Why being single has been a blessing

I'm 22. In college years, that's old. It's time for me to move on and start my big girl life. Yet, I'm left dwelling on the past. For the majority of the past four years, my college years, I've been single. I've gone on dates, "talked" with a guy (the definition of which I'm still hazy on), and dated, but I have not had a serious relationship in college. Some jaws might drop at the idea of not having a serious boyfriend during this time, but I see it as one of the biggest blessings I've experienced to date.  

In the past four years, I've joined organizations, studied, experimented with style, learned the meaning of faith, made new friends, said goodbye to old relationships, built a photography business and held three internships. I've been busy, but I've also found myself. I finally know who I am right now in this moment. Before these years of self-discovery, I was a mirror. I watched, picked up on traits and sayings that were "cool" and reflected back these traits. I was being molded by the things that I thought were valued, the things that I thought people wanted to see. In actuality, I was becoming a junk pile of different people, hiding myself with other people's individuality. I was a sinking ship, heading nowhere fast. It was a slippery slope and I didn't even recognize it. 

I've learned. I've learned from heartbreak and adventure. I've learned from my leadership positions and my friends. The connection string through all of this is that I wasn't tied down to one person or thing. I was free to explore and discover. 

It's been a journey, starting with feeling alone. There came a point when I felt like I had no friends, no real friends at least. I was changing my personality and energy based on the people I was with, not based on how I felt. I was literally a twin of whoever I was with--I can't even imagine how annoying that must have been! I wanted people to like me and know me, but I wanted it for the wrong reasons. The real problem was that I didn't even know myself. I joined the clubs that I felt obligated to join instead of the ones that I was truly passionate about. 

Four years, especially the last two, I have been in a constant state of self-discovery. Now though, I have never felt so comfortable in my own skin. There are still moments where I want to bite my tounge or hide from embarrassment, but I am better equipped to handle these situations. While I value the guys that I've met and dated over the past few years, I know that I would still be searching for my true self if I have been in a serious relationship. I wouldn't have been on my own or been able to feel alone, which is where I finally began to uncover who I was and who I wanted to be. Do I sometimes wish that I had had a boyfriend and didn't have to ask around for a date for a sorority date night? Of course! It would have been so much easier, but I never would have figured out what I'm comfortable with or felt my heart beat a hundred miles an hour every time  I asked a guy on my sorority date night. It was moments like those that I found a new piece of myself. I cherish each piece of this crazy life puzzle. As an old 22 year old, I am finally ready to move forward, finally ready (and excited) to just be me. 

What are we missing?

Do you ever think about all that you're missing out on? Too depressing to think about? Let me put it a different way.... Have you ever had a stranger, a total rando say hello to you and instead of saying hello and asking his/her name, you just smile and walk (quickly) away? Have you ever seen someone in the grocery store who looks like they could use a little help reaching or carrying something? Yet, because you don't want t to be awkward or because it isn't necessarily your business, you don't offer to help? I hope by this point you're thinking, "Yep, guilty and guilty," because I know that I am.

So many times I avoid the unknown, whether it is helping a person at the store or starting a conversation with the person next to me on the bus. We, all of us, shy away from the unknown. It is not until the moments after I pass up the opportunity to make a new connection or help someone that I regret it. I regret not helping, not at least offering. For such extrovert who can talk to anyone, what am I afraid of? Thinking of how much more I could know if I had taken the opportunities to talk to all these new people, perhaps I should feel sad or even bad. Instead, I feel inspired; I feel encouraged to never let one of these opportunities pass me up again.

I just finished the movie Last Love. In the movie, a young girl befriends a widowed elderly man and they become dear friends. As I looked at the two of them, I couldn't help but reflect on my own life. All of my grandparents have passed away and I desperately miss their presence. I want that older and wiser person in my life again. Who knows, maybe that little old lady at the store, who can't quite reach the top shelf, could help restore that presence in my life. It's a happy thought and there is only one way to find out if I'm right... to rise about the potential awkwardness, the possible weird looks and the few minutes of time I might waste and offer my help. Just the thought makes me smile. One little gesture can make someone's day. Even if the little old lady doesn't need my help, at least I offered. At least I tried.

