to be or not to be..

the other day while i was sitting in my advertising class, introduction to creativity, i had an epiphany. i have been going back and forth like a tetherball on what career i want to pursue.  currently i am double majoring in advertising and accounting, and i have been having a lot of trouble deciding which one i could see myself spending the rest of my life doing.  i love the divergent thinking and the creative flow of advertising, that is present even on the account side, rather than the creative side; but at the same time i like the convergent, rule-based idea of accounting.  i love that in advertising there isn't only one right answer, and that it is always updating depending on the current state of the world and thus i would constantly be learning.  at the same time, it scares me because the industry is always changing so that makes me worry about job security.  what draws me to accounting is its puzzle orientation and principles that provide structure; and the fact that there will definitely always be a need for accountants and that my whole immediate family is employed in a variation of accounting or finance.  i think it would be really cool to have a whole family that can relate to your career and sort of guide you in the right direction but at the same time i also think it would be cool to go my own direction and break the mold by choosing the advertising route.  although i am obviously still facing the dilemma of which career to choose, i realized that what i really want in a career is to do something that i actually love.  i realized that i am probably not going to find love in being a rigid, rule-follower that is a certified public accountant, nor am i likely to find it in the unpredictable, ever-changing world of advertising.  it will most likely come from a random combination of the two.  i'm definitely not sure what i want to do in life but i do know that i absolutely want to have fun doing it.

"This was work (music industry) but it was the awakening to what was to become a life's passion." - Clive Davis

all in the family

so we're sitting in our hotel rooms in birmingham, alabama and we're just laying in bed talking about random things, and suddenly i realize just how much teammates become like family.  whether it's assuring you that your ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend is not near as pretty as you are, or giving you a ride so you don't have to suffer in your own car because of a broken air conditioner; most teammates will always have your back.  it's crazy to me how you can come to college only having met your teammates maybe once or twice but once you are actually part of the team you instantly become a part of the family without question.  it's obvious that with any big group, girls in particular, you are not always going to like everyone in the group. being on a team, however, is different.  teams have the responsibility of working together towards a common goal and that is usually inhibited if the members do not get a long.  teams handle this situation much differently than a normal group would.  even if two teammates don't get along, they are likely to respect each other, which is the important factor.  teammates tend to work around not liking each other due to the respect that is held for one another because it is known that everyone is striving to reach the same shared goal.  one of my favorite aspects of my team is that i know that i could go to anyone of my teammates for anything at anytime and they would have my back.

"commitment to the team - there is no such thing as in-between, you are either in our out." - pat riley

the sound of music

 

music is a huge part of my life.  music fuels most of my daily activities and without it i feel that i truly might be lost.  that being said, my taste in music is very eclectic; ranging from country to hip hop to dub step, depending on the mood i am in.  however, one of the most important factors in my music choices is the quality of the lyrics.  i really appreciate songs with lyrics that discuss deeper things in life than going to the club or what size wheels are on your car.  one of my favorite artists right now is kid cudi because most of his songs have a message, unlike most other hip hop artists.  "the prayer" is one song of his that i typically like to apply to my life and it really makes me think.  just listening to the first verse sends me into to deep thought and forces me to assess the value of my life.

my heart thump not from being nervous

sometimes i'm thinking god made me special here on purpose

so all the while 'til i'm gone make my words important so

if i slip away, if i die today the last thing you remember won't

be about some apple bottom jeans with the boots with the fur

baby how i dream of being free since my birth

cursed but the demons i confronted would disperse

have you ever heard of some shit so real

beyond from the heart, from the soul you can feel

when i hear these words i am reminded that god put all of us here on this earth to serve a special purpose and that we should all contribute something to the world.  like the lyrics say, "so all the while 'til i'm gone make my words important so / if i slip away, if i die today the last thing you remember won't / be about some apple bottom jeans with the boots with the fur."  i want to contribute something that is meaningful and that would make me proud to be remembered for.  it simply reminds me to wake up and live everyday to the fullest so that if i were to die tomorrow i would be remembered how i would like to be remembered. 

planes, trains and automobiles

this semester alone i will miss 9 classes. i will fly at least 12 times and go on 10 bus rides total. i will play in 31 matches, which is at least 93 games.  i will potentially attend 75 practices, each approximately 2.5 hours long, which is 187.5 hours total, or 7.8125 days. i am a member of the smu volleyball team and this is my life during our season, which is the fall semester. many people cringe when they hear about all the time, energy, work, and effort that goes into to being a student-athlete but i wouldn't have it any other way. sometimes i laugh at the fact that we are even called "student-athletes" considering how much school we actually miss. i have been playing sports continuously ever since the second grade when i laced up my first pair of soccer cleats. it's the only life i've ever known and, as corny as it may sound, it has truly shaped me into the person that i am today and although my sports career will cease to exist upon graduation, many of the traits i have acquired over the years will remain with me.  

when i think about my life thus far, i think about how volleyball started as something i did simply because my older sister did, as was the trend for the majority of our younger years, and grew into arguably my biggest passion in life. i constantly think about how fortunate i am to be on an athletic scholarship and basically get paid to do something i absolutely love. this is something that i hope will carry on to my later adult life and something i hope that everyone has a chance to experience. PASSION. i am a strong believer in passion and its role in one's success in all aspects of life.

     "once a man has made a commitment to a way of life, he puts the greatest strength in the world behind him. it's something we call heart power. once a man has made this commitment, nothing will stop him short of success." - Vince Lombardi

PASSION IS MY VEHICLE OF CHOICE.