There will be a day which starts when you wake up early to finish a paper (because you were too tired the night before), you will sit through a boring lecture about Health and Finance reporting, eat lunch alone, go to class, work on a volunteer project for 3 hours, freak out you're going to be late, not be late, wear leopard heels and bear with the pain caused by sweat + high heels for a 4 hour event, come home, work on a volunteer project for 3 more hours, and not get home-home until 11:30 p.m., and not realize how long your day was until you sit down to pee.
Welcome to April 8th.
April 8th was busy. But that's good, right? Our society glorifies busy-- especially among people my age. Always be tweeting, always check your news feed, always be on Instagram (which, by the way, I wasn't yesterday, so I spent most of my morning catching up on, eh, 17 hours of pictures). Society says you should always be busy- if you're trying to be successful at least, and fit in the rest later. (Side note: Literal quote I said yesterday, "I'm gonna go try to find some 'personal life balance' for 20 minutes.") While I believe we do need to stop the glorification of busy, and focus on the Saturday afternoon family barbecues a little more than the constant success-seeking-life-sucking-tornado of a college campus, the moral of this story is that more often than not, busy is a blessing.
Yes, really.
Believe me, I'm the biggest believer in that to be successful in this industry in particular, you need to live it. Breaking news alerts should come to your phone, and when AC 360 finishes at 8, turn on Maddow at 9. Wake up, decide you want this more than it scares you, and spend every moment that day doing something to make sure you go to sleep one step closer than you woke up. Don't just dream about success, rewrite 16 pages of UMTV bylaws and work for it. If this is your passion, and this is going to be your life, grab it by the reins and fiercely make it so.
When I sat down in bed after my 17 hour work day, (some of my UMiami days are work days, and some are just days) I felt like I had lived 3 separate days. Maybe it's because I wore 3 separate outfits- but I think it was just because I was so busy. Anyway, when I sat down in bed, I was surprisingly happy. Exhausted, but happy, which is a common emotion in my life. Not that I expected to be unhappy, but I didn't really expect to feel so content or so satisfied, either.
How lucky am I that I was busy with classes in subjects that interest me, volunteer projects that I enjoy, and a 4 hour event I was dreaming of and could wear leopard heels to? And when I came home from it all, had a half hour conversation with my mom about it? That's the dream, right? That's the dream!
It's a funny revelation to have considering the event I came home from felt busy and felt rushed and felt awkward. A celebrity was appearing on campus, and it didn't feel the way I expected it to. In my opinion, one of the things I most loved about this celebrity was that he never seemed to lose his sense of amazement that he was able to grow up to do what he loves. Deep down, he really still was the 10-year-old boy watching television dreaming that someday this could be his life. I thought every day he woke up he felt blessed to do his job. But the impression I got was that he was pretty freakin' impressed with himself, and didn't have time for us there, when frankly, I had a busy day too!!
But therein lies the lesson. It is impressive that he has the career he has, but in his case on April 8th, busy was a blessing. Busy was not a disruption, or a breaking news alert at the wrong time. Busy was a four hour event where he could do what he loves. That's the dream!!! And when he got home, he could call his mom and talk about it for a half hour.
Work hard, stay humble, enjoy the Saturday afternoon barbecues, and once in a while, a very busy day is a very good day. Don't let the monotony of the constant tweeting, Facebooking and "insta-ing" become the routine, but once in a while, remember how lucky you are to be the busy one. There are incalculable amounts of people just like you dying to be so busy.
And when your head finally hits the pillow around 1 a.m., remember the day was long but worthwhile, and you are about to sleep very, very well.
You heard it here first,
Jordan
Welcome to April 8th.
April 8th was busy. But that's good, right? Our society glorifies busy-- especially among people my age. Always be tweeting, always check your news feed, always be on Instagram (which, by the way, I wasn't yesterday, so I spent most of my morning catching up on, eh, 17 hours of pictures). Society says you should always be busy- if you're trying to be successful at least, and fit in the rest later. (Side note: Literal quote I said yesterday, "I'm gonna go try to find some 'personal life balance' for 20 minutes.") While I believe we do need to stop the glorification of busy, and focus on the Saturday afternoon family barbecues a little more than the constant success-seeking-life-sucking-tornado of a college campus, the moral of this story is that more often than not, busy is a blessing.
Yes, really.
Believe me, I'm the biggest believer in that to be successful in this industry in particular, you need to live it. Breaking news alerts should come to your phone, and when AC 360 finishes at 8, turn on Maddow at 9. Wake up, decide you want this more than it scares you, and spend every moment that day doing something to make sure you go to sleep one step closer than you woke up. Don't just dream about success, rewrite 16 pages of UMTV bylaws and work for it. If this is your passion, and this is going to be your life, grab it by the reins and fiercely make it so.
When I sat down in bed after my 17 hour work day, (some of my UMiami days are work days, and some are just days) I felt like I had lived 3 separate days. Maybe it's because I wore 3 separate outfits- but I think it was just because I was so busy. Anyway, when I sat down in bed, I was surprisingly happy. Exhausted, but happy, which is a common emotion in my life. Not that I expected to be unhappy, but I didn't really expect to feel so content or so satisfied, either.
How lucky am I that I was busy with classes in subjects that interest me, volunteer projects that I enjoy, and a 4 hour event I was dreaming of and could wear leopard heels to? And when I came home from it all, had a half hour conversation with my mom about it? That's the dream, right? That's the dream!
It's a funny revelation to have considering the event I came home from felt busy and felt rushed and felt awkward. A celebrity was appearing on campus, and it didn't feel the way I expected it to. In my opinion, one of the things I most loved about this celebrity was that he never seemed to lose his sense of amazement that he was able to grow up to do what he loves. Deep down, he really still was the 10-year-old boy watching television dreaming that someday this could be his life. I thought every day he woke up he felt blessed to do his job. But the impression I got was that he was pretty freakin' impressed with himself, and didn't have time for us there, when frankly, I had a busy day too!!
But therein lies the lesson. It is impressive that he has the career he has, but in his case on April 8th, busy was a blessing. Busy was not a disruption, or a breaking news alert at the wrong time. Busy was a four hour event where he could do what he loves. That's the dream!!! And when he got home, he could call his mom and talk about it for a half hour.
Work hard, stay humble, enjoy the Saturday afternoon barbecues, and once in a while, a very busy day is a very good day. Don't let the monotony of the constant tweeting, Facebooking and "insta-ing" become the routine, but once in a while, remember how lucky you are to be the busy one. There are incalculable amounts of people just like you dying to be so busy.
And when your head finally hits the pillow around 1 a.m., remember the day was long but worthwhile, and you are about to sleep very, very well.
You heard it here first,
Jordan
RSS Feed