Video/Pictures/Final Blog

To end this semester, I thought I would do a short blog that included some of the things I had learned but didn't have time to put in my video, some of the pictures I took, and my actual video. 


So, real quick, some things I think worth mentioning that was discussed in forum:

• Sometimes the hardest thing about volunteering is just getting there.
• Kay Parker is an angel.
• There are more ways than you might realize to get involved. 
• Love your neighbor as yourself. 
• Find what you are meant to do.
• "You may not live what you profess, but you will undoubtedly live what you believe."

There is a ton of other things that I learned, but I have not included. I am so happy with the platform that I chose: health, and I am looking forward to continuing in some of the volunteering that I have done and the new opportunities that will undoubtedly pop up. 

Here's my video: (Don't you just love how it starts out)

Finally, some pictures that I took: 

 Shoals Community Soup Kitchen

Killen United Methodist Food and Clothes Give-A-Way

Luv yo neighba as yo self

There were two things that Dr. Barry Morris said that stuck out to me:

The first was: "To love your neighbor as yourself, you have to love yourself first." Now, this might sound crazy, but for me,  sometimes I love my neighbor better than myself. At least in some aspects. Don't get me wrong, I believe putting others before yourself is very important. But what I mean, is sometimes it's easy for me to be very critical of myself. I can be very generous to others, but not to myself. When it comes to grades, appearance, social interactions, etc. I'm quick to be criticize myself. I feel like this is true for some people as well. That's something that I've been working on as of late: to be more forgiving of myself. Because really, why put unrealistic expectations on yourself?

The second thing that stuck out to me was how important it is to be smart with your money. I appreciated the website he gave us to make a budget. I think it would be shocking if I wrote down every thing I spent money on in a week. I'm pretty sure 60% would be food and 40% would be gas. He also said that if you don't start now, you never will. Which is true for so many situations. "Oh, I'll go to the gym starting tomorrow." or "Oh, I'll stop over consuming sweets starting on Sunday, since it's actually the start of the week." Biggest. Lies. Ever. (and I know I got off on a tangent there).

Blessed because of it.

Most of my blog posts consist of me pointing out and expounding a few things that the speaker said. This one will be no different, but I am going to add in a few thoughts about what I thought overall of forum.

I liked Dr. Tom Osbourne and the work that he does. It was cool to have a speaker that was obviously working through a religious context, because I am the same way. Getting involved and reaching out to people is something that I feel is important and even though I have to acquire these volunteer hours for the honors program, I want to continue to volunteer even when it's not required of me. Prison ministry doesn't really appeal to me, and so that makes me have respect for Dr. Osbourne for what he does. I also appreciate the reason why he got involved: because The Bible says to visit those in prison. It's nice to see faith put into action and it inspires me.

Now, to point out a few things he said:

"There is an understandable human reluctance to jump in and help. You will never lose it, but you can overcome it."

This is so true. The hardest part is getting there, but once you do, you are glad for it. Which brings me to the next quote of his:

"I thought I would do this to help them, but it was a great blessing for me."

This is exactly what has been repeated all semester long. Volunteering changes you, and you are blessed because of it. 

Boldly by the Beard

Let me just jump right in. Looking back on my notes from Monday night, there is a few things that Mr. Rusevylan said that stood out to me. One was:

"Share life."

Honestly, I have no idea why he said that. But it's good. And such a simple thing. It reminds me of a Bible verse:  "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us." -1st Thessalonians 2:8

That verse applies to something else that Mr. Rusevylan said:

"Stop throwing money at people, and say that you fixed it." 

What's wrong with giving money donations, you as,. Nothing. They are important. But it is also our responsibility to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty. Sharing life with people, actually spending time getting to know them, will have more of an impact than writing a check ever will. 

I want to mention one last thing that Mr. Rusevylan said. He mentioned that people will say no for two reasons: either they are scared of failure, or they don't want to take the time. I thought this was very profound and it made me thing of a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson and I will end with that.

