The Windy City

Greetings from Chicago--wait, what?

I think I should start from the beginning!

Around the time I posted my last post (Positivity Pt. 2) I had an interview with Easter Seals for a summer internship. It would be in their headquarters office in Chicago, as an Interactive Marketing Intern. I had another internship lined up in Rochester, but something in my gut was pulling me towards Chicago. Maybe it was the idea of bright lights, bright city living--or it was because I really did feel like the experience would be worth the uprooting of three months for.

positivity pt. 2

March was about me exercising when I can, not for weight loss but for body, mind and soul health. I got caught up in schoolwork and projects that I completely did not have time to work out (well, maybe, if I traded off House of Cards for working out, I would have had time). I completed a very small step, though. I got some dumbbells and a foam rolling pin for all my soreness. I started with a couple of reps, but left the dumbbells and the foam rolling pin behind for the last week or so while I worked on homework, class projects and finishing the Deaf Women Awareness Week events. But hey, March isn't over just yet!

The whole time since my last post I was thinking of why positivity was so hard to come to by for me. Few nights ago, I finally had that light-bulb AHA moment. I've endured so many negative things in my 22 years, that I could not think of anything as normal as negativity in my life. Sad, I know. I've been surrounded by friends who radiated negativity hardcore. I've been surrounded by the media teaching us negativity about our body, about how we should act and how we should be as women. And I'm very sure I wasn't the only one surrounded by negativity.

Over the past few weeks, I have been working with several young women for a Deaf Women Awareness Week which is a week-long events of leadership, confidence and other things with women. This week-long event is now completed, but throughout all the planning--I realized how much of an impact I had on those younger women and how much more I could make an impact on other young women if I really explained what I went through. I was mainly responsible for facilitating two nights of events, one with TED talks (that eventually got cancelled along with the RIT campus closing because of the Vuclan snowstorm) and one with successful Deaf women panel. It was successful, not only reaching out to young women but to some young men too. We grabbed the chance to explain how young men could be allies to women by calling out what's not right such as joking about rape, etc. The panel was truly inspiring because I could listen to these women's stories about oppression and how they got to where they are today. It sure did help with my positivity challenge. If you'd like to share your experiences, I would love to listen and swap stories!

I know I will need to exercise after I get back from Texas for my spring break trip...so much food options. Can't wait! This will be a lengthy resolution as seeing I can't seem to motivate myself to exercise, I'd much rather take a nap than pick up my measly 3lb dumbbells. Now that I put it that way...that sounds dumb. :)

April's resolutions (although some might be during the last few weeks of this month, obviously) will be to travel, even if it’s to another city or to another state (Austin and hopefully national parks around Rochester) and to apply to a job that you're probably under qualified for. As seeing as I need a summer co-op, I'm starting to apply to various job opportunities, even if my resume is not oozing with experience yet--I even applied to Twitter, what a dream job that would be!

To recap my last three months, my resolutions have been:

• January: Bite my nails a whole lot less, take care of them as well as I can and treat myself to a nice manicure when this is achieved. 
• February: Strive to be a better person than who I was yesterday. 
• February: Be more of a positive person, some of that energy is bound to reach people around you. 
• March: Exercise when I can, not for weight loss but for body, mind and soul health. 

And I'm off to finish up some more homework and projects before I leave for Texas on Thursday. If I start packing now, will I get to leave Rochester a little earlier? I didn't think so either. :(

Positivity

Two of the biggest resolutions I'm attempting to learn this month is positivity and striving to be the better person as possible. As you know, my boyfriend was in Seattle after finishing his classes in December, searching for an internship or at least a job. Our positivity has helped us endure few weeks of separation knowing we will be seeing each other very soon--and it paid off, he came to surprise me a couple of weeks ago to spend this semester here with me in Rochester. Yes, he is still searching for an internship or a job around here, but I'm positive he will find something (shameless plug: if you ever need a financial advisor or know a company who is looking for a financial majors as interns, please do shoot a message my way and I will refer you to him)!

I'm not only being positive with my relationship, but with everything else--my roommates, my friends and my academic education path. I've been able to tolerate more things about the things that really annoyed me because I stayed positive and reminded myself that who I was yesterday is not how I want to act today towards my roommates or my friends. I am hoping my positivity reaches the people around me, and will motivate them to be more positive and be a better person as well. With my education, it is hard to stay positive when you're loaded with classwork on top of projects and such. Especially when you're placed in numerous group projects, it's hard to stay positive and stay afloat sometimes.

But, here's the most shocking part... I'm actually being positive. I'm able to stay happy and stay positive when I'm drowning in classwork and projects. I don't let it show that I'm drowning. When I'm unhappy, I just watch some movies and chill out before I decide if this is something I should talk about. Of course, I've had some of my moments where I needed to rant--and I did. Those occasional rants are perfectly okay, nobody can be positive ALL the time. But I'm getting better at this!

I'm liking this Sara Jane much better than yesterday's Sara Jane. Being able to chill out when I'm getting angry, watching what I want to say and picking my battles are not something I usually do. I try not to let the littlest things get to me. But I'm still not afraid to speak my mind against something that I'm not liking, I just pick how to approach it better or not to approach it at all. This is huge for me, and I'm extremely excited to work on this because I consider these my biggest flaws--my impulsiveness and my moodiness.

This is a continuous project that I will work on, and I know I will relapse to being moody sometimes but I really want to see my positivity radiate to other people--and that just makes me even more hopeful to be a better person not only for myself but for other people around me, so I'm really excited about February's resolutions!

January was great for me, I tried to bite my nails a whole lot less--I'm still working on that, but my nails have grown out a bit, although they are weak and brittle. I'm researching for ways to keep them strong and growing--so if you have any ideas, please send them my way! No manicure treat for me yet, but I'm sure it'll come very soon!

To refresh, February is/was all about being more of a positive person, some of that energy is bound to reach people around me and striving to be a better person than who I was yesterday. I combined both of these resolutions because I feel as if to be a better person, you should be more positive over all. 

March will be about me exercising when I can, not for weight loss but for body, mind and soul health. I'm already looking into free websites/blogs giving out ideas on work-out regimens and into yoga mats, dumbbells and kettle-bells. If you have a great site that you follow through faithfully, or have great deals on local fitness classes, or deals on fitness equipment--please do leave comments for me, I would love your suggestions anytime! 


I can't wait to start March's resolution but still keep working on the three resolutions I've assigned myself, maybe I should add prompt blog postings into one of my resolutions...hmm.

Until the next post!