Go Boldly

The amount of time I find myself spending in Target is kind of astounding. Like I'm constantly feeling like I'm overwhelmed with things to do and then I'm just roaming Target.  Maybe it's a way of relaxing while I get my walking in for the day or maybe it's just my way of procrastinating and scoping out my next 'big' purchase at the same time.  If you're wondering, I'm eyeing a new desk that would look fantastic in my room.

Today's quote is from one of those canvas things in the decorating area.  One of these days I'll actually buy one for my wall.

The first thing I thought when I read this was along the lines of "Yeah, that's right!" And then of course I had to snap a photo and send it to Insta so I wouldn't forget such wonderful words.

This is one of those quotes I'm adding to my "everyone needs to live like this" list.  Imagine if more people decided to follow their dreams.  I'm not saying it has to be something dramatic like calling your mom, telling her you're dropping out of college and  then move home the next day because I actually did that a year and a half ago... The point, doing something that moves you closer to that goal should make you feel great, yeah?  Why aren't we doing more of those things?

If I Wasn't Afraid...

Just the other day Ashley and I were talking via Twitter about taking risks and doing things that we might be afraid of.  Since then I've been really giving myself a pep talk, internally of course, I don't want to sound too crazy to my coworkers and classmates, about just doing things.

Today this quote has me thinking, what would I do if I wasn't afraid of failure or messing up big time?

Photo: SoHo Hotel, London

To start off with, I wouldn't be dragging my feet with the process of applying and interviewing for a hotel job.  I mean, I'm a hotel management major and that means I sort of need to work in a hotel to gain real work experience.  But of course, the Anxiety Monster makes it way out of it's hiding hole I shoved it in for the last few months and here I am.  Dragging my feet.

In all honesty I don't know what's holding me back.  I would like to think I great personality, I put my guests first, I'm not afraid of hard work, I'm a good team member, I'm willing to learn.  What's the big deal?

I find it ironic that I'm an introvert that wants none other than a job in an industry that revolves around talking to people, especially people I don't know.  Maybe I'm afraid because if I start to get interviews lined up and applications submitted that means I'm on way to a daily interaction with hundreds of people?

I think I'm reading too far into this.  I think really I'm afraid because it means that I'm becoming closer to the career that I'm so madly in love with and that means I'm becoming an adult.  Wait, what? Jess an adult? Yeah, I'm nearing 21 now and I still don't consider myself an adult....

My parents had little to no idea how a hotel operated when I made the announcement that I was considering a career in lodging and hospitality.  To be honest, I knew the basics but that was part of what drew me in.  I recall having a conversation with my Ma a few months ago when I was finishing up my course on leadership and management in the hospitality industry.  I remember confessing to my mom that I was utterly scared poopless that in a couple of years if I went on to finish my bachelors at a larger university I could very possibly get a managerial position after graduation.  I remember telling her that I wasn't ready for that yet.

"You're still learning.  No one expects you to be able to run a hotel yet.  There's still things to learn and do."   Folks, my mother was right again.  I've been over thinking everything and making myself sick over it and that's only fed the Anxiety Monster.

"Count to five and do what you've been afraid of." That was the advice that Ashley gave me.  So, this is me counting to five, taking a breath and doing because I'm tired of staying in the same place when I could be doing something great.

What's one thing you would do if you weren't afraid?

September Favorites

The last month since I posted last has flown by.  This morning I thought I would sit down and throw some words out on my screen to at the very least let you all know I'm still alive.

I've come up with several things I wanted to blog about but today I felt like I needed to do something lighthearted and maybe even a bit fun!

Basically this post is just stuff I've found in the last month that I like and that I want to share.

A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to tour the Hyatt Regency in Wichita for an event my class is planning.  The tour sparked a bunch of questions in my head, one of which was what did it take to turn a ballroom over?  This video of time lapse of just that at the Omni Forth Worth hotel was an awesome answer.

I follow several different hotel brands on Twitter to keep up with industry news.  One of my favorites has been Hyatt. They have a special team devoted to tweeting at their guests and it makes me feel so happy that they've taken this stance on Twitter.  You can find them @HyattConcierge

Hyatt had tweeted this photo and I've since shared it to all my social networking sites because I love it so much.  For me this goes for both people who are traveling and for those to explore their own city.  I think it's super important when traveling to do things the locals do and eat where the locals eat.  How else are you going to really experience the culture if you only doing the touristy things?

