Good news, y'all! I'm a Gamma Chi!!! I get to run around and help the girls going through sorority recruitment in August. I will be in charge of a group of girls and I will try to help them navigate the first few days/weeks/months of college and Greek life. I'm beyond excited! During recruitment, the Gamma Chi's wear blue vest to designate who they are. The blue vests have turned into a competition: who can decorate their vest the best? Everyone usually pins buttons on the front, but the backs are all unique. My ideas immediately began to run wild. I could do my monogram, something UGA related, but then I'd want to buy a bedazzle gun, but that could get expensive... The ideas just kept coming and getting more and more outlandish as I kept thinking.
This is where I had to stop myself and ask, "what do I want to portray to others?" It was almost a "who am I?" moment. I have to find and choose buttons that represent my likes and interests and convey my personality to others. That's a lot for a little pin to say. I searched my house for old pins and found a really embarrassing soccer pin with my picture on it as well as a few skiing pins. I also went to a thrift store downtown and found some awesome band pins. What I've come to realize though is that the vest itself is convey a message, not just the pins.
I had to beat out over 200 girls for the opportunity to wear that vest. I'm going to stay up late and get up early, put out "fires," call girls when they don't get asked back to any houses and act as a friend and mentor to my group. My blue vest says that I'm dedicated and willing to help others. When I wear the vest, though, it's my actions and words that show who I really am. So, when I don that blue vest in a few months, I am going to show God's love through my words and actions. The Lord's word can convey who I am better than any pin. I am still going to show up on the first day of recruitment with a fully decorated vest, but it's reminder (although cheesy) that it's what is on the inside that really matters.
Friday, January 25, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Waterworks
We've all played Monopoly. You either love it because you always win, or you hate it because the game lasts forever (and then you usually forfeit and lose because the game is taking so long). It's a love/hate game. I haven't played it in a few years, but I was reminded of it tonight in many ways.
Over the past few months (really weeks), I have been trying to sort out my living situation for next year. It has been an emotional roller coaster: I haven't been able to find a place and a group of people that I feel comfortable with. It's either the location or the parking, the bedroom size or the price. I just can't seem to nail down any contenders. Yesterday I went to see a friend's apartment and today I went to see another apartment whose tenants need another roommate. Neither place felt right. When I called my mom tonight, I lost it. We are talking Niagara Falls flowing out of my eyes. My body was quivering and I could barely get a word out.
When I hung up the phone and cried some more, I finally felt lighter. Yes, I was a mess: mascara streaks rolling down my cheeks, eyes red and puffy, and a full box of tissues emptied. Something in my sobs and "breakdown" gave me some relief to the stress and anxiety that I've been feeling for months about an apartment for next year. I was finally showing emotion. I had held in my uneasiness and stress and worries. I told my friends that I was "fine" and that I was "confident that my living situation would work out." I was a strong and confident person on the inside, while I crumbled to pieces on the inside. My emotions had to come out and it felt wonderful to release that burden.
So how does this all relate to Monopoly? Whenever I talk about crying, I refer to it as waterworks, like the utility property on the board game. The interesting thing about Waterworks on the game is that it is two spaces before Go To Jail. It's so close to ruining your game and sending you to jail, yet you still have a chance to roll the dice and continue on. Tonight, I felt like I landed on Waterworks (and I still have the red eyes to prove it): I was so close to letting my roommate search overwhelm me and send me into freak out mode (or jail, so to speak). Landing on Waterworks and getting some of my emotions out allowed me to empty my heart of some of the negativities of the past few months. It has allowed me to skip going to jail and will hopefully help me to stand up to the next obstacle in my path.
I'm still roommate-less for next year, but I count my emotional night as a blessing and I am ready to see what the Lord has in store for me (fingers crossed for Boardwalk or Park Place).
Over the past few months (really weeks), I have been trying to sort out my living situation for next year. It has been an emotional roller coaster: I haven't been able to find a place and a group of people that I feel comfortable with. It's either the location or the parking, the bedroom size or the price. I just can't seem to nail down any contenders. Yesterday I went to see a friend's apartment and today I went to see another apartment whose tenants need another roommate. Neither place felt right. When I called my mom tonight, I lost it. We are talking Niagara Falls flowing out of my eyes. My body was quivering and I could barely get a word out.
