From One Red Door to Another

If you’re a renter, a college student or live in a college town, more than likely you noticed an influx of people this weekend. Yup, it was that time of year again, moving time. And this year more than any other year, I felt like part of the majority. Luckily I have a great new landlord. He let me and my roommate move in early. For those of you who have not had to move on the busiest move-in day of the year, this was a HUGE help. I was settled in before the Tufts students even packed their cars. Needless to say, I was able to enjoy the end of my Labor Day weekend while others were still laboriously lugging furniture and boxes.

It was during this arduous process that I noticed a fun, but interesting coincidence about my new and old apartments. Our first apartment was the bottom floor of a house. It was spacious for three people. We loved the character that it has, great hard wood floors and original doors. The only downside was the plaster walls. They made it very difficult to hang anything of substance on the walls. The new apartment is about a mile away from our cute little three bedroom. It is a two bedroom (got to LOVE downsizing!) in an apartment complex. It has a small balcony, not nearly as much character, but has good walls that can hold anything. The one thing that these two “homes” have in common is a red door…

Old diggs...

New diggs...

I know what you’re thinking. Who cares about the color of a door? It doesn’t matter; it’s something that you walk through, that keeps unwanted “guests” out. That is true. But let me explain... I love color. I feel like it's one of the best forms of self-expression. For those of you who follow color theory, red is a warm color associated with positivity, strength, and a will to survive. According to the website empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com, the color red is “energizing…excites the emotions and motivates us to take action.” In other words, it is a strong color emitting confidence and a passion for life.

To me this means something. As a person who has officially been a college graduate for over a year and living on my own for almost a year, it makes me feel like I am on the right path. Let me back up. I don’t think it’s a coincidence, but a sign from God that I am doing the right things for me at this moment. I may be young and living a hectic life, but for right now, I think this is the path that I am supposed to be on. I am making the right choices passionately, whole-heartedly. I am trying to figure out who I am, why I am here, my purpose in life, all the while motivated to live every second of life, good and bad. And as stupid as it sounds (at least I have the confidence to admit it) the color of my door gives me hope, strength. I am still chugging, still pushing through, thriving. I am still here, living, wanting, needing, learning, growing. And for now, that’s all I need. Be young, but mature. Love with your whole heart. Take risks, open up with the energy and determination that others around me have shown their entire life. Laugh with every ounce of your being. Live with the warmth that you would want from others. And above all embody the color red.

Still Here... Adapting....

If you live near the East Coast, you’ve either been seeing huge rain drops pelting your street or feeling what may be the last official heat wave of the summer. Needless to say, with my complete disdain for heat AND humidity in the same place at the same time, I was lucky enough to experience 90 degree temperatures with dew points reaching into the high 60s. Lovely.  Walking from the Park Street T stop in Boston to office on Boylston Street is usually light and fun. This week it left me feeling like I needed a shower, a trenta iced coffee, and a nap. But for me, that isn’t what I hated most about the heat. It’s trying to sleep in it without AC.

This may be one of the last times I have to do so as the new apartment that I am moving into has a wall unit (SCORE!), but it did not change the fact that I was utterly uncomfortable laying in my bed wearing as little clothing as possible. All I wanted was that cool spot on the pillow, that one section of mattress that was still untouched by my heat-radiating body. Alas, I always ended-up throwing my blanket off in the middle of the night, just so that my fan could blow a breeze DIRECTLY onto my body. So comfortable…

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Yes, this sleeping pattern seemed all too familiar to me. Why do you ask? Because not only am I trying so hard to sleep comfortably by moving my foot around the bed, searching for the one thing that will give me releif, but I feel that I am doing the same in life. I want to live comfortably. I am trying so very hard to become comfortable with myself. Yet, no matter how hard I try, how hard I try a different approach, I feel like I’m still searching for that "cold spot in my bed." I’m coming up short, searching for that one thing that will finally yield a more content and comfortable person.