You have to live in order to write

I consider myself a writer. Yes, I prefer to jot random ideas down on a blog rather than start a novel, but writing is writing. I've suggested to many friends who always seem to be weighed down by their thoughts to start a blog. There is something extremely therapeutic about it: I have to channel and focus in on my thoughts to be able to make sense of them so others can understand them if/when they read my blogs. Anyways, I had a lazy night and turned on a random movie, which happened to be about a family of writers. In the movie, Stuck In Love, the father is a well-known author and his son and daughter are also aspiring writers. When the son gets flustered and jealous over his sister's book being published, his father sits down with him. He explains to his son that his sister is out living a life, finding adventure, putting her heart on the line and these experiences compelled and inspired her to write. The son, according to his dad, hasn't been living a life of love and excitement, which is why he's suffering writers block.

This scene struck me. Writers have to go out and live in order to have something to write about, motivation to write and an eagerness to put one's thoughts on paper. Normally, a blog post would just come to me. Something--be it a person or topic or situation--would happen and I would suddenly want and need to write to get the emotion off of my heart and organize my thoughts. It was powerful. It is powerful for me. Recently, however, I've suffered my own case of writers block. After I wrote my day-by-day account of my Italy trip and had that huge life experience, I feel as though nothing compares. I can't find the passion or desire to write.

I must have started five or six posts. Some don't have titles, some only have titles, but the desire to relinquish and open my thoughts hasn't been there. I don't have the interest, and that scares me. My blog and being about to express my thoughts has been a point of strength in my life. It has helped me sort though many confusing and emotional points in my life. As I prepare to move away from college and start my "grown-up" life, I should have enough emotions to fill post after post. That is why the line from Stuck In Love hit me like a brick. I haven't been exploring. I'm not talking about going to new restaurants and going to new places, I have been doing that. Rather, I'm talking about exploring me and who I am. I have to explore me before I will be able to go out a experience new things in life. One foot in front of the other, I'll figure "this" out.

Athens Bulldog Statues

As part of my UGA bucket list, I wanted to find all of the bulldog statues. All of the news articles and blogs that I have read said that there are 36 bulldogs, however I have counted/heard of 49. Below is the list of bulldogs that I know/heard of listed by location... Can you find them all?

Downtown Athens
1. BB&T (475 E. Broad St.)

2. Chastain Building (272 W. Hancock Ave.)

3. Biotest Pharmaceuticals (233 W. Hancock Ave.)

4. Thomas N. Lay Community Center & Park (297 Hoyt St.)

5. UGA Alumni Association Wray-Nicholson House (298 S. Hull St.)

6.* Classic Center (300 N. Thomas St.)
          NOTE: Normally this bulldog is inside at the top of the escalators, however they do put it in storage during large events.

7. Old Jittery Joe's Warehouse (across from 805 E. Broad St.)

Milledge Avenue Area
8. Five Points Eye Care (698 S. Milledge Ave.)

9. Silver & Archibald Milledge Offices (997 S. Milledge Ave.)

10. Georgia United Credit Union (1710 S. Lumpkin St.)

11. Jittery Joe's at Five Points (1230 S. Milledge Ave.)

12. UGA Foley Baseball Field (1 Rutherford St.)
          NOTE: Only accessible during baseball games. 

13. Memorial Park Playground (293 Glen Ellen Dr.)

14. UGA Golf Course (2600 Riverbend Rd.)
          NOTE: This dog is only brought out for special occasions. I had a friend who worked at the course.

Baxter Street
15. Baxter Street Bookstore (360 Baxter St.)

16. Bulldog Sporting Goods (1068 Baxter St.)

17. St. Mary's Hospital - just before you go into the Visitor's Parking Deck (1230 Baxter St.)

18. Athens-Clarke County Library (2025 Baxter St.)

East Side
19. Chick-fil-A (1870 Barnett Shoals Rd.)

