Category: Blog

Spooky Season

I call this “Spooky Season” for many reasons. The obvious Halloween time but also, some recent activities in my life can only be described as spooky. For instance, the way my bank account is looking at this point in the semester…

Tears for being a broke college student aside, I wanted to share how my door decs and bulletin board turned out for this month. As an RA, we update our door decs and bulletin boards on a monthly basis. For October’s door decs, I decided to use different Halloween themed scrapbook paper, stencil one of four classic Halloween symbols on them, and then outline in purple glitter. Here’s my results:

For my bulletin board, I was originally planning on doing a 3D pumpkin patch, but after a few mess ups, I went in a different direction…

I know all of my stuff is Halloween themed, but if I’m being honest, Halloween is definitely not my favorite holiday. So of course, I added some fall touches to my room decor.

My “Hello Fall” sign on my door!
A cute reminder to be thankful that hangs right next to my desk!

And of course, the day I finally get around to posting all of my fun fall decorations, it SNOWS! I can see snow on the cars outside my window so I guess it’s a sign that I should go ahead as scheduled and put up my Christmas tree on November 1st…too soon?

Unplanned

Yesterday evening I had the privilege to see an early screening of a new movie, Unplanned. This movie comes out on Friday, March 29.

Whatever side you’re on, abortion is a hugely talked about and disputed issue. Both sides have so many reasons for thinking their way is the right way, which results in a lot of fights, hurt feelings, and sometimes even the loss of relationships. Whichever side of the debate you’re on, I highly recommend you go see this movie. The sad thing about it is that it is based on a true story, the story of Abby Johnson. It becomes much more real when you put a face to the cause, as one of my professors would say.

Abby’s story is incredibly hard to hear. I believe her story is relatable to many women out there facing this, and that’s part of what makes the movie and her story so sad.

Why is it so hard to watch? Reality. Reality slaps you in the face from the first 15 minutes of the movie. Unplanned shows the truth. And many people are unprepared to face it. Many choose to ignore it, excuse it, or simply are too naive to realize. As Abby herself says, many women really are that gullible. The sad truth of today is that a lot of people will believe what you tell them provided it sounds reasonable and you might have something to back it up. But is it factual? Is it true?

Unplanned is a rated R film, for violence. That says a lot right there. I was sitting in a theater full of people, and there were tears streaming down my face. This movie broke my heart. It broke my heart because this actually happens, because people don’t know, or they do and choose to push it to the back of their heads.

Again, I highly recommend that you go see this movie. It doesn’t matter which side of the debate you’re on, it’s just one of many women’s stories.

My own opinion? I am pro-life. Unashamed. I have heard and come to despise the saying, “My body, my choice.” Why? It’s not true. It is not you who is dying. It is not your body being torn apart limb by limb and sucked into a tube. It is not your body being chemically flushed out of the only home and safe place you have. It is not your body, so why should it be your choice?

Psalm 139:13-16 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

Be the CHANGE

Hello everyone! Long time, no blog…

My spring break ended yesterday and sadly, I had to resume classes today. Over spring break I realized that the time I spend in furthering my education will be over before I know it. On the way to class a couple weeks ago, there was some loose change on the ground. I stopped abruptly and picked it up because, ya know, poor college students and all….

I realized something as I was doing that. Picking up loose change is SO easy and for me, an attractive way to get easy money. It might not seem like it amounts to anything, but after four years at college it might. I have a jar on my desk with loose change that I have picked up only on my campus from last semester. $5.86. By no means does that make me rich, and $5 a semester over four years only gets me $40 but honestly, that’s pretty good money for not doing anything.

That chance at $40 is something that drives me to continue picking up the loose change I find-that and the fact that I’m a saver when it comes to money and will do everything in my power to keep saving. But what if I (and you) looked at picking up trash as profitable? What if everyone picked up trash (or other things not intended to be blowing around in the wind) with the same attitude we use when picking up loose change?

Think about the feeling you have when you find a dollar on the ground. You feel pretty good, right? It’s only a dollar but it’s one more dollar than you had. If we had that mentality about cleaning up the world around us, we’d live in a cleaner place. It might just be a little bit cleaner, but a little bit more than it would’ve been…

Food for thought today. Why not be the change? Pick up loose change and trash. Make a difference. I believe that everyone wants to make a difference in the world in some way. Do the little things, and you will. Growing up in sports I was taught that the little things matter. I truly believe that doing the small, menial tasks really will make a difference in the world.