"When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers."

update

Last week's forum was pretty interesting. After chatting awhile, the discussion turned to what volunteer hours people had already gotten. I think more than half the people were internally praying not to be called on. I felt awkward listening to people explain why they hadn't earned any hours. Most people are skilled at procrastination. But, I don't think that's the reason why many people have put off volunteering.  We are just busy. That's such a cliche thing to say, but it's true. For me, trying to keep up my grades, working, maintaining a healthy sleep/exercise schedule, helping out with the organizations I'm involved in, and having a social life is hard to keep under control. When I evaluate that sentence, it does kind of seem that what does make up daily routine is primarily focused on me. But, like Christian Baynes pointed out, a lot of the organizations we are involved in are focused on other people. I know that's true for me.

All that being said, I have earned the minimum amount of volunteer hours I need, and I have loved doing it. Just yesterday, I volunteered at the soup kitchen, and I had a little help from my friends: Kristen, Elise, and Brandon. It was so much fun, and it's something I want to make part of my weekly routine.

Cheers.

Can't say that I agree.

Hmm, where to begin. I guess I was a little different than many of the other students in forum last Monday because I actually had met Bradley Dean before. This was the first speaker I knew beforehand, and I must say, it makes the forum experience a little different. Instead of only hearing what the person is saying, you also have your own personal experience with the person that influences how you react to the message. From working with Bradley before, I found him to be a humorous, nice guy. My opinion of him did not change as he spoke Monday night, but I also discovered I disagreed with his view on a few matters.

I was rubbed the wrong way when he talked about instituting regulations for houses in the historic downtown area. I understand it is historic, and you want to preserve that prestige. However, I feel like, what that board is doing is just trying to force people to conform to what they think is "the best". I know the board he is on serves a purpose and  I do believe it's better to get involved in something rather than not at all but for me, I would rather spend my time and energy on something more meaningful. In the big picture of life, does is really matter what color your house is? I hope not.

But who knows, maybe my mind will change when I am older and I am the owner of my own house. I'm not stupid enough to believe that my view is the only valid point. But my view is what I believe and like I said, I would rather spend my time on something that I feel has meaning. Something that helps people that need it. People that are hurting.

All this being said, I would like to point out that even though I disagreed with some of what Bradley said, I loved his point on the first follower. Ever since I was a little kid, the phrase "Be a leader, not a follower." has been drilled into my head. Bradley presented a fresh perspective, and I liked it. Sometimes, I think the best thing to do is already use the reserouces around you. If somebody has started something that you think has potentional, jump in! Don't start your own thing, that is essentially the same, all because you want to be a leader. Be the first follower. Two are better than one.

That's just my thoughts.

Impartiality, please

Leslie Thomlinson (apologies for the spelling) from Junior League of the Shoals was our speaker Monday night. I liked her; I thought she was a lively speaker. However, the organization she was a part of rubbed me the wrong way. You can count me out of any organization that is selective and snotty like the district league was. Now I know the district league turned into the junior league and it isn't exclusive anymore and I appreciate that. It just seemed like that even though the organization changed, the member's mindset didn't. At least for the most part. I don't want to sound judgmental or make assumptions. That's why I'm having a hard time saying all this. And I'm not trying to diminish the goodness of what they do. I even liked the Kids in the Kitchen event that she mentioned. I just didn't like the organization. I'm sorry, it's just not for me. And you know what, that is just fine.

Abandon ship.

The outsider (and no, I'm not talking about the book..that would be The Outsiders). Everybody knows that feeling. The one where you feel like you are the only person in the room who has no idea what is going on and everybody knows something you don't.  It's not a fun feeling. It makes you want to abandon ship and get out of there as fast as possible. I mean it's not like anybody is even going to notice you left, right? Why do we have that feeling? Okay, that's a silly question. Of course you are going to feel out of place in a place you have never been or when you are around people you don't know. But I guess what I'm asking is, why are these feeling so strong? I mean, normally after the initial stage of self-consciousness we realize it's not as bad as we thought. I think Jackie Hendricks summed up why those feelings are strong. It's because we feel like we are the only ones experiencing that phenomenon. And that's what I appreciated the most during Jackie's speech. He reminded us that we aren't alone in those feelings, that everyone is having the same experiences. Kudos for the good advice.

