Life After Undergrad: What now?

Have you ever finished a book or a TV series and then looked up and thought ā€œwhat do I do now?ā€. That was the exact thought I had the first day I was able to go right home after work. What do I do with all this free time? Should I start knitting? What is life without college like? Iā€™d been in school for 80% of my 20’s and I got so accustomed to being in that student state of mind that this whole commute and “call it a day” lifestyle was new to me. I decided (like I mentioned in my first post) to start taking better care of me. Cooking at home, getting back into the gym and trying to focus on the plus and not the minus.

Meal prepping for me was a whole new world. Iā€™d never been super into cooking or baking so I decided to start simple; chicken, veggies and some brown rice or quinoa. Well, I ended up eating this for about 3 weeks straight for lunch until a co-worker said ā€œSam, are you on some special diet?ā€ Well, I kind of was the ā€œI have no idea how to cookā€ diet, but that was a wake up call for me; it was time to try new dishes. So with the help of my best friend, Mariah, I ventured into simple step meal making.

My first creation was chicken tortellini, Alfredo, which, if I do say so myself was delish. Now If you don’t believe me, I also fed this to my mom and co-workers and nobody died–so there’s that. Iā€™m sort of lazy when it comes to cleaning pots and pans but making that was shockingly easy, so the next adventure is going to be pasta salad or penne-vodka– we will see. But this endeavor into cooking is just a sign of the change in times because a year ago instead of wrangling tortellini Iā€™d have been in lecture, or running from work to class. Now I have some time to explore skills and other things that I just never had the time for– and itā€™s exciting. I look forward to seeing what else comes with this new phase of life and I canā€™t wait to share it with my readers too!

Virtues from Motherhood: Life after undergrad

Happy New Year OpenLab! I’m writing my first blog as an official City Tech alumna! If you’ve followed my blog for a while you know my long journey to this point in my life, and how significant this milestone is for me. So, I’m thinking from here on out you’ll know my blog as ā€œLife after Undergradā€.

That being said, I have to be perfectly honest and admit that being a graduate doesn’t feel super different but it does look different. For the first time in nearly ten years I’m not rushing off to class after work and I’m not spending hours on a Sunday afternoon writing papers and studying. It feels like I have all this time I’ve never had before and I’m not always sure what to do with it, but I decided this year I was going to get organized, make a plan and stick to it!

I started by chucking my old planner, as much as I loved it, it was time to start fresh. I ordered a brand new planner with daily goals and to do lists and I set myself some goals and aspirations. First I started with simple stuff, drink more water, do one fun thing for myself a week. Then I tackled my bigger goals, like getting back in shape, and finding a full-time job with my degree. I won’t lie, looking for a job is terrifying because although I know I have the skills and ability I’m jumping into a whole new pond with much bigger fish. I plan to approach job hunting with an open mind and an optimistic spirit and start networking and building my professional contacts.

But enough about me, City Tech! How was your New Year? What are some of your goals and aspirations in 2018, what habits are you trying to break and which ones are you trying to start? Let me know in the comments below!

Virtues from Motherhood: A promise for 2018

With 2018 just two weeks away I want to devote my last blog of the semester to a promise. A promise to smile more and laugh louder, a promise to stop and breathe life in a little longer and a promise to be a little kinder to ourselves in 2018. The last two years have been ones of great change and endurance and reshaping who I want to be as a woman. I have learned that the relationship I have with myself is by far the most important one there is and I need to protect and preserve that before I can do for others. Here are the promises I am making to myself for 2018ā€¦.