And hey, you might find an extra $5 along the way!

February Focus <3

It’s February and we all know what that means. Memes start circling around about not having a valentine, people become obnoxious about not needing a valentine, and so on. I know I’m not the only one that gets annoyed by those things…

Every month I try to make a list of goals I want to accomplish for that month (a habit I highly recommend to everyone). This month, as I was going through my goals, I realized there was a common theme that I’m sure many people would find if they did the same thing. All of my goals were centered around self-love. I thought to myself, what if instead of complaining on social media about being valentineless (let’s be honest, yes, it is complaining), everyone kept a list of things they loved about themselves for the whole month of February, adding a new thing each day?

The idea sounded great to me. I started a journal just for this list and decided since it’s February 4th, I have to catch up by writing 4 things I love about myself. The first thing on the list was easy-everyone has something about them that they get complimented on or that they have always loved about themselves. But the second thing was harder. The third was even harder. And the fourth thing, I really had to think about!

I know I’m not the only one who has this issue, and that’s why I think this self-love list is so important. It’s something that is private, you don’t need to show anyone. If you love it about yourself, that’s all that matters, add it to the list! I know others will struggle to find things about themselves that they love too, but by the end of this challenge, I truly think I, and anyone else that does it, will look at myself differently than I do right at this very moment.

Life is full of changes and transitions. Why not transition into loving yourself? Why not find strength in who you are? Why not change your way of thinking so that you don’t need someone else’s approval? That is what this February Focus is all about. LOVE WHO YOU ARE.

Here’s an idea list to get you started:

  1. I love my (physical attribute)
  2. I love my (ability)
  3. I love my (ideas)
  4. I love my (something unique to you)

And I know someone out there will think to themselves that there’s nothing about them to love. I disagree. You are fearfully and wonderfully made, don’t you ever forget it. You are loved more than you can ever comprehend.

Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Don’t Wish It Away

On this gloomy afternoon, my roommate is playing country music while we do homework. “5 More Minutes” by Scotty McCreery happened to come on and the song jolted me back to high school. Although I don’t like to admit it, I had senioritis upon entering high school. I was as guilty as the next person of wondering why it couldn’t just be Friday. During high school, and even now, I found myself always wondering that and being mentally and emotionally disengaged from what was going on around me. I didn’t “live in the moment.” (I am not saying you shouldn’t plan things out, but I do feel that it’s important to be present in what’s going on NOW.)

Anyways, as I sat here listening to the words, I realized that even though I vowed I would never miss high school, I do. Even though I was so excited to move away from home the majority of the year, I miss living there. And I really miss getting everything paid for…

In a lot of ways we all, myself included, are wishing for 5 more minutes at the same time as we’re wishing for it to be Friday. My senior year was when these thoughts started to really intertwine in my life. While I was wishing for it to be Friday, I was praying that my last Homecoming week would slow down. Even while I counted down the weeks until graduation, I thought about how sad it would be to lose contact with the people I’d gone to school with for 13 years. These thoughts impacted me so much that I decided to give short stories about my classmates and I from every year that we went to school in my speech at graduation, a last chance to reminisce together before it was all over.

In many ways, I find myself following the same pattern in college. About a week ago I found myself on a loop thinking about how different things will be in a few years. I know that we should always be grateful for what we have and where we’re at, but graduating from high school and going into college really makes me think about how much I took for granted when I was younger.

Honestly, college is sort of a final attempt to avoid growing up.

With these thoughts, I wanted to share a little piece of advice with the high school seniors that are so ready to “get out.” You’ve probably heard it a thousand times, but you’re gonna miss it. Please, quit wishing it away. Sure, high school is not “the best time of your life” for everyone. But high school, and school in general, teaches you so many things about yourself and the people around you. Don’t wish it away. When you find yourself wishing it was Friday, wishing graduation was this weekend, or wishing you were officially an adult already, think about everything that you’ve learned from school. I’m not talking academically, I’m talking life lessons.

Your life could change in a split second, so why wish all those seconds away?

‘Twas the Week Before Finals

‘Twas the week before finals, when all through the dorms

All the creatures were studying, until they were worn!

The clothes were packed up, in the car without much care

In hopes that the end of finals week soon would be there;

The students were nestled all snug in their rooms

while math equations and proper citations danced the song of doom;

And my roommate in fuzzy socks, and I in my Grinch shirt,

Had just settled in for a long night of studying trying to become experts.