I would be lying if

"You may not live what you profess, but you will undoubtedly live what you believe." How true this is. When I hear this, I can't help but think of how this applies to my life. It's one of those quotes that just makes you say "Hey, whoa now. This means something. This is important." I would be lying if I said I didn't love meaningful or inspirational quotes. So, when Dr. John Lane said this, I listened up. And what he had to say didn't disappoint.

I'm not going to sit here and summarize what Dr. John Lane said. What he said deserves more than a brief synopsis. It deserves attention, an elaboration. There is one thing he said in particular that I am going to focus on. Dr. John Lane mentioned that the feel-good from things has an expiration date. You know how sometimes you can just tell a message was meant for you. Yep, that Monday night for me. I truly believe God was using doc to convey this to me. This was not the first time that this message has popped up. I read this book earlier in the semester called Blue like Jazz by Donald Miller. It is one of those books that makes you reconsider. Reconsider your life, your thoughts, your actions. It's good. While reading that book I realized how stingy I was. How stingy I am. Now, the message of how materialism doesn't result in happiness has been driven into me for years now. However, at certain times, things just click. They  penetrate, go deep down. Blue like Jazz went deep, you hear. It made me realize how much I have, how wasteful I am, how greedy I am. It reiterated how happiness doesn't equal possessions. That old, familiar lesson.  What Dr John Lane's message did, was just reinforce it even more. It was like a friendly little reminder.

Now what's cool is this: I take this reinforcing message, and say where do I go from here? The answer lies in the other point that Dr. John Lane made. The very first quote I mentioned: "You may not live what you profess, but you wil undoubtedly live what you believe." It's time to live it out. Stop professing it.

Live it out.

Where them guys at?

Forum was short and sweet this week because The Civil Wars concert was after it. Yes, I am very bitter about the fact that I was not there and I moped allll night.

Gina Mashburn from Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Shoals was our speaker. She told us the basics of what they do, and one thing she said struck me. She mentioned that she had 30 ladies waiting to be matched up with a little sister, but she had 150 little brothers waiting to be matched up with an big brother. This kind of made me sad. Guys, where are you? All I could think was c'mon now! It kind of bugged met that it seems like guys are not pulling their weight, at least in this context. I talked to my roomie, the Kristen Dunn, about it. I asked her why she thought it was that there was no guy volunteers and she responded that she thinks it's because women have more of the nurturing instinct. This is true. But still, I think it's time for guys to step it up.

That concludes my rant for the week.

oh young man

There was a stark difference between this week's speaker and last week's. And no, I'm not talking about age (although there was a pretty big difference there). I'm talking about the difference of experience between Emily Baker and Kay. The latter has been working for a long time, and has learned the tricks of the trade. Emily, on the other hand, is fresh out of college. That being said, I thought the maturity level of Emily was very high. The advice she gave was on a level with the advice that Kay gave. I was very impressed with Emily's public speaking abilities. I guess it's because she is only a few years older than me and her skills were so much better. I cannot imagine being that comfortable speaking in front of a big group in just a couple of years. It's people like her who inspire me. I just think, if she is that young and has already accomplished so much, then so can I. I'm just going to list two things that she said that really stuck out to me:

-get involved with agencies, non-profits, and centers. START NOW! it matters.
  I really want to manage my time better so that I can be working somewhere (and getting paid for it) that at the same time is going to be beneficial towards my major. I don't want my job to just be my job. I want to kill two birds with one stone. I haven't figured out exactly what to do yet. I also want to get more involved with some organizations that are related to my major.


-make connections and network
 I truly believe getting a job is not only about what you know, but about who you know. That's how I got my first job. I'm going to try and work on this.

more than oKAY

"The world is waiting for you to do what you are good at" is just one of the many things that Kay Parker said that I was just like, wow, that's good. Kay was not only intelligent, but funny and sweet. And she made me want to go give her a hug.

