Tough decisions

Today will probably be the saddest, most heartbreaking day of my life.  Today marks my last day of work for Williams Elementary after school program.  I taught 5/6th grade, along with extreme science with first grade and photography with third through sixth for enrichment.  Although the job was difficult and I am not as passionate about teaching as I am writing, I never realized how attached I grew to my kids.  I am going to miss them tremendously.  Fifth and sixth grade is an extremely difficult group of students to work with, but they are each wonderful children.   I wish I didn't have to say goodbye.
  Do to work/school conflicts, I had to leave one of my most important major classes 45 minutes early everyday to go to work, which was killing my grade in that class and frustrating my professor.  In addition, it is my goal to take a leadership position in one of my two clubs but work runs right through my meetings.  In the long run this is the correct decision.  It will allow me to pursue my career, which far outweighs this or any job.  That doesn't mean that I won't miss it though...

Knowing when enough is enough

I turned in my two weeks notice the other day, and it was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever made in my life.  I work at an after school program and my work schedule and school schedule have a major conflict.  I have to leave my most important major class 40 minutes early every day in order to make it to work on time and it was starting to affect my classwork.  I had a decision to make; Do I let my schoolwork suffer because of my job or do I quit.  I chose the latter.  Education outweighs a paycheck.  Even though I will miss my class and all of the awesome students in it in the long run it is my education that will allow me to work in a job that I love and not work just because of the money.  We as a society put so much emphasis on the pursuit of wealth that we ignore the pursuit of happiness.  I was not happy with my job so why do it?  Why are these green pieces of paper so powerful?  The answer is because we allow them to be.  The only reason for money, in my mind, is to be able to provide the basics: own a home, car, pay bills, send kids to college.  That should be the extent of money's power.  Money cannot buy happiness, health or a sense of purpose.  I would rather take the hit to my paycheck and live a life worth living than slave away in a job I don't like and somehow have it justified by getting a paycheck.  Those hours spent working could have been spent learning, doing, or enjoying myself, and I can never get that time back.

PRSSA National Conference 2012 San Francisco

Greatest experience of my life [so far].   That is the only way I can describe the awesomeness, sometimes madness, of this years PRSSA National Conference in the beautiful city by the bay.  The conference got off to a rough start the first day when we lugged our bags through the city because we could not find the right hotel.  Eventually we settled in, met the rest of our chapter members, and quickly proceeded to have an unforgettable experience.  Growing up in a small, agricultural town I had no business being surrounded by such successful professionals and future professionals from prestigious schools such as USC, BYU, and Florida.  It was a strange sight when I looked in the mirror and saw myself in a suit, about to shake hands with PR legends.  These presenters did not disappoint.  The conference had a star-studded line up of presenters and speakers, including Twitter co-founder (and possible stand-up comic) Biz Stone, MSNBC's Michael Steel, and PRSSA President Gerald Corbit.  A few of the companies that showed up for the career fair included General Motors, Edelman, Fleishman-Hillard, Lewis PR, and many others.  Despite the big names, it was the eager students that made my weekend.  I met so many amazing people that were just as excited about public relations as me, from all over the country including Southern Missouri, Southern Georgia State, Sacramento State, CSU Fullerton, San Diego State, and West Virginia.  One of the greatest moments of the trip came when I had burgers with two members from the Southern Georgia State PRSSA chapter.  They were so excited to be in San Francisco, and we had a blast talking about anything and everything.  While eating our burgers, we ran into two PRSA members and shared french fries and laughter.  Another amazing moment came on the very last night of the conference.  I met two brothers from my fraternity from chapters all across the country.  We shared stories with one another and I was surprised at how much us three had in common.  Public Relations is all about networking, and the networks I established from this event and the experience itself was something that I will always look back upon with joy.  I cannot wait for the next conference in beautiful Philadelphia   Hopefully I will attend that conference as chapter president.

