Tag: change

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!

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!