September 24, 2012 • A POSITIVE PRESS PUBLICATION • VOL. 3, ISSUE 3
A Day for Planning
written by third-year, Nick Toomey
Saturday is my day to breathe. It is the only day during the week in which my greatest resource, my time, is completely my own. Nearly all of my other 8,640 minutes are spoken for by something, so naturally Saturday is reserved for rest, reflection, and doing whatever I feel like doing.
I have often believed that at the start of each day we are allotted X-number of decision-making points that, once used up, leave us in part cognitively impaired; at least enough to induce a temporary state of “I don’t care/Whatever” until remedied by food, sleep, or a massive freakout that scares children. I place enormous importance upon automating small tasks, adopting defined processes, and utilizing my sparse reserves of creativity for only the most valuable and impactful tasks. |
Saturday is my day to re-fuel for the week ahead so that I am the most effective and efficient version of myself possible. That sounds like I am a robot. I’m not, I just don’t want to waste my time and patience, nor do I want to be exhausted every day because I’m not prepared.
I have a simple Saturday re-evaluation process that allows my week to happen. It goes something like this: 1. Gather loose papers from school, work, and my other obligations and process them in some way. I don’t spend any more than two minutes on each one. They either end up trashed or filed, most of the time trashed. 2. Process any notes from the week that I have taken in my Moleskine, particularly any notes that require action like important mail that I need to send, phone calls to make, et cetera. 3. Review my previous calendar and update it for the week ahead. |
4. Answer the question, “What do I really need to accomplish this week?” Write my answers into my Actions List in my Evernote or Moleskine. I aim to accomplish no more than 3 big tasks a day for fear of inducing “Creativity Coma.” If it is important I drag it to my calendar and schedule it. I review my Actions List daily at breakfast.
5. Take 10 minutes to think back on any victories that I had during the week. 6. Review my list of personal values and life missions and assert that everything I am doing is an effort to fulfill them. 7. Take an hour for high-impact work. I use this time to make headway on any big projects. 8. Go for a long walk through campus and think about what I am grateful for. |
Give yourself the gift of avoiding stress by preparing even in the slightest way. If something doesn’t make your list, then why should you allot your X-number of decision-making points to it? Put it aside for later or never.
What do you really need to accomplish this week? Your one free day yearns for meaningful development. Allot your time to the things that matter; creatively rethink your impending actions to position yourself for greatness, and allow yourself time for gratitude. |
Make Memories, Not Grades*
written by fourth-year, Andrea Morris
Please direct your attention to the asterisk in my title. I asterisked my title because we both need to remember that you, or your parents, or maybe a little bit of both, are paying to attend one of the top public schools in the nation to get an education. So, before you go make your memories, remember the aforementioned statement, and then read this article.
A few weeks ago I camped out in front of Stegman Stadium starting at 8:45 a.m. for away game tickets distributed at 4 p.m. that same day. I coordinated my group of friends in shifts for those who had work or class to make sure our spot was occupied at all times. I headed to class around 10 a.m. At this point, there were about ten people in front of me. Coming back for my second shift starting at noon, the line had tripled in size and my lawn chairs had fully filled themselves up with my friends. 2 p.m. crept up on me between the laughs. I was having such a good time in line, I forgot about my class in half an hour. |
In the midst of the noise and excitement surrounding Stegman, I found a moment of peace. I realized I couldn’t leave. These people. This place. The smiles. This was too important.
Result of the story above: tickets to some of the best seats in the stadium for the away games I will attend and having one of the absolute best days of my college career. Our lives are built from individual moments strung together by our interactions with others. Sometimes, you just can’t say “no” to that concert in Atlanta 36 hours before your midterm paper is due. Sometimes, playing Mario Kart with your hall mates until 5 a.m. is worth the three hour nap you will get before your attendance-based 8 a.m. major class. And sometimes, the stress of scrambling for notes because you missed a critical lecture is worth it because you were at the front of the line, with your best friends beside you, waiting to get some of the best seats in the stadium. |
At the end of college, we leave with a degree and a number called a GPA. At the end of our lives, we will get to leave with nothing but moments and memories. College, as much as it is a four year education, is a four year experience. Do well in your classes. Do good for this institution. Make memories, not grades*.