When I hung up the phone and cried some more, I finally felt lighter. Yes, I was a mess: mascara streaks rolling down my cheeks, eyes red and puffy, and a full box of tissues emptied. Something in my sobs and "breakdown" gave me some relief to the stress and anxiety that I've been feeling for months about an apartment for next year. I was finally showing emotion. I had held in my uneasiness and stress and worries. I told my friends that I was "fine" and that I was "confident that my living situation would work out." I was a strong and confident person on the inside, while I crumbled to pieces on the inside. My emotions had to come out and it felt wonderful to release that burden.
So how does this all relate to Monopoly? Whenever I talk about crying, I refer to it as waterworks, like the utility property on the board game. The interesting thing about Waterworks on the game is that it is two spaces before Go To Jail. It's so close to ruining your game and sending you to jail, yet you still have a chance to roll the dice and continue on. Tonight, I felt like I landed on Waterworks (and I still have the red eyes to prove it): I was so close to letting my roommate search overwhelm me and send me into freak out mode (or jail, so to speak). Landing on Waterworks and getting some of my emotions out allowed me to empty my heart of some of the negativities of the past few months. It has allowed me to skip going to jail and will hopefully help me to stand up to the next obstacle in my path.
I'm still roommate-less for next year, but I count my emotional night as a blessing and I am ready to see what the Lord has in store for me (fingers crossed for Boardwalk or Park Place).
Friday, January 11, 2013
A "Simpler" Time
I have recently--as in last night and all this morning--become obsessed with the show Downton Abbey. The show takes place in the early 1900s, where the women still wear dresses every day and the wealthy have servants to handle everything for them. Upon hearing the first conversation on the show, I fell in love with the character's English accents and "simple" way of life. Each servant seemed happy to work for the family; the family seemed to have their lives all buttoned up; everything seemed so easy. The wealthy women didn't have to work or go to school and the men respected the women in an old-time, chivalrous way. Electricity had just been invented and they claimed the glare from the lights were too much to get used to. I was jealous, wishing I had lived in that time. It all seemed so much simpler: no computers, cell phones, or social media sites to keep up with.
As I continued to watch though, I realized that the servants' and the family's lives were anything but simple. The servants don't have a say in everything they do and the family had 3 daughters with no close male cousins, since in that time women couldn't inherit their father's estate. Each character, both servant and wealthy, has some sort of inner qualm. They are happy on the outside, but fighting their own battles on the inside. They are striving for a wonderful, but seem to fall short. It's made me realize that no matter the technological advances, people haven't changed. We have and will all go through our own trials and tribulations at times and finding the strength to move on is never going to be easy. Actually standing up and walking again after you've fallen, though, is the key to the advances that we have in this modern age.
Life is never going to be a walk in the park. Issues, stressful times, and uncertainty will always be thrown at us. Yet, choosing to live a happy life, a life of hope and faith, will help to get us through the difficult times. Remembering that all sin is equal in the eyes of the Lord and that no one's problems are greater that your own is not only humbling, but will help to open your eyes and heart to the needs of others. It will allow you to serve and love others as Christ did. It will make you happier and healthier, and who doesn't want that?
As I continued to watch though, I realized that the servants' and the family's lives were anything but simple. The servants don't have a say in everything they do and the family had 3 daughters with no close male cousins, since in that time women couldn't inherit their father's estate. Each character, both servant and wealthy, has some sort of inner qualm. They are happy on the outside, but fighting their own battles on the inside. They are striving for a wonderful, but seem to fall short. It's made me realize that no matter the technological advances, people haven't changed. We have and will all go through our own trials and tribulations at times and finding the strength to move on is never going to be easy. Actually standing up and walking again after you've fallen, though, is the key to the advances that we have in this modern age.
Life is never going to be a walk in the park. Issues, stressful times, and uncertainty will always be thrown at us. Yet, choosing to live a happy life, a life of hope and faith, will help to get us through the difficult times. Remembering that all sin is equal in the eyes of the Lord and that no one's problems are greater that your own is not only humbling, but will help to open your eyes and heart to the needs of others. It will allow you to serve and love others as Christ did. It will make you happier and healthier, and who doesn't want that?
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