When out in the hall, there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the door I tip-toed kind of slow,

Turned the door knob and threw open the door.

The girls of fourth floor

Were shouting and dancing galore.

When what to my wondering eyes did appear,

But a normal-sized sled, and a girl fighting tears.

The girl was laughing and headed for the door,

I knew in a moment I must follow to see more.

She zipped down the staircase, and out of the dorm

Calling out names as she destroyed social norms.

“Now Hannah, now Erin, now Gabi and Reagan!

C’mon Anna, let’s go Lauryn, get Shannon and Megan!

To the top of the hill, right in front of the dorm,

Let’s sled and race down it to see who can perform!”

And I awoke the next morning, only to find

That I dreamt it all, dreaming the whole time.

So I rubbed my eyes, and got ready for class,

Because finals week was yet to be had!

Good look to all the students who were lucky/unlucky enough to have this be their finals week! But to those students in the same boat as I am, let us not procrastinate and actually study this week…

One Week before finals So it Begins - One Week before finals So it Begins So it begins

 

 

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I know I’ve been a little absent the last few weeks but this Midwest blizzard is giving me a little extra time. As everyone travels home from their respective Thanksgivings and family gatherings, I’m sure we all have been thinking on what we’re thankful for.

As for me, I had to drive back to college a little earlier than planned due to the weather, and the drive kept me reflective on what I was thankful for. It’s almost harder to leave home after a long break than after a weekend. BUT, being home allowed me to compile a list of things at home and at college that I am most thankful for, and that you graduating seniors should keep in mind as you are about to embark on the last part of your journey in high school.

HOME

  1. Family- Okay, this one may seem like an obvious one but I truly think we take our families for granted. When I was home for break my sisters and brothers went almost everywhere with me when I left home (so did my dog!) and although they didn’t say it out loud, it was clear to me that they miss me being home all the time. And I miss them, too! It’s weird going from 3 siblings around you all the time to none.
  2. Food- Another obvious one, but especially because it was Thanksgiving, home-cooked meals taste a heckeva lot better than cafeteria food! Enjoy a variety of meat instead of frozen hamburger patties and chicken. Eat the vegetables while they are prepared. Eat some fruit. College seems to be lacking in those areas…
  3. My House- There’s something about being in your own house that puts the mind at ease. I feel more comfortable being in my own house than being in a dorm, and I also enjoy having carpet( which college also lacks in). And the Christmas decor at home puts my 3 ft dorm tree to shame.
  4. My Community- This weekend my high school was talented enough and worked hard enough to make school history. Our football team made it to the State Semi-Finals game! I was blessed enough to be able to watch it, surrounded by family (biological and not) and friends. We ended up losing, but the sense of school pride and the amount of people from the community who came out to watch was amazing! Being surrounded with that kind of atmosphere can make a girl miss high school…

College

  1. Independence- Ironically, while at home I miss college and while at college I miss home. When I’m at college, I’m pretty much on my own, leaving anything I do up to me. It’s a weird balance to come home and need to tell your mom where, when, and what you’re going to do when you leave the house. I think I speak for most college students when I say that the sense of independence is one of the most rewarding things about college- you have to learn to make adult decisions and you are in charge of your own wellbeing.
  2. The Dorm- As weird as this may seem, I actually really enjoy living in the dorms. My high school College Prep teacher once told us that college was the only time in your life where you lived surrounded by your best friends 24/7.  And she was absolutely right! I know a lot of the people I live with, and my floor regularly does things together. Last week we had a floor decorating party complete with sparkling grape juice before we left for break! Around halloween, we hosted a trick-or-treat in the dorms! Now, if I could only track down who stole my flamingo socks from the laundry room…
  3. Wifi- Now this isn’t something everyone agrees with me on…In fact, I hear a lot of people complain about the Wifi at my school. But for me, it’s fantastic! My Wifi at home is spotty at best so having Wifi 24/7 at college has been great.
  4. The Non-Judgemental Atmosphere- In all honesty, there will probably never be a 100% judgement free zone. But college is pretty close! In college, you become a lot more open minded-to everything. You have many people with varying opinions on all sorts of topics, but somehow it’s all okay. The openmindedness allows for friendships to blossom that probably wouldn’t in any other atmosphere.

All in all, I have nothing to complain about. Life is great! Life is very different now than it was a year ago, but it’s a good different.

