TV Stress

I know I'm not the only one that has this problem because one of my classmates and friend and I have discussed how stressed we get when watching TV, particularly about the shows I'm going to mention.  This isn't the same stress that comes from getting attached to a fictional character, this is the stress that comes from reality TV and just how uneducated and lack of accountability there is.

I'm talking about hospitality based shows like Hotel Impossible (Travel channel), Restaurant Impossible (Food channel), Bar Rescue (Spike channel) and several others that I have not gotten to watch in depth yet.

I'm generally making this face between
covering my face with my hands and shaking my head.
photo source

As someone who is actually studying what it takes to run an efficient hotel, the components it takes to make a restaurant successful and about the leadership qualities needed to run a business in general, I get stressed out pretty quickly in the opening of one of these shows. The last episode of Hotel Impossible took me five minutes before I was stressed out.

Don't worry, the stress that I'm feeling from these shows isn't going to kill me if it does then clearly we have a problem on our hands.. Yesterday as my Ma and I watched an episode of Hotel Impossible and then Restaurant Impossible I ranted about everything that was wrong and how it could be improved and specifically how the lack of leadership and encouragement was ruining EVERYTHING we discussed a variety of things like empowering employees.  The stress I get from these shows has been a learning tool because I'm actively applying what I'm learning in class to each of these cases and actively thinking of approaches to help better the business.

I actually went to memegenerator to make this.
EMPOWER YOUR EMPLOYEES,
it'll do wonderful things for everyone.

In many ways it makes so much sense to do things a certain way but the biggest stress I've had with these shows is the lack of education people have when they start their own business (restaurants in particular) or take one over as an owner.  It takes so much more than just having your name on the deed and appropriate paperwork to make a business successful.  There is time that is devoted to figuring out what your guests want on a menu and making sure that your staff can perfectly execute it to keep those same guests returning time and time again.  There's thought behind setting up a dining room to create a pleasant environment and good flow in the room.  Beyond this there are many many more things that need to be taken into consideration.

I have to take a deep breath and remind myself that not everyone realizes how much work these things require and that there are other ways to make it in these businesses without studying in the hospitality industry.  I'm also reminded that shows like these, though they do have a strong tendency to over exaggerate certain elements, provide these clients with the education, tools and means to help better their establishment.
At the end of the day, the stress I go through watching just a single episode of these shows helps me tremendously because I'm staying engaged and taking note on things that I want to avoid in the future.  I haven't pulled too much hair out, yet.

Not Just a Dream

I have found that no matter where I go if I see a building that looks empty, rundown or is up for rent/sale I will immediately think about a business I could start to go into that building.  Some ideas have been pretty specific, like a store that only sells teacher school supplies at discounted rates for inner city schools.  Then there are other ideas that are generic and could have some more thought put into them if my drive was a bit longer, like a restaurant.

The more that I learn in my hospitality classes, do surfing on the web that actually ends up being in depth research of something related to the hospitality industry and watch certain TV shows (Hotel Impossible, Bar Rescue, Man vs. Food, No Reservations, etc.) I'm finding that my business ideas have been narrowed down to things that I will potentially be doing in the future.  I was thinking about this today while doing errands and it's amazing because I feel like this is solidifying my decision to go into hospitality.

The latest idea is the entity of a bar and grill type of establishment.  I have a few locations I would love to get my hands on and how I would design the indside from the location of the bar and beer taps, to the specific kitchen necessities and how I would arrange tables and a small stage for live music.  I even have part of a freaking menu lined up in my head along with a selection of drinks.  This newest idea though has gone farther than any of the others have.  I have started to plan in my head how I would start this business down to how I would start hiring managers, bar tenders, chefs and waitresses.  Even more specifically, I know exactly how I want to train them before opening.

I feel like I'm not just dreaming anymore when I have these ideas because in all reality in a few years I could be opening this bar and grill or that breakfast cafe my Ma and I briefly planned out on our Saturday grocery run.  This is the stuff that I'm looking forward to doing in the future and it's like something just clicked in my head, "I can do this someday, it's not just a dream".

I know it's all going to be hard work, whatever I end up doing because this industry isn't for the faint hearted or unmotivated.  It's going to be all right in the end because I don't think the fire in my heart is going to be put out any time soon.

Optimist

My name is Jess.  I'm an optimist because the negative thoughts were too toxic; my body, mind and soul were being torn apart from the affects.

I didn't want to live that life anymore.  I don't want to live that life.

It isn't too easy to cleanse my mind of all the negatives but I'm working on turning what ones are left into positive and meaningful ones.

My names is Jess.  I'm an optimist because I needed a change.

I want to be in control of my life and most of all, I want to live a happy life.

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.