20. Athens First Bank & Trust Co. (1855 Barnett Shoals Rd.)

21. Fire Station #7 (2390 Barnett Shoals Rd.)

Prince Avenue Area
22. Georgia Power (1001 Prince Ave.)

23. UGA Health Sciences Campus - in front of Winnie Davis Hall (HSC: 1425 Prince Ave, bulldog: intersection of Fox Rd. & Buck Rd.)

24. Power Partners, Inc. - just past Terrapin on the right (200 Newton Bridge Rd.)

25. AT&T Offices (2319 Prince Ave.)

26. Athens YMCA (915 Hawthorne Ave.)

27. Athens Family Dental (3380 Old Jefferson Rd.)

Broad St. to Atlanta Hwy
28. Steak n' Shake (2033 W. Broad St.)

          NOTE: There is a bulldog outside of I DO I DO Bridal Center (2045 W. Broad St.), however it is a wannabe bulldog statue. It's smaller and a different mold as the rest of these statues.

29. Robins Federal Credit Union (2636 Atlanta Hwy.)

30. American Pest Control, Inc. (3145 Atlanta Hwy.)

31. Dalton Carpet One Floor & Home (3690 Atlanta Hwy.)

32. Athens Church (10 Huntington Rd.)

33. Bulldog Kia (4305 Atlanta Hwy.)

34. Community & Southern Bank (3990 Atlanta Hwy, Bogart, GA 30622)

Inside UGA Buildings
35. Terrell Hall - 2nd floor, North Campus entrance (210 S. Jackson St.)

36. Terrell Hall - 1st floor,S. Jackson St. entrance (210 S. Jackson St.)

37. Aderhold Hall - Carlton St. entrance, bottom floor (110 Carlton St.)

38. Coliseum Training Facility - Carlton St. entrance, upstairs by a window (100 Smith St.)

39. College of Veterinary Medicine (1070 D. W. Brooks Dr.)

40. College of Pharmacy - inside the secretary's office (250 W. Green St.)

41. Graduate School Office (279 Williams St.)

42. UGA Visitor's Center (405 College Station Rd.)


Outside of Athens
43. Watkinsville Storage (67 Greensboro Hwy, Watkinsville, GA 30677)

44. Athens-Ben Epps Airport (1010 Ben Epps Dr.)

45. Southeast Clarke Park (535 Whit Davis Rd.)

46. Georgia Welcome Center (938 County Road 84, Lavonia, GA 30553)

47. Gnat's Landing (310 Redfern Village, St. Simons Island, GA 31522)

48. Blackwater Grill Parking Lot (260 Redfern Village, St. Simons Island, GA 31522)

49 Humane Society Penny Dawg (1619 Frederica Rd., St. Simons Island, GA 31522)


*Not sure if there is still a bulldog at this location

Finally at ease with me

Have you ever felt uncomfortable in your own skin? I'm not talking about feeling embarrassed or wishing to loose a few pounds. I'm talking about not knowing who you are, feeling lost in your daily life. I'm a planner; I like to have a schedule and know what's coming next. Yet, at such a big transition period in my life--going from college to the working world is taking me for a ride--I suddenly don't have a plan. I don't have it all figured out. My favorite part about this confession: I'm relishing in the excitement of the unknown. Who am I?!

When I went to Italy with my friend Kristi, it was spontaneous. We threw out the idea and three weeks later we were boarding a plane for two weeks in a country neither of us had been to. I was a mess at the airport prior to boarding that plane. We only had hotels planned; we didn't know what we were going to do each day, but we would "figure it out". As a planner, I have never done well with spontaneous. So, boarding that plane on May 12 to fly over the Atlantic Ocean and into the unknown was a test and, I passed. Kristi will attest that I had moments of frustration and defeat, the moments where I couldn't control the situation. However with her support and the reminder that the hardest part was getting on that plane, I adopted a roll-with-it attitude. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I'm a fly by the seat of your pants type of person, but I am much better with and even enjoy doing things on a whim, on impulse.

