the reason for the season rather than the commercialized aspects of the time between Thanksgiving and New Years.

I think one of the most interesting parts of this time of year is learning about everyone else's traditions. My extended family is always together for both holidays. We usually have about 25-30 people attend our Thanksgiving dinner but this year that number was about half. I think due to the smaller crowd around our table, it made me realize that many people celebrate with just their families or groups of friends that they are not related to. I have been fortunate to have all of those people around me at one Thanksgiving meal. I am realizing that as my life changes over the next few years, my traditions will have to adjust.

That is why I would like to take a moment to reflect on all of the aspects of my life that I am thankful for because I don't want to lose sight of what is really important during this holiday season.

• Family: without any of these people I would not be the person that I am and I know that no matter what happens they will always be beside me
• Friends: I have been fortunate to cross paths with so many different people in my life and I am just now realizing how much of an impact each of these people can make. I want to continue to make sure that I am investing in worthwhile relationships and make sure that moving forward I take opportunities to meet new people.
• Education: I feel fortunate to be able to attend an outstanding university that has afforded me with too many opportunities to count. I am grateful that someone identified me as a student who wants to change the world and gave me the chance to start learning about how I can. I know there are people who do not have this chance and I do not want to take for granted this opportunity.
• Job: I am so grateful that I have accepted an offer for an internship for next summer. I was so worried that I wasn't going to have this type of opportunity and I am excited to learn so much in this role. I know this job is going to lead me in an amazing direction and I can't wait to see how much I grow.
• Worries: I know this one is strange but I see these worries as a positive aspect of my life. I am naturally a worry wart and tend to stress about things I can't control or things that are not worth stressing over. I am grateful for these worries because it means that I am so blessed. If I stopped worrying, life would go on and be blissful but these worries just signal to me that I can push myself to achieve more and help the greater good, and for that I am grateful.
• Culture: probably another strange one. I am grateful for the way I was raised and the values that my parents have instilled in me. I am grateful for the fact that I can have my own tastes in XYZ and even though people might disagree with me, I am still allowed to have an opinion. I am grateful that every person I meet has their own views of culture and it creates a better society as a whole.
• God: I am so grateful that God has given me such a wonderful life and given me the chance to be grateful for so many things. My religion has been a constant struggle in college because I know I have become closer to God but I am not necessarily showing it on a daily/weekly basis. I feel fortunate to believe that someone is always watching out for me and hope that my actions can start to reflect this attitude.

Obviously, these are a lot of the basic aspects of life that everyone is thankful for but I wanted to write them down in my own terms. I hope everyone had a glorious Thanksgiving and takes a moment to reflect on why they are thankful!