I know we’re not supposed to have it all figured out by the age of 24... I’m not delusional. But why is it so hard to get there? I am not so sure that I like the person I am or who I am becoming, which right now seems to be a workaholic, exercise/healthy eating fiend who has big dreams, but limited time to pursue them all…

Don’t get me wrong! It’s fun living on your own, making your own decisions, truly being independent. But it’s scary too. Part of me still felt like I was going back to my beloved alma mater this fall. That this last year was just a year-long internship and that I would move back into a dorm room with my best friends and have the world at my fingertips. But recently, I feel like these ideas are slipping away, just like the cool spots from my bed…

So alas, I turn BACK TO THIS BLOG. To share my feelings of adapting with you, whoever you may be. Maybe your having the same feelings, maybe you have "been there, done that." But bare with me as I figure it out myself. 

I will leave you on a happy note, with my new favorite song that gets me amped for another day! Enjoy!

Gotta Love the...

...nice cool breeze today. It's a small glimpse into my favorite season...Fall or Autumn depending on how politically correct you would like to be... But there was no better feeling on my bike ride this morning than this same cool breeze cooling me down as I huffed up the three hills on my route.

www.boston.com

Today on my commute into Boston, we passed the two of the newer wind turbines on route 93. These huge structures serve a purpose; they are a clean way of collecting renewable energy for consumers in the suberbs of this historical Massachusetts city. To some they may be ugly strcutures, defiling the Boston skyline. To me they give me hope that we, as a society, are opening our minds to new and innovative ideas; today the turning of the blades gave me hope that things will continue to turn, move and change.

Last night I was a little down in the dumps. Just one of those moods. I was a little upset that my plans to go for a bike ride with a friend were canceled. And this lead to feelings of discouragement at the fact that I was still living at home. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and am so thankful that they let me come home after I graduated college. I just saw myself living in Boston if I had a job there. And I'm not...A girl can get sad every now and again right?

But this windmill on my way to work this morning opened my eyes...life keeps going, moving, changing. It creates different expereinces, memories, and energies. And I need to stop thinking about how my "life plan" isn't playing out like I thought it would. I need to float, be flexable, move with the changing winds. Stay positive, stay strong, and keep the hope that I've had all my life; everything will work out!

So You Think You Can Write? Prove It...

The current news about the American economy is not exactly what one would call uplifting.  In fact it is usually downright pathetic.  No one denies that; especially the newest graduating college classes.  As a communication student, I feel that I am no different.  Looking into the future, friends and family want to know the number one concern regarding my entry into the job market.  To every person I answer—how to separate myself in an applicant pool of hundreds of other new-grads and qualified unemployed individuals who have work experience.  

My past internship at Komen MA, I asked my supervisor, the Director of Marketing Communications, this question.  I was expecting an answer involving versatility, knowledge about emerging technologies, or personal and professional charisma; her answer surprised me.  “Go back to the basics.  No one can ignore a really good writer.”  For the next few months this is what I did:  wrote emails, crafted social media posts, composed formal letters to public officials, created posters that included key Komen messaging, developed a script for their biggest fundraiser of the year, generated participant surveys, etc.  Needless to say, my writing skills have developed.  
Do I think this is the only skill that you need to get a job in today’s economy?  By all means, that is not what I was inferring.  Being able to effectively verbalize messages, inhabiting a personality and a professional attitude, and versatility are all important skills to companies who are hiring.  However, a really good, well-developed set of writing skills can almost guarantee a position somewhere in some industry.


This being said, Endicott should really include classes that are strictly writing-designated within the marketing communication concentration.  This way most of the students in the class can practice tailoring messages to different audiences.  I think a speech class should also be included in the curriculum; hopefully this will ensure comfort when speaking to a group of people or an individual.  Another major part of any current job in marketing communication is knowledge of the current social media; a class on this should also be required of students.  


Yet, in the end, nothing can take away the importance of real world, actual work experience.  This is where I learned a majority of my current communications skills; nothing can take the place of this learning environment.

This was written for a college class I took last year... It truly does encompass what I believe in this industry in this day in age... I had to start with this!