To all my fellow college students, good luck on the upcoming finals! And to everyone in the Midwest, have a great blizzard day!

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Mid-Term Evaluations: What is College Really Like?

Hello and welcome back to The Grow Up Project! Us college students have been getting hit with midterms the past few weeks, and I thought that this would be a great time in the semester to point out the differences I see between college and high school. I’ve put together a list of 5 things that stand out to me at this  point in college.

My First Year Experience Class (also known as the McGilley House) won the first house competition-trivia!

  1. Meetings: College is all about meetings. I know I’ve said it before because I was amazed at the amount of meetings that I have to go to. Meetings for my volleyball team (on top of practice), weekly student government meetings, professors want to meet with students outside of class. If you want to talk to someone who is not a student while in college, you have to schedule a meeting.
  2. Tests: I have had all of 1 test (max) per class this semester. ONE. I’m scheduled to have about three total tests in most of my classes, including the final. It’s weird not having a test after every chapter or unit like happens a lot in high school.
  3. Teachers: I don’t know about you, but most of my high school teachers didn’t have a PhD. Almost all of my college professors do. And surprisingly, these people are honestly very lenient. They take attendance at my school, but not at most bigger institutions. They almost always let us out of class early (there’s a few exceptions, of course). A lot of my professors are hilarious, too.  The thing that I like best about the professors at my school is that they care. One of my teammates was going on a visit to a different college this week, and my theology professor called (yes, like on the phone) her to try to convince her to stay.  That’s dedication.
  4. Living Conditions: Okay duh Reagan. But hear me out. Yes, clearly I’m in a completely different place than I would be at home, but it still feels like home to me. I feel like I live in a giant apartment building where I know all my neighbors. Where we hang out and watch scary movies in the lounge. Where we have the loud side of the hallway and the quiet side. Where there’s music playing at almost all hours of the day. Living in the dorms is actually pretty fun if you make it that way. That’s the thing about college, it is what you make it.

    My house won the second competition, too! We Escaped!
  5. The People: At my little school in Kansas, we have a lot of people from California. The first few weeks, our dorm hosted several meet and greet opportunities and a lot of people showed up. People from California repeatedly told me that people from Kansas were “so nice”. That we weren’t super judgy or materialistic. Now, despite what some may  be thinking, I actually agree with them. And my college showcases that well. I have met some of the most amazing people here on campus. People are really nice because everyone is in the same boat. At the beginning, no one knows each other, then the friend groups form, but for some reason college students are extremely open to meeting new people and trying new things. It’s honestly a great atmosphere.
  6. BONUS–The Homesickness: I am only 45ish minutes from home. But I have friends who are 2, 3, 4+ hours away. If I get homesick, I know they must, too. Going away to college has its appeal, until you’re there. It is weird being “removed” from your old life. I  notice how much I’m missing when I do go home. My siblings are growing up, my pets are getting older, and my high school has changed a ton. You take for granted all of that when you are right in the midst of it. But when you’re gone, even for just a few weeks, a lot does change. And goshdangit, it is really hard to shop for presents for people you aren’t around all the time!

College so far has been all it’s cracked up to be. I love the people here, classes aren’t bad at all (right now), and this is for sure one of the best experiences of my life.

I also want to let y’all in on a little secret. Well, I’ll give a hint.  A few of my friends and I had an idea over breakfast for dinner (at 11pm). It involves cameras. Stay tuned next week for the big reveal!

 

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Take My Own Advice

How many times have you given advice and then later, when in the same situation, you don’t follow your own advice? Well, I did that.

Story Time:

So a few weeks ago, you may recall reading about it, I thought I had a migraine due to dehydration or weather changes. (My advice during this time was to listen to your body, stay hydrated, take care of yourself.)  The head pressure went away after a few days so I thought I had nothing to worry about. About a week later, I woke up to extremely puffy and swollen eyes. I attributed this to allergies, after all, I live in the Midwest and things get pretty crazy.

However, after 2 weeks of waking up to that EVERY SINGLE MORNING,  I concluded there might be more to the story. Last week was the week I decided something might actually be wrong with me. Now mind you, I take allergy medicine every morning along with vitamins twice a day. I was making an effort.