I think this speaks for itself. I just love it.

Slowly this is becoming one of my favorite quotes.

This article titled 8 Things People Who Hate Confrontation Understand was basically written to explain me as a person.

I found this a couple of days ago and I'm still laughing.  Pig In Australia Steals 18 Beers From Campers, Gets Drunk, Fights Cow.

9 Reminders from Famous Women to Follow Your True Dreams. #2 is my favorite.

Hopefully it won't be another month before I'm back here, but I can't promise anything.  I'm pretty active on Twitter still, you can follow me here.

Fearing Change

Change is something that can't be fought.  Sure you can fight against it, but you'll still lose.  Every time.  It's going to happen whether or not we're ready for it or if we fully accept it.

Fighting against change is a good thing though.  I think that in the process, no matter how it's done, fighting any form of change allows you to be you.

For me I've learned that when I fight change it's usually out of fear.  Sometimes this fear is rational and other times it's completely irrational and makes me think "what the hell" at some point down the road.

Fighting change, no matter what is or how we do it is a way of what's in our heart making it's way to the surface -- I'm talking about both irrational and rational reactions.

I think that some people, or at least I know this is true for me, irrational reactions to change means that whatever is going on in the heart hasn't been given a chance to show.

This past semester was my first semester as a hospitality student. I loved it; it was new and exciting and I was thriving in this new environment.  About a month and a half into the semester one of my instructors forwarded me an email.  This email was about a summer internship at a national park.

I thought about it for a few days and then decided to just forget it.  Why do the internship?  I would miss family reunions and vacations.  I would be going alone. I wasn't sure I'd get into the program to begin with.  What if I couldn't handle working full time?

I was scared.  I knew that then but now,looking back I realized I was actually fearing all the worst:  failing.  I tricked myself into believing all these excuses I made for myself.

I missed a great chance.  I realize that, now.

There's a quote I always remember when I feel a little scared with what's going on in my life.

 I believed it to be true.  I still do, to a point.

I think I need to take more risks.  That everyone should take more risks.  How else are we going to learn what we're good at, what we're absolutely terrible at, or how to make ourselves into a better person?

Live and learn!

 

A Hand to Hold

I had a fantastic idea for a post yesterday but in the mess that is my life on Mondays it got pushed to the bottom of the to do list.  This post is not that post, I'm saving that post for a day when I feel like it should be shared because though it's something I don't mind sharing I was feeling different feels than what I am today as I sit down and write; when you have a strong rush of feels you follow what they tell you to write, so that's what today's post is.

Landing back in Pinterest world I took a break from studying/writing all of my textbook/trying not get paper cuts from making notecards and I found myself scrolling through Doctor Who quotes.  Today is one of those days that I just scrolled through all the pins and didn't pin may of them because I'm just really tired and I feel like I'm barely functioning.  Then I came across this one:

"There's a lot of things you need to get across this universe.  Warp drive, wormhole refractors...you know the thing that you need most of all? A hand to hold."  - The Doctor

 I've learned many things from watching Doctor Who and this is one of them.  I may not be traveling across the universe yet but I get it.  I get that it's a bumpy and crazy ride with turns and dips all over the place with unexpected twists that make you think hard about what's going on this life.  Because this is life and though I'm not a universal traveler like the Doctor is, I can appreciate this as a human stuck on Earth.

It's a lonely ride without a hand to hold.  The times I blocked everyone out and granted no access to the real and unpolished Jess were the times I struggled the most with what I was going through in life.  I understand that it's a phase or a thing that people do as part of their personality but I'm under the impression that if I had believed there was actually someone there to hold my hand I wouldn't have struggled as much.

L and I were talking a couple weeks ago about how strange life is and where it takes each individual person.  We discussed how it's been an interesting year and a half since we graduated high school and how much we've changed and evolved as people.  I've gone through many mountainous terrains in my and I think the only thing that has kept me moving forward is that I have realized I do have a hand to hold on the ride.