2-5 year missions list

Every once in a while, something throws me into a mini-existential funk and makes me contemplate what I’m doing in life. Bigger funks have led to my quarter-life crisis Mustang (Competition Orange convertible... it was fantastic), moving to NYC (twice), and quitting my job (brief period of semi-retirement). Smaller ones prompt a Soo-&-Cheryl-once-every-3-months call. The gorgeous, perfect for driving with the top down weather, 2 friends having babies within the past week, and a text from Soo got me pondering the deeper things in life. We talked about life stuff we’re working on to set up for 2-5 years from now while I was on Pinterest, and my Ideation kicked in.

In NC over winter break, I found a note with the grad programs I narrowed my list down to- Hunter College in NYC, FSU, UW-Milwaukee, and UW-Madison when I discovered their Ph.D. in Ed Psych. It was interesting to see my plans then compared to what ended up happening. Ironic that the only 2 Master’s programs I applied for hadn’t even made the list (and UF was super last minute. Literally.). The best part was, this list was all as a backup if I didn’t get the HR position at Epic, a company just outside Madison that would later fly me up there for an interview. Crazy how things change.

So, just for the hell of it, to look back in 2-5 years and compare real life to my current list, here it is:

·         By the time I reach this 2-5 year window, I will be a Master of Education and hopefully employed as such. After my first visit to the Midwest (literally the whole Midwest- Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, & Illinois in one trip, Wisconsin about 4 months after) in 2009, I fell in love. Chicago, Madison, various suburbs, it was all fantastic and clean with nice people and delicious, albeit fattening, food. With the recent contacts I’ve been making, I’m starting to think DIII or non-BCS schools aren’t nearly as not as exciting as I feared they’d be. They’re almost becoming more ideal, to be honest. That being said, as of today, the plan is- working in student-athlete development in some capacity at a kick ass university either in the Wisconsin/Illinois vicinity where I have people already, select parts of Florida, or somewhere awesome in NC (UNC-W under consideration).

·         Going with the baby theme, married and having kids would be fantastic by the 5 year end of the range. Some pre-baby married time would be kinda awesome, too, though, so however it works with mystery amazing husband is fine. Just need to find the dude… 

·         Once a yard & more sensible schedule is obtained, hopefully within the window, the puppy I’ve threatened to get since college is happening. It’s stayed consistently Jack Russell-ish, though the name has changed from Madden originally, to most recently, Jermichael D’Brickashaw. I mean, how can you not want something this cute?

Source: tailgate-bluess.tumblr.com via Heather on Pinterest

·         I’m far from a material person, much more of a do stuff girl than a buy me stuff girl, but one thing I’d really like is an Audi A5 Sportback or Cabriolet. I dated a guy that worked for & owned an Audi, and his was hands down the best car I’ve ever ridden in. And it looked damn sexy. I’ll take one in black or charcoal gray, please. 

·         I’ve tried to make my current apt Cheryl-esque, but I miss having a place that’s actually mine and that I can decorate how I want. Eventually in life, I would love the opportunity to work with an architect to help design my own home (previous career ambition) and it would have a kick ass kitchen. That’s likely more of a  10-15 year/hit the lottery plan, though. ps- my kitchen would look something like this:

contemporary kitchen design by chicago interior designer ADS Design

·         Since I’ve had a list of things to do before I die (about 5 years), eat fantastic food in Italy and speak French in France have been on it. About 2 years ago, going to Finland in the summer got added. I really don’t care what order those happen in, but at least one getting accomplished in the 2-5 year span would be preferable.
   

      There are a ton of simpler things on my lists, but these are the bigger picture things that would be most interesting to compare. Hopefully at least the majority match up!

#oneword2012

Inspired by many of the fellow student affairs people I follow on Twitter, I decided to give in and do the OneWord365 thing. After some spontaneous deliberation on the car ride to Orlando yesterday, I settled on engage as my word for 2012.

en·gage verb \in-ˈgāj, en-\ 

1 : to pledge oneself

2 : to begin and carry on an enterprise or activity  
3 : to take part or participate

4 : to give attention to something

5 : to deal with especially at length 

I'm very much a self-proclaimed "do stuff" girl. I hate inaction. I would much rather experience things than sit around and talk about them. I also like to relax, however, and often find myself sleeping in when I have the opportunity or using any free time to just chill out when life is hectic otherwise. It's necessary to take a break sometimes, but I've been realizing recently how that break time can be more productive, like hitting the gym, taking a yoga or dance class, working on a project... anything more engaging.


Every day at work, I encourage students that come through my office to be engaged on campus, but I realized I'm not doing such a hot job of that myself. Time to start living the example. I've added two big commitments to my spring schedule that, while demanding of my time, have the potential to be super fulfilling both for myself and the students with whom I'll be interacting.


I've also realized that when I'm being pulled in several different directions, something that is becoming the norm the more I get into student affairs, I sometimes start to take a more surface level approach to things that I would have otherwise explored more in depth. These things could be personal projects, articles and topics I'm interested in, social things, pretty much anything. I start trying to do so many things that I don't fully engage to get the full experience out of any of them. 


All 5 of my StrengthsQuest strengths are in the idea and prep phases of projects, not the get things done phases. (Ideation, Futuristic, Strategic, Activator, Maximizer) I can easily come up with some stellar plans. This year, I want to get the most possible out of them.


Hence, the decision to purposefully and intentionally engage more. 

Bring it, 2012.

think outside the microcosm…

Over winter break, I got to visit my mom & close friends in NC, eat & hang out at my favorite places there, go to a few Canes games, and relax by the gulf coast back in Florida. General sleeping in and having minimal responsibility was also pretty awesome, because it gave me time to watch the first 6 seasons of HIMYM :) As I mentally prepped to return to Gville to face my 2^nd semester of grad school, I had some realizations.

Certain aspects of grad school have been trickier than others, all of which stem from returning to college life after being out in the real world for 5 years. Earlier this semester, Soo provided great insight, as always, when she reminded me that, in her words, “The microcosm that exists within a school environment is ENTIRELY different from real life situations.” This return to NC made that realization super clear to me.

As I met up with different friends, I realized that real life (v grad school) gave me different social groups- work friends from previous jobs, neighbor friends, friends through friends, people from many different aspects of my 4 years in NC. In Gainesville, the majority of my social life somehow connects back to my program, or at least UF. Completely different from real life. Like Soo said, microcosm.

The cohort model is one of my favorite aspects of my program. It’s nice that almost anyone I talk to in a social or professional setting at UF understands our program and at least has some idea of what our experience in it is like. I’m a complete open book, so it’s not that I’ve hidden aspects of my life from anyone in NC, but most of my friends there know me in different contexts and don’t quite have the whole picture (aside from a few).

I’ve realized the pros in the separation, though, too. It’s nice to have people from a completely different area of life who you can step back with when you need a break from the sameness. When mostly around people who are sharing a common experience, it’s hard to remove that from your interactions. It was reassuring in a way to experience that difference when I hung out with UF friends in NC during the break. In fact, I don’t remember referencing UF, grad school, or anything about that part of life during that visit much at all (outside of sports, of course). That and thinking of which NC friends I met up with made me realize that, once out of the context in which you met, friendships that will last will change as life does.

I know that outside of Gainesville, life is different. I’ve done this transition before. But while living in the microcosm, I’ll try to look at things differently. I’ll look at these relationships as how they can be after we’re all outside of UF and approach them in that context so they have more potential than just considering them as parts of grad school.