  • Learn your limits:Ā Sometimes you just need to say no and put yourself first, and thatā€™s okay. You canā€™t please everyone all the time and you canā€™t neglect your own well-being for the benefit of others. Take a minute to take stock of your limits and donā€™t be afraid to put your foot down and protect them, people who canā€™t respect your limits, donā€™t respect you.
  • Be kinder to yourself:Ā Everyone fails sometimes, everyone has a bad day and everyone is going to make a mistake. Donā€™t beat yourself up over this, own up to it, clean up the mess and keep going with your head held high. Your mistakes donā€™t define you, how you handle it does. Be kinder to yourself when you have a bad day, take a breather and do better tomorrow.
  • Aim high:Ā Donā€™t let anyone tell you that you canā€™t do something. Set goals for yourself and go for them, anyone who tries to stop you is threatened by your ambitions. If you want to go back to school, go, if you want to double major, go for it, if you want to change careers and start over, do it. Remember this is your life and you hold the reins.
  • Ask for help:Ā Nobody likes to admit they canā€™t do something but every now and then we need a helping hand. It might be with a work project or it might just be a shoulder to cry on, either way know when to ask. Asking for help doesnā€™t make you weak or inferior it means you knew yourself well enough to know you were starting to sink.

As I look back on 2017 I think of all the goals I set last year. While some of them have collected dust this year other ones have blossomed. I think the goal I most achieved this year is self-care. I was finally able to admit I needed help and I got it; and Iā€™m on the mend, yesterday, today and going forward. I still have so much time to grow and meet my goals but my main one right now, is making sure I live my best life, every single day.

I wish all my readers a happy and health holiday season, I’ll see you in the New Year!

Virtues from Motherhood: The road ahead

ā€˜Where youā€™ve been is nothing compared to where youā€™re going.ā€

I repeat this to myself on those days I feel the weight of my past slowing me down. Some days, itā€™s hard not to count up the times things didnā€™t go your way, or the times you wish you couldā€™ve done things different. On occasion, I find myself lost in thought, or missing priceless moments with people who are no longer a part of my journey. I miss the “good oleā€™ days” and the simplicity of those moments where the short comings didnā€™t matter; but then I remember whatā€™s to come.

I still have so many memories to make and so many laughs to be had that those lost moments seem less heavy. I used to think the future would never come, and like many kids I couldnā€™t wait to grow up and live life. Now that itā€™s here I wonder why on earth I rushed this phenomenon we call life and why I didnā€™t look at the bigger picture sooner. Too often we get lost in the little things, the small stuff and donā€™t remember that we still have a great big world out in front of us. Someone once told me that what matters for 5 minutes today wonā€™t even be remembered 5 years from now, and they were right. Things that I lost sleep over even three years ago are totally irrelevant to me today, and Iā€™m sure the things that I toss and turn over tonight will be a distant memory in a yearsā€™ time.

I guess what Iā€™m trying to say is take today with a grain of salt, dust yourself and keep moving. Try not to stress over the things that are out of your hands and accept what was, and look forward to what will be. Forgive yourself when you fail and applaud yourself when you succeed, you are your biggest fan. The love you have for yourself will radiate to others and only you can set the tone for tomorrow and beyond, make that tone as positive as it can be.

Virtues from Motherhood: What Iā€™ve learned from a decade in college

If youā€™ve followed my blog for a while you know Iā€™ve been in college for a bit, ten years to be exact. In 2008, I began my college journey and in June 2018 I will walk across that stage to complete it. In that time, my life has gone through several transformations and seen some trying moments, as well as triumphant ones. I have learned so much about myself as well, what Iā€™m good at, and what Iā€™m not, and most of all how to love myself. I started college as a naive 18-year-old with little to no humility but I will finish it as a woman with grace and self-assurance.

For the earlier part of my college career I had no idea who I was or where I was going; I didnā€™t believe in myself or my dreams. I had been told ā€œnoā€ so many times and been shot down for things I thought I was good at that I stopped caring. I slowly learned however, that all things happen in due time and some things can only come with age. You canā€™t rush the process and you canā€™t skip steps and sometimes, youā€™ll even have to repeat them. Repeating a step was something I was venomously against for years, often dodging things I needed to do or complete out of fear or immaturity, avoiding taking responsibility for my short comings.

Itā€™s not all bad, though; I have these experiences to share with my readers, my friends and most importantly my daughter. I have the wisdom and the personal experience to guide others and hopefully make a difference in their lives. This ample time spent in college has helped shape who I am and what I want to do with my life and it has reaffirmed my love of writing.

