Work Hard, Play Hard

Hello from 35,000 feet in the air! 

I’m currently somewhere above Philedelphia headed to Kentucky to spend Labor Day Weekend with Kaylee!

Cali and Kentucky reunited!! I am so happy that I just went for it and bought the tickets on a complete and total whim. When you spend two whole years seeing someone close to every single day at work, hanging out, and someone you have cried and laughed with through the ups and downs of spending every Sunday watching The Walking Dead and cooking dinner and dessert with someone it takes a toll on you when they aren’t in your life as much.

My heart can’t take all this change at once so I’m headed back to the South to be with her. We were thrown together as GAs when we came onto SIU’s campus 2 years ago, and shared a one person tent on our Team Bonding camping trip. We ended up getting eaten alive from mosquitos and slept on a hill with our heads facing downhill like idiots but we came out as pretty great friends.

So a couple of updates on my life- work is in full swing and I’m way busy. If I thought I was busy as a GA, I was sadly mistaken. I work, technically, from 8-4 in my cubicle office. But I really work at 6:30am when my alarm goes off until my eyes close around 11pmish. I might not be in my office but you’ll find me at the fields, taking calls in the middle of my yoga class (forgot to use do not disturb mode) and always always answering emails. 

Yes, I know that’s a really good way to get burnt out fast. Yes, Mom, I can hear you when you say you need to lessen your stress levels. But I got to work hard to make the right connections with the grounds crew so that my clubs have fields ready for their games. I got to introduce myself to the people who work in the student association offices so that I can promote my programs across campus. I’m meeting with the school newspaper, I’m going to meetings with people and departments that don’t make sense but it does, it all matters. I need to say “Yes” to any volunteer opportunity on campus, to every favor asked, to every “Can you do this?”. Yes. That’s the only way this program is going to be successful, if the face of it all is a friendly one, one that works hard and with little recognition because they don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t know that my goals are so vast and that I do know what they don’t know. I know that the club program is so far from it’s potential but Rome wasn’t built in a day. And IM’s aren’t even hitting the tip of the iceberg when it comes to potential. And we won’t even get started on student staff. Developing is a word in the present tense and we are developing departmentally at a fast fast pace. We have a long road to travel but it’s the right direction. And if that means I’m answering emails in bed at 6:33am so be it. I’ll sleep when the ship can be steered without me, but right now I’m steering the ship, building the ship and still navigating the ship all at the same time. I’m slowly gaining the trust of my crew but I bet you my last dollar that this time next year I’ll be in a good spot. Give me 5 years and whew, I’ll show you a completely transformed IM’s and Club Sport program, one that might even rival the big names out there. 

And to all those people, and jobs that said no, I want to personally say thank you for making me stronger and learning to take no for an answer, but you were wrong. I don’t regret choosing Albany, and I don’t think I should be somewhere else. But I was going to say yes to whoever was willing to give me a shot and work my absolute hardest in return. And Albany will be the better for it.

Today I spent the majority of my day with my GA and some supervisors lining fields for a University Police Department charity softball tournament. And then we replaced the 10 year old soccer nets for our clubs but realized the clips didn’t fit but we have games this weekend. So instead of putting the old one back we used zip ties and it took 2 hours but we got it done. We cleaned out some sheds for storage and I got my students set up to work at a promo opportunity for all the orgs on campus but I want them to be pushing for IM sign ups. I can push it but students get excited and more likely to join something when other students are excited. And I met with 3 clubs and two student employees for meetings. I ate my lunch while in my one-on-one meeting with my Associate Director, but I’m just glad I had that meeting so I could take a second to eat my pb&j sandwhich. After all that I ran home and changed before heading to the airport to catch a flight out of here. And I checked my email and answered more emails from the gate. Oh and we have an audit on Tuesday so I have all my purchases lined up and set to go as soon as I touch back down in NY. 

It’s ok, you can call me Super Woman, I sometimes do.

I’m so busy I hardly have time to think about anything else. But things aren’t a dead sprint at all hours and I do find myself yearning to go back to the ways of the old. My brain still hangs onto the past and makes me cry when I hear certain songs on the radio or I’ll be passing a pizza place with a similar name to the place friends and I went to at SIU and I lose it. I like to think I have thick skin and I can take the hater tweets and someone complaining to the Student Body Government because I’m running this program into the ground (supposedly) but just mention my old roommates name and I’m a child again who wears her heart on her sleeve. Throw shade and hate towards me and I’ll stand up with a purpose and twice as much force as before, but I have my weaknesses. 

But I met another girl in yoga and I might ask her to lunch sometime soon, and I’m starting a health program again. I got complacent and I want to focus on getting me back. So I’m using Usana and I got a health coach. Call me crazy, but I’m investing in my own life and if she and I can get me a few more years to live than isn’t that worth it? My goal is to be as toned as all those fit girl instagram profiles. So that’ll be fun to tell you all about my ups and downs of being a “fit chick who lifts”. If you find that annoying, see ya. I just got my weekly plan and I can already tell that I’m going to be in for some real hard work. But I think that’s kind of a common theme in my life, and if I work hard in bettering my job, than I should be able to work hard on bettering myself. I’m not going to work out for 4 hours a day, or give up my job, but I can through in a lunch workout and actually turn my phone off for an hour to prep my meals uninterrupted. Who else to promote healthy living to students than someone who is currently living healthy? This way I’ll be held accountable too as I have readers who will want to see my results. So pressure is on!

Thanks for reading. I don’t thank you all enough but knowing someone reads this and brings a little laughter to your life, than I think it’s worth it. I do it for myself but if someone gains from it, that’s a pretty cool bonus.

To be continued!