PRSSA National Conference

To say that I am excited for PRSSA National Conference would be an understatement.  Who wouldn't love to miss five days of school to hang out with your friends and meet PR professionals in the city by the bay?  This could potentially be the biggest event of my career.  My goal is to eventually work in San Francisco, and the biggest companies in the Bay Area will be in attendance looking for talent.  My only weakness is that I am only a junior, and they will be looking for graduating seniors.  I can still network with these people and keep them in contact so come graduation time I will have connections in place.  This event will be the culmination of all my hard work, and I'm glad to see that hard work pays off.  It is funny because two summers ago I was in a hot tomato packaging facility dreaming of shaking hands with the big names in some fancy building in San Francisco.  The only thing holding us back is ourselves, and when we believe in our own abilities then the battle is already won.

I really feel the need to travel.  Anyplace really.  I love seeing new places, experiencing new cultures and gaining a new-found perspective in life.  None of that matters right now though.  I just need a place to clear my head and escape from the chaos of Fresno.  I am a firm believe in that you live the life you choose, so the chaos may just be a manifestation of my mind, so I need to clear it out.  Ever since I traveled to Europe and saw that the world was much bigger and much more complex than we make it out to be, I have found an unquenchable thirst for travelling.  I have always wanted to experience the Pacific Northwest and Seattle in particular, so I want to just grab a couple of buddies and go on a road trip along the legendary Pacific Coast Highway.  It is almost soothing to look out of the car's windows and see the endless expanse of blue water.  It reminds me that no matter how big I may make my problems out to be, they are miniscule compared to the sheer vastness of that ocean.  The Pacific Ocean makes mankind as a whole look like a brief speck of light in Earth's history.  The ocean is billions and billions of years old, outlasting the dinosaurs, the world's greatest human civilizations, and will most likely outlast humans in general.  Anytime you see a beautiful sight it is almost impossible to care about your lesson plan, a term paper, or any minute work assignment.  That is when you realize the important things in life; nothing is important.  No matter how much value we place on something, mother nature doesn't care.  The ocean doesn't care.  The world doesn't care.  So why should we?

What is the root of success?

If I had a topic to write my Master's dissertation on, this would be it.  It is a question that confuses yet fascinates me because if we would find the answer it would change mankind.  What makes someone successful?  By this I mean what motives people to be successful?  Sometimes a person catches a big break, or reaches fortune and fame from pure dumb luck.  I want to pick apart people's brains and figure out why some people are able to grasp the bigger picture; willingly sacrificing their time and effort and funneling it straight towards a dream that they may never achieve?  If anyone has the answer please let me know.  I am a type A personality and work tirelessly to reach what I believe is my definition of success, yet I see some of my friends who are letting their precious college years slip by as they just sit around, drink or watch television.  My own personal theory is that it takes a tragic event, difficult childhood, or a eureka! moment for people to be motivated.  Once a person has a taste of what the bottom feels like they will do anything to escape.  People such as Jay-Z, Oprah, and Starbucks founder (I forget his name) all had difficult, horrific childhoods which they used as the steam to power their success.  50 Cent is an example of a man who was shot 9 times and was motivated to leave his past life behind him and start anew.  The second prong to this theory is a tragic moment.  Michael Jordan was as a sophomore did not make the cut for his varsity basketball team which absolutely destroyed him.  Instead of giving up like many would, he stored the feeling of pain and sadness he felt and worked hard so we would never experience that pain again.  One of the sources of my motivation comes from a traumatic event.  The summer after my freshman year of college I was working in terrible conditions at a tomato packaging factory when my hand got caught in the belt, nearly ripping it off.  Instead of going to the hospital like a normal person I was quickly bandaged and sent back out in 15 minutes that same day.  I never felt so small and so insignificant in my life.  I vowed that I would never put myself in that position again, and instead of working at degrading jobs I would rise to the top and shake hands with the big whigs in fancy suits.  I am close to making it happen, and whenever I get tired or complain about school I remember that sweaty factory and just look at my scar.  I feel that these two events cause a eureka moment in which the person realizes their potential and strives to reach it.  The primary cause of motivation can vary from person to person, but all successful people lack one trait; fear.  Once a person loses fear of failure they have already found success.  By believe without a shadow of a doubt that they will be successful then they will not fear trying new things and accepting new opportunities, which only further increases their chances of success.  This is it for my rant, but please add your thoughts to the comments as I would like to know what motivates each of you the readers.  I can't wait to see the comments.

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