 In regard to what she said about her line of work, the first thing I really liked was the advice she gave us about handling stress. I'm stressed. I don't want to be stressed. Hence, my appreciation for her advice about stress. She said to first be honest with yourself. I've tried that lately. To stop what I'm doing, figure out exactly what's eating at me, and just say "Yes, I'm stressed, but this isn't going to be the end of the world and I can handle it." I also liked what she said about handling your feelings upfront, before they have time to grow and turn into something worse. For example, guilt does not turn to shame if we confront it from the beginning. The third thing I thought was cool that she said in regards to counseling, was that when you are talking to someone who is going through a rough time, interruptions are not allowed. Let them tell their story. It's their time, not yours. Something that we all know, but sometimes forget.

In regard to the advice she gave us concerning careers and what we want out of life, she told us to fill in this statement. "I was born to ____ and I will never have to work another day of my life." I love this; it reminds me of Steve Job's commencement speech. Find a job you love. When you love what you do, it's not work. She greatly encouraged us to figure out what it is we were meant to do. And  she compared the journey to trying on shoes. You have to keep trying until you find the right fit. And it doesn't make you a failure if you try the wrong thing. That was good. Sometimes, it seems like the world can be so unforgiving. There is this pressure to figure out exactly where you want to go, when you want to be there, and how you are going to do it. And to do it in the most effiecient way possible. But what happens when you don't have this plan figured out, or you want to entirely rewrite it? Kay pointed out that that was okay, you don't have to get it on the first try. 

Kay's advice was very useful, and has definitely influenced me. I really enjoyed listening to her for she was definitely more than okay, she was outstanding.

What's the plan, man?

I'm obsessed with nutrition. Obsessed. I don't know when this came about, or how, but it did. It fascinates me. I love talking about it to people. I don't know that they love it, but that doesn't stop me. Therefore, it goes without saying, that my platform is going to be health. I knew that is what I wanted to focus on automatically.  Food and nutrition is pivotal to health, obviously. The fact that there are people out there who do not have access to food (or as what we call it in my nutrition class, people who do not have "food security") is heartbreaking. Adequate food and diet improves health. When health is improved, the quality of life is improved. In my community service hours, I want to get involved with organizations that help people, who would otherwise not have it, gain access to food or help people to become educated about how to improve their health. Now, it is time for the plan, man.

-My church, Killen United Methodist Church, has a food and clothes give-a-way once a month, that is open to the community. The last I heard, we were feeding 80 different families! (I might need to double check that though) I plan to get involved with the actual give-a-ways, which are for a couple of hours on Saturdays, and on the set-up, which takes place the Wednesday night before. The first one I can participate in is actually this week! Hoo-ray!

-I plan to get involved with the Colbert County Caring Center. They offer many different services such as, school supplies, diapers, gas money, utility assistance, and of course, food pantries.

-There are some other service opportunities I am looking into, but haven't got all the details worked out yet. One is at Keller Hospital. When I shadowed this summer, the dietitian told me that they offer diabetes education once a month. If there is any way I can get involved and participate, and not just be in attendance, I plan on doing that. Another opportunity I hope to get involved in is a program for kids who do not have adequate food at home, Backpacks are filled full of food that will last them the weekend so they do not go hungry until they receive food at school again.

I am very excited about the different opportunities I have lined up and can't wait to start serving.

Over and out!

BLOGGING TIME

blogging time is here

happiness and cheer

fun for all that students call

their favorite time of year

yes indeed. it's blogging time again. this one is going to be short and sweet, 1. because i haven't got back into the groove of blogging yet  2. because i haven't much to say yet (well about forum at least, i always have a lot to say) and 3. because i am about to go get makadoo's.  i don't know what has been up with me lately, but i have been making lists out of everything i say. anyway, so yay we are back in school. *does happy dance*. i am a nerd. i like school. don't judge me. this time around sure does feel different. 1. because i don't feel so overwhelmed and 2. because i know so many people already, and not just 5 people on campus.  (there i go with the lists again) i feel older, more mature, and wiser. but hey, just because you feel something doesn't mean it's true.

happy school days!