  • I have learned that I am destined to help others, if not by any other means than with my words.
  • I have learned to be patient and trust that everything happens for a reason.
  • I have learned not to take on the burdens of others and that itā€™s okay to say no sometimes.
  • I have learned to be selfish, with my time and energy because other peopleā€™s negativity can poison my peace of mind.
  • I have learned that not everyone has the same mentality I do and thatā€™s okay.
  • I have learned to be sure of myself and stand for what I believe in.
  • I have learned that there isnā€™t always a right answer, sometimes there are shades of grey.
  • I have learned that itā€™s okay to not be okay and to ask for help when you need it.
  • Most of all, I have learned that life goes on.

In the past decade, I have endured things I never thought Iā€™d have to. I had to navigate life roles that usually happen consecutively; all at the same time. I juggled being a mother, being a student and holding a full-time job. I had to raise a little girl as a single mother and make choices for her education when I was still making choices for myself. Some days I felt like quitting, like giving up and just walking away, but I kept pressing forward. If I had to sum up my journey in just one word I would say, invaluable. This journey has been invaluable in more ways than one, but the main one is experience and that is something I could never trade or replace, and I am glad that I have that experience to shape my future.

Virtues from Motherhood: Everyone makes mistakes

Have you ever said or done something and then a second later wished you could take it back? I have, and Iā€™m sure everyone can share my dislike of ā€œputting your foot in your mouthā€ and the embarrassment that follows. The reality is everyone is going to make mistakes, have a lapse in judgment or just do something innocently foolish without meaning any harm. Itā€™s human nature to mess up, to break things or to say something you didnā€™t really mean in the heat of the moment. Itā€™s how you handle these moments though, that really define them. Do you make the mess worse? Or do you clean it up with dignity and own up to your shortfall and move on?

When you slip up or make a mistake the first thing you need to do is own up to it, donā€™t pass the blame, donā€™t make excuses, just own up and admit youā€™re wrongs. People see responsibility, humility and responsibility as signs of maturity. Additionally, why complicate an already uncomfortable situation by skirting the truth or omitting things? Even when you donā€™t understand how you messed up or why youā€™re in the wrong, ask for help rather than get defensive or hostile. Learning from your mistakes will help you avoid them in the future and it shows the other person, or people,Ā youā€™re willing to learn and grow.

Why do we do these silly things? Well, psychology would give you some deep-rooted meaning into our mind and patterns of behavior, but in the short I believe that weā€™re all just trying to be the best versions of ourselves. In that quest though, we sometimes ignore better judgement to keep the thing weā€™re focused on at the moment afloat. For example, say youā€™re really behind on your homework and your friend keeps asking you to help her find an outfit for a date. In the heat of the moment while youā€™re stressed out with this work, you snap at her and tell her the date probably wonā€™t go well anyway. Now your friend is upset with you, your work isnā€™t getting done because youā€™re trying to apologize to her, and youā€™re just in an overall bad mood. You didnā€™t really mean it– you were just under a lot of pressure. So, what are you to do? Well, apologize, admit you were wrong, and then explain to her what youā€™re dealing with at school.

These silly little mishaps can be avoided most of the time, with honesty. Instead of one wording your friend or getting frustrated, sheā€™d probably have understood if youā€™d just said ā€œhey, look Iā€™m really swamped with work, anything you wear looks greatā€ and got back to work. Similarly, instead of just calling in sick at work, be honest with your boss when you have an outside commitment or need to come in later, rather than just blowing off an entire day. At the end of the day weā€™re all human and when weā€™re sympathetic with ourselves we can better empathize when it comes to other people.