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The Greatest Bond Between Dawgs
written by fifth-year, Alyson Farzad
"Mommy told me to tell you to call her," my little sister Monica says as she tears off a piece of her sandwich to give me. We are sitting on the fifth floor of the Journalism Building, and I am starving. Luckily, my little sister is more responsible than I am and packs a lunch, so my growling stomach is satisfied, once more.
She is 22 months yonger than me, and one of my best friends. Having a sister at UGA is one of the greatest things: who else can I borrow game day dresses from without asking? And no one can make good chicken nuggets for my sister on a bad day better than I can. We catch up on life every Tuesday and Thursday as we sit outside my Communication Studies class. Inside the classroom, my professor gets ready for another lesson. He is married to another one of my teachers who works the M/W/F schedule. They work on opposite days to take care of their young family. As a young and vibrant couple, they are two of my favorite teachers I have had so far at UGA and even though I have yet to see this couple together on campus, the sense of their family ties permeates across classrooms. |
Whether it is a little sister or a spouse, several people call UGA home in more than one way—not just the town, or the school, but by the people who we see each day. And it is not limited to immediate family ties. I have several friends who have found more of a home at UGA than their childhood one could provide. I have met some of my best friends, who I now consider family, in the halls of the MLC, or in the elevator in the Journalism Building. So even though I have been blessed with my biological sister on the same campus as me, I would also like to consider all the students, faculty, and staff as brothers and sisters in this big Bulldawg family.
I promise you that even after my class starts, and my sister and I part ways, the familial sense I have with others never fades. I see it in the hallways and in my friends’ faces. I hope you see family all around you as well. Whether you’re here for one, four (or even five) years in Athens, we all have to find that place that makes UGA home. Is it an organization you are a part of? A roommate you can tell anything to? Perhaps you haven’t found your ‘family’ on campus yet. That’s okay—just never stop trying to find the place where you fit in. There’s a bulldawg family here, just for you. |
Your Nothing is Somebody's Something
written by second-year, Ryan Sichelstiel
This summer, I had the privilege of studying abroad for over a month in Cape Town, South Africa. While residing in my bucket list destination, I went to class, learned the curriculum, and wrote papers. I learned a lot, but what I was exposed to and discovered outside of the classroom is what made this experience completely worth the constant readings and writings.
My adrenaline plummeted me toward the ground off of the world’s highest bungee bridge, had me experiencing the mouthwatering taste of Africa’s wild game, and feeling the incredibly uncomfortable sensation of an ostrich’s backbone as I attempted to ride it. I was on an African tourist’s high. Then I visited Sir Lowry’s Pass. Sir Lowry’s Pass is a township roughly an hour outside of Cape Town where our study abroad program spent five days where we were assigned to different host mothers. My mother took care of her birth children, her children’s children, and the numerous other children who had nothing to eat that day. Her name was Elsie, but she insisted we call her Momma E. This kindhearted woman offered everything she had to us while we visited her home—her food, her drinks, her living room. Anything we needed, Momma E would gladly offer us, even though she did not have much to offer to begin with. |
As the week progressed, my attention turned from the lack of materialistic items she possessed to the abundance of love and wisdom she desperately wanted to pass down to me.
Momma E was everything from my host, to my Google search engine for information about Sir Lowry’s, to my favorite person with who I had come into contact during my time in Cape Town. There is one thing she said that stands out above the rest. This one statement made me rethink everything I valued, especially my reliance on tangible items.On my last day, she pulled me aside, looked me dead in the eyes, paused for a moment, and then said, “My Ryan, I want you to know something. I am not poor, because I am strong in my faith and values, and with that, I have everything I could possibly need.” |
There I stood, listening to this statement while five minutes prior I was daydreaming about the fresh sushi, succulent African game, and bottles of wine that were waiting on me back in Cape Town. To hear these words come out of Momma E’s mouth made me so aware of all the things I take for granted and expect to be given.