Stepping on that plane and letting go of the agenda, of the research, of the control was the most liberating experience and it helped me discover the real me. I love adventure. I can't sit still for very long. I really dislike being bored. I love to walk and people watch. I'm an extrovert, but I enjoy listening. There's a certain comfort level that I have with myself after getting back from Italy. I can't attribute this new found ease to any one thing in particular, but I will say that there is something to be said about facing your fears. There is something to be said about pushing your own boundaries, your own limits to see what you are truly capable of. There is something to be said about being at ease with who you are and the confidence that comes with that knowledge. I am a follower of Christ, a daughter, a friend, a student (every day, in a classroom or not, is a learning experience). I am me; I am Megan. For the first time, I feel comfortable in my own skin and there is no better feeling!

My life isn't interesting enough for social media

Have you ever noticed that when you scroll down your Facebook News Feed post after post is about accepting a job offer, how wonderful a boyfriend or girlfriend is or showing off a new outfit in an edited photo? What about how Twitter has seemed to become a complaint outlet? Have you ever compared the number of likes on your Instagram photo to those of a friend, who seems to have the perfect lighting, background and smile in each and every post? We've all done it. We've sugarcoated our lives and our experiences so that we seem interesting to our "friends". You post a photo of a beautiful mountain top view with a bible verse or #blessing and say what a beautiful day it was when, in actuality, you sweated your butt off, skinned your knee and didn't even want to go on the hike in the first place. You get notification after notification of people liking your photo and you feel like you accomplished something that day. Sound at all familiar?

Have you ever sat down with a friend to catch up, but they interrupt you moments after you begin talking with "Oh, I think I saw that on Facebook!"After that comment, you're at a lose for words. They already know, because you share your experiences on social media. Here's my question: What's the point of face-to-face communication or having relationships if we have no personal life anymore? My generation, those younger than me and even some older folks have lost the idea of personal information. Everything is a post or tagline or hashtag now.

Are you thinking, "Oh, the PR major is telling me that I shouldn't post everything on social media? Hello, she just posted a day-by-day summary of her Italy trip, but I shouldn't post what I had for dinner? Yeah, ok." Was I close? Yes, I like to post on social media. I've grown up in it, it will most likely be a large part of my job, and I love to take and share photographs on social media. Here's the thing though, I'm not all that interesting. Today, I sat and watched five or six episodes of Scandal, ate way too much junk food and surfed the net. Fascinating stuff, right? The old me probably would have posted about how addicting the show is or some Olivia Pope quote. I know that I have a lot of Scandal loving friends, so I'm confident that it would have gotten a decent amount of likes and a handful of comments. I would log onto Facebook and see a little red notification flag in the corner. I'd be lying if I said that seeing that red flag wasn't a confidence booster. It is. It makes me (and I'm sure you as well) feel like people care about me and I you have to say. Instead of posting anything though, the new me was content to have my television marathon Monday and go to the gym. I was good. There was no reason to post.

While I was in Italy, I had a break from the constant buzzing and beeping of my phone. Although I posted a daily synopsis of what we had done (mainly so that I could remember and my parents could know that all was well), I loved that Italians aren't glued to their phones. They don't walk and text, walk and talk, talk and text, listen and text or any other type of phone multitasking. It was refreshing. They had something to talk about--and Italians love to talk and visit. For me, that is what is important in life: relationships and communication. I want to actually have a story to tell my friends when I see them, a story that they have not already heard about via social media. I want to sit down with my friends and be present, which means my phone remains in my purse and not on the table. I want the person I'm speaking with to look me in the eye so that I know they're listening; I don't have to take their word for it because their looking at their phone while I'm talking. I'm guilty of all of these things, but I'm done. I'm done with sugarcoating my life just to see a red notification flag when I log into Facebook. I'm done multitasking with my phone. I'm done telling my friends "happy birthday" on Facebook--if they are truly my friend, they deserve a phone call on their birthday. I want to restore the meaning of personal communication... so don't be surprised if I call you, or give me a call; we can catch up!