Virtues from Motherhood: Breathe it in

A couple of weekends ago I took a trip up to Cold Spring, NY to visit my cousins. Just about two hours north of NYC, the town is a hidden gem along the Hudson River. Neighboring Cold Spring is Beacon, NY which is an up and coming mini city with the cutest shops and cafes.Ā 

I needed a weekend away to clear my head, get out of my usual environment to take a breather and my cousins were kind enough to invite me up. We walked Main Street, got some brunch and we even walked to Beacon falls, which is just a simple waterfall along some old railroad tracks. Regardless of its simplicity it was still calming and welcoming to admire. In the middle of Brooklyn such a sight would be rare and it struck me that removing yourself from the “norm” is a positive experience.Ā 

As hard as it may be, taking even five minutes to just be somewhere you normally wouldn’t be is a way to relax your mind. Constantly being in your element and being tasked with day to day roles and responsibilities can be tiresome. I took an entire weekend to myself, but just taking 10 minutes, to sit outside my college, or walk a block out of my way on my walk home puts me in a space where I’m looking at what’s around me instead of just anticipating it. I’ve picked up some of these techniques after finding myself to be so anxious I couldn’t function at all, and despite my hesitation I’ve found it works.Ā 

Even when you can’t just up and leave for two days you can take yourself on a mental vacation. Spend 10 minutes thinking of something you love to do, hiking, painting, dancing or whatever it is that you love because it takes your mind away from whatever is stressing you out. At the end of the day nobody is invincible and we all need a break, a day off and a few minutes to ourselves. Don’t feel bad for needing it and even more, don’t feel bad for taking it.Ā 

Virtues from Motherhood: Intersecting roads; different destinations

In life weā€™re bound to cross paths with many people, some stay with us, others pass through briefly. Although our paths have crossed, where weā€™re going might be entirely different. I had this thought a few days ago when I was walking towards campus and watched a NYC Corrections bus leave the neighboring courthouse. In the sun, I was able to see the silhouette of the individuals on the bus, and I wondered to myself, ā€œhow did they get there?ā€ What had happened in their lives for them to end up ensnared in the criminal justice system?

I thought about the various choices they did or did not make, and where theyā€™d eventually end up. Would they get a second chance? Would they change and be rehabilitated or would they end up in a revolving door of arrests and court dates? I realized that the two buildings, the courthouse and the college, represented two very different life paths, yet they sat side by side. This is the case with people we cross paths with daily, strangers on the train, acquaintances at work or even people who live down the street from us; we live side by side but represent so many different lifestyles.

We see people every day on the street and briefly assume or make up their life story in our heads. We see a well-polished man in a suit and think, ā€œis he a big shot CEO?ā€ or ā€œhe probably has a lot of moneyā€. In reality though we know nothing about that man or where he comes from; for all we know he could be a recovering addict on his way to a job interview at Macyā€™s. Choices shape our lives and too often we make these choices based on what other people think not realizing people will never really know what you did to get there; unless you tell them.

The roads we travel need to be the best road for us, for our goals and for our future. Looping back to my original sentiment about the corrections bus, I truly wonder how many of the people on that bus ended up there because they made choices that led them down a path someone else chose for them. I think about my teenage years and the shenanigans I often found myself caught up in; cutting class or sneaking around and I realize how much of it wasnā€™t me. Well, it was me, but I wasnā€™t choosing those things for me. I was choosing those things to fit in with or cater to a crowd or to fit a mold someone else had for me; one I probably knew I didnā€™t fit.

I wish I had done a lot differently in my adolescence but I canā€™t change the past. I can however pass these lessons onto my own daughter and to the peers I mentor with the First Year Learning Program. I can turn my negative experiences into tools to help others and I can try to make a difference and at the end of the day we should all, always try to make the world a better place.

Virtues from Motherhood: The five year plan

Iā€™m sure weā€™ve all heard it mentioned before, the five year plan, the map to our future and achieving our goals; but what does it mean? For me that plan has changed, and changed again over the years but nonetheless I kept persisting, and now Iā€™m almost at the finish line to earning my Bachelors degree. When I started college I wanted to be a detective and go into criminal justice, but that goal changed when I had my daughter. I wasnā€™t sure what else I was passionate about and I wasnā€™t sure what career I wanted to stake mine and my daughter’s future on so I just focused on earning a living.