Rent money, food, gas—the list embarrassingly never ended. I’m asking you to stop and think about all that you have. A lot, right? Now, think about all the times when these things have failed to measure up to your standards. Yeah, an iPhone screen that is .5 inches longer or a car that doesn’t look like it was driven off of the set of That 70’s Show and into your driveway would be nice, but having a house to go back to after class, a meal on the table every night, and a fine University to call your own is a life to be thankful for. Momma E has nothing but her beliefs, the beliefs that she values whole-heartedly. What if every tangible thing you had disappeared as soon as you put this paper down? What if you were left with nothing but your beliefs and values? Would you still have “everything you could possibly need?” Think about that. In case you have forgotten, you are one lucky Dawg. Never, ever forget that. |
Voice Your Voice
written by fourth-year, Austin Blouin
Every night, I sit in my broken, dingy green recliner and try to put pen to paper. The red glow of my poorly strung Christmas lights bouncing off the college ruled sheets, I let my hand drag across newly laid ink as I try to do something remarkable – I try to tell a story. I try to recount the moments that matter and to hold onto who I am, all with a cheap ballpoint.
Sometimes this story is pure fiction; I’ll write about hospitals for people with Alzheimer’s, staffed only by doctors with Alzheimer’s. “’Why are you here?’ said the doctor to the patient. ‘Oh I’m just waiting to see the doctor,’ said the patient. ‘Me too,’ said the doctor.” Other times, it’s more autobiographical. “I met a girl today. Well, I didn’t meet her, per se. But she was there, and I was there, and I thought about saying something. And her hair ran down her face and the ends of it looked sad. They seemed to know that they were the farthest away from this beautiful person and that before long they wouldn’t even be with her. |
I could see her split ends screaming as scissors approached.”
Sometimes it’s long, other times, it’s short. Often times, it’s worse. In fact, when I write, fiction or nonfiction, it’s usually terrible. It has no redeeming qualities. Nobody else will read it – it is a voice and an echo all the same, shaking the walls of an empty house. Yet, I still press on. I do so because I think it’s in our nature. I think storytelling is powerful. It can move us through time and through space. What is life without stories? What’s in a memory, in a fleeting moment, if not a story? I write because when I do, I can create the climax, the rising action, and a dénouement. More importantly, I can create a resolution. That moment with that girl – was it just a moment? I get to decide. That hospital? I've forgotten. I’ll forget a lot more if I don’t take the time to drag my pen across that paper. As I meander from tale to tale I can forget where I started or where I’m going but I always remember one thing: my voice. In the moment I do, I get the feeling that I know what comes next, the feeling that life is a story and that I have a pen. I encourage you to take hold of your pen and make your mark as well – you might tell a story that changes your life. |
Stay Up Late for the Things That Matter
written by second-year, Allie Windom
A friend once told me, “When you look back, the nights when you got plenty of sleep won’t be the ones worth remembering.”
You are a college student and it is not uncommon for you to operate on minimal sleep. But when you stop to think, do you make your lost sleep worth your while? |
Would you rather lose sleep because you were looking up all of the guys in your history class on Facebook, or because you were finishing an informative book on modern day slavery? Do you make more of an impact at 2 a.m. watching reruns of Seinfeld, or when you drive to a friend’s house because he needs a shoulder to cry on? When you wake up after a glorious three and a half hours of rest, will you be proud of the previous night’s marathon YouTube viewing, or that finely tuned Spanish paper you pored all of your effort into?
In a culture that gives us ample opportunity to lose sleep for no reason other than a loss of focus, be deliberate and use every moment for something that truly matters. Make long nights and early mornings memorable because you learned something significant or grew into a more interesting person. Stay up late to have meaningful conversations with the people you care about. Leave the light on for a few more hours to learn more about that topic you never seem to have time for. When morning appears, sleepiness with a purpose will look much better than exhaustion without a cause. |
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