Last week, I spent about 2 1/2 days experiencing extreme nausea…not a fun time. But it went away. Something still felt off, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I experienced several symptoms that could indicate mono, however while I was tired, it wasn’t the extreme dead feeling unique to mono. Sunday morning, I woke up with the least swelling around my eyes that I’d had this month, I felt MUCH better than I had the past two weeks, and I thought I was finally getting over it.  Although, I did have what I’ve heard some people refer to as “tonsil stones” that morning. Everyone had been on me about going to the doctor, but I decided that I felt so much better that there was no doubt I was on the upward climb. And my tonsils were probably just expelling all the bad that had accumulated in my body that past few weeks.

I was wrong.

Monday morning I woke up finding it a little difficult to swallow. My eyes were swollen again and my body was soooo tired. I was convinced I had mono, but for some reason I still couldn’t make myself go to the doctor. I decided I would wait a week to see if I got better (I was sure I would.) Tuesday was worse. So much worse. While brushing my teeth, I somehow managed to pop a pus pocket (sorry for the graphics) and I was spitting blood…I made my roommate take a picture of my throat and not much to my surprise my tonsils were pretty swollen and were starting to become covered with puss pockets. We had a game so I didn’t go to the doctor, in the back of my head I was still hoping that I would get over it. This morning I woke up in A LOT more pain. I could hardly swallow water and I decided I needed to take my own advice, and take care of myself. I decided to go to the doctor. When you see the picture, I’m sure you’ll agree.

You are very welcome for this wonderful image…

Now, figuring out a place to go is a whole other story, but I finally decided to go to the Minute Clinic at CVS. The doctor informed me that I had a sinus infection. Now, not everyone is sold on that diagnosis(they didn’t test me for strep at all), but that is what I’m being treated for. However, the important part of this story is that this was an ongoing sickness-a month of it! I probably could’ve prevented more than half of this if I’d taken some cold medicine whenever I first got the head pressure, a cough, and other symptoms that warned something was wrong. Instead of treating myself, I’m now on an antibiotic, over the counter decongestant, probiotic (to prevent unwanted bodily functions from the antibiotic) and lots and lots of cough drops. Oh well. And no, I probably still won’t want to go to the doctor next time either. 

Moral of the story, if you feel sick or wake up to weird symptoms multiple days in a row, get it checked out.

Also important: I feel like an official grown up after taking myself to the doctor and running around to pharmacys to get what I needed to take care of myself. And spending a crap ton of money doing it all.

Story time over.

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They said I would miss it…

Hello again! I can honestly say that the past week flew past me. Actually, this semester is flying past me. I mean, it’s already October! This week, I got to thinking. One thing about me is that I think A LOT. I zone out of conversations (not necessarily a good quality), I stop mid-sentence, I talk to myself, all because I’m thinking.

Anyway, what was I thinking about? About life. About how different it is not seeing my family everyday, or at least knowing they live in the same house as me. I have come to the realization that buying Christmas presents just got a whole lot harder. I’m an observer and I usually figure out what to get people based on how they act, what they say, what they like. All of that stuff is a lot harder to figure out when you aren’t around someone all the time.

On a different note, I never thought I would miss people from high school as much as I do. Sure, I miss some of my teachers, but I’m talking about students. I genuinely miss the kids I went to school with and the reliability that came with going to a small school and seeing the same people everyday. I did that for 13 years of my life. It becomes your normal. I find myself checking up on people that I never in a million years would have thought I would care about. I go on social media purposefully to see how my former classmates are doing, because of this: no one can change the fact that I spent the majority of my life with these people. With these people I experienced some of the best things of my life, and some of the worst. We complained about teachers and homework, we cheered obnoxiously at sports games, we knew lots of things about each other. That’s not something that I can give up easily. I may not be best friends with these people, maybe not friends at all, but at the end of the day, I still care about them and I want them to be successful. I spent 13 of my 18 years of life with these people.

I was also thinking about this: one year ago today, I was stressing about where to go to school. I was stressing about what to major in. I was worried about not making friends in college, failing college classes, and a load of other things that I had no reason to worry about. And here I am, one year later, and I’m fine. (No, I still don’t really know what I wanna do with my life, but that’s beside the point.) Here’s what I’ve learned: college is great. No, I definitely don’t have my life figured out. But I am blessed to have moved on to another small school and as a result, I have gained another family. That’s something that not everyone can say they have, and I am so happy that I can.

One thing is for sure though, they weren’t lying when they said I’d miss it…

P.S. To all high school seniors, college students, or parents of the former: FAFSA opened today, Oct. 1st and you should fill that out ASAP!