At 23, I decided I wanted more and I set my sights on going back to school to earn at least my Associates Degree. I earned my A.A.S in Business but I wasnā€™t done, I knew I could achieve more, so again I changed the plan. I came to City Tech where I discovered a major that was geared to my original love, writing, and things took off from there. Now Iā€™m a senior blogger with The Buzz and Iā€™m involved in various programs across campus, and Iā€™m proud of myself for it. Despite having changed my plans over and over, I still managed to find success.

I used to be so hung up on numbers, deadlines and ages when certain things had to be completed by, and it ended up hindering my progress and making me stressed out to the point where I got nothing done. Iā€™ve learned as time goes on that everyone has a different path and a different timeline to getting to where they need to be. Some people finish college in four years but take another three to land a job, some graduate in 6 years but jump right into a career. Itā€™s all relative and everything happens in due time. Itā€™s a difficult concept to embrace, I know, but the sooner you do the better youā€™ll feel.

By the time I walk across the stage at graduation, I will have started college a decade ago, ten years, and for a long time that embarrassed me beyond belief. I was mortified that it took me so long to get it done and that I couldnā€™t just stick to it. It took me a while to realize it took me so long because in between all those years of college I was living a life, raising my daughter and working full time, and thatā€™s okay. Iā€™m slowly learning to trust the process, because itā€™s better to do it, and do it right, than rush through it or force it and fail.

Itā€™s hard to imagine my adult life without college in it because all of my 20s have been spent in college and juggling multiple responsibilities at once. Iā€™m excited though, to finally start building and focusing on a career I’ve worked hard for. Iā€™m nervous about finding the right job and spreading my wings but Iā€™m confident that everything will fall into place when itā€™s meant to. If I could give one bit of advice to myself back when I was 17 Iā€™d say ā€œtake a deep breath and swim.” Swim through the rough seas, and the doubt and trust that the currents are taking you where you need to be.

Virtues from Motherhood: Who does this belong to?

A few weeks ago a fellow Buzz Blogger, Neffi, wrote a post about protecting your own energy and how we don’t realize how the people and the environment around us can greatly impact our own energies. After I read her post it reminded me of a question my counselor told me to ask myself “who does this belong to?”Ā meaning, areĀ these my woes or someone else’s that I was taking on? And if the troubles weren’t mine I should give them back. Now, this isn’t to say that I should be throwing people’s problem’s back at them but it simply means that I can’t be carrying other people’s burdens for them.

Having anxiety makes my own problems and worries amplified as it is, so taking on the problems or responsibilities of others doesn’t help me any. I have a history of internalizing the things other people are experiencing and somehow letting it affect my life and my own happiness. For example, if someone was moving or changing jobs and was a little stressed out over it, suddenly I was stressed out too, and my anxiety would run wild making it somehow affect me. I’d wonder if their moving would change our friendship, would we still be friends? Would they still want to hang out? Did they ever really want to?? You can see how quickly that can escalate when you take on other people’s situations as your own.

So the “who does this belong to?”Ā rule is monumentally helpful in stopping that spiral before it starts, I even say it out loud to myself at times because it makes it more valid to me. Before I start to worry I ask myself that question and if I can’t legitimately pinpoint how this will affect me, my life, my daughter or my well-being, I force myself to leave it alone.

I still give my friend’s advice and listen to their problems or what’s bothering them and I still make every effort to be there for them. However, I focus more on helping them and being there than worrying for them. I also learned this year that sometimes you need to return the energy people give to you; if they aren’t there in your hour of need, why should you rush to theirs at your own expense. Learning balance is key, and people earn the place they wish to have in your life.

At the end of every day as you lay your head down and run through your final list of “to-do’s” and lingering worries you should keep stock of the things that need to get done, for you. Worry about what you can do for others needs after your own needs are met, think of that demonstration at the begin of every airplane flight; the one where the flight attendant tells you to put your own oxygen mask on before assisting others. The moral of the story there is, you can’t help others if you’re not okay. So next time you worry if someone else is okay, ask who’s worry that really is and if you’re doing okay today first.