Can we all agree than January took forever? I mean, from a college student perspective, it felt like I did so much in that half a month we were at school.
It only took me half of February to realize I’ve been slacking on my blog game. I haven’t even updated about my January RA stuff! Well, I’m going to remedy that right now.
For January’s door decs, I made party hats to celebrate the New Year!For my bulletin board, I gave students the opportunity to share some of their favorite songs. It was a big HIT 😉
Now, I have to brag for a minute. I am blessed in so many ways (can I get an Amen?!) and being given this floor was just one more blessing! My residents are the absolute sweetest. They always come through on interactive things, like this bulletin board. One room on my floor has been giving back to others, and I just wanted to share that love with all of you. In December, this room hung candy canes on their door, free to any who wanted a little Christmas cheer. This month, they have hung free valentines on their door for people to take.
I mean, c’mon! How much sweeter can it get?
Something that being an RA has taught me is to always count my blessings. I encounter so many different types of people at college, but being an RA gives me relationships with people I never otherwise would have. They help me to truly appreciate what I have been blessed with, and I hope I never take it for granted.
I challenge you this month to reflect on your own blessings. What has God given you? How can you show your appreciation?
Tune in next time to see some ways I’ve been showing my appreciation to my residents.
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.)Â 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.Â
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.
Hello everyone! The past week went by sooo fast. Because everyone has been at school for a few weeks, all the clubs and organizations are starting to get established. Which means we all become 3x busier…
Sometime a couple weeks ago, the school held an activities fair where students could walk around and talk to all the different clubs. Typical freshman, I signed up for 8 (ish) clubs and there is no possible way I will go to any of their meetings. Last week, all the clubs sent out their emails for their first meetings. I noticed that at least three of the clubs all met this week, on the same day. I wrote them all down in my planner, organized student that I am, and didn’t think anything of it. Until yesterday. Yesterday, I put this week’s athletic schedule in (games, practices, individual sessions, etc.) It just so happens that we have a home volleyball game the day of all of those meetings.
Coincidentally, all of the meetings occur right before or right after my game, but they are just close enough in times that the chances of me making any of them are slim to none. Leaning more on the none. Moral of this story, don’t sign up for 8 (ish) clubs.
On a completely differnt note, my search for a “college church” continues. It’s hard to not judge every little detail of a new church, comparing it with what I’m used to. Some of the things I’m judging don’t make it wrong, just different. I’ve been to two different churches since being here and still don’t feel quite like I’m home there. Of course, it’s hard to tell in just one service what a church is like so I’m trying to just focus on the main aspects of what I’m searching for. Back home, I go to a large church with an amazing praise band that I now realize I took for granted. You can’t find a praise band like that just anywhere. My pastor tells funny stories, not all pastors do. (It certainly makes the sermon more interesting, though!) At my church, the offering plate goes all the way down every aisle. In others, they have some sort of weird pattern that I can’t figure out. Basically just a bunch of small details that make my church search more refined because of what I’m used to and what I like.
Speaking of church, Sunday morning was an interesting morning for me. I woke up an hour earlier than I intended (no clue why or how) and I wasn’t tired. I decided to take advantage of this extra time to curl my hair. I haven’t really had time while at college to set aside for myself for doing my hair,
This is what the burn looked like Sunday evening.
painting my nails, etc. As I was curling my hair on Sunday morning, I began to feel a burn on my wrist. I had set my wrist down on the curling iron….go me. I think I had it sitting there for a while because it is quite the burn.
I’ve been keeping neosporin and a band-aid on it to prevent infection. Yesterday at practice, I passed a ball and felt a little pain from my wrist. Instantly, I had the thought that the blister had popped. This thought was soon confirmed by the feeling of liquid gushing out. As my dad said, “that’s gonna leave a mark.”
College has taught me many lessons while I’ve been here. Sometimes, when you sign up for too many things, you’ll get burned and won’t be able to keep your committments. Or, you get burned out on doing something you used to love doing. You might have to burn bridges connecting you to other people, but it might be for the best. Othertimes, you’ll literally get burned. By a hot object. Who knew growing up could be so painful?
