Lessons Learned the Hard Way

Hey readers! Sorry for the long leave of absence, finals week at school was crazy and then I cut back on media usage while home for Christmas to really enjoy time with my family and friends. However I have learned quite a few lessons over the past few weeks, which I will pass onto you!

The first lesson blossomed out of a very unfortunate incident during finals week. Throughout the course of the semester I had been working on a project for one of my advertising classes. We had to present a designed book with all of our media suggestions and strategies for a campaign. The book was over 20 pages and I had spent around 30 hours on it. I was just about finished when on Tuesday afternoon… my computer crashed.

Panic washed over me as I frantically tried to retrieve information but after multiple trips to computer stores nothing could be salvaged. This meant I was going to have to completely redo my project that I was supposed to present Friday morning IN ADDITION to another project I had lost that I needed to present the Wednesday morning.

I went through many stages that afternoon starting with disbelief and transitioning to despair, defeat, anger, and finally intense focus and drive. I knew I had to get the project done so I equipped myself with coffee, snacks, redbull, and a power playlist and started in on the lost work. Work began at 7 pm and as I powered through the night I started to have a sense of accomplishment. By 9 Wednesday morning I had finished both projects, changed into my business attire to present the first, nailed the presentation and then headed to take a few more finals before finally going to bed at 7:30 that night. I had been up for over 35 hours but by the end of the day I was extremely proud of myself for what I had been able to achieve.

The main lesson that comes out of this is ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR WORK! My faith in my computer is completely gone and I now save everything in at least three different spots, including two cloud applications. But in addition to this obvious lesson I also learned that when you are faced with seemingly impossible tasks, have faith in yourself. I now know that if my boss assigns a huge task with relatively little time to do it, that I can accomplish it. I have more confidence in myself now and despite a horrible 35 hours, I trust my abilities way more.

So know that you can do anything you set your mind to and you will come out victorious!

Make Time to Make Memories

As a student who is very dedicated to my school work and grades I know that life in school can seem overwhelming. There are so many days when I feel like finishing all of my assignments, studying for exams, and working on group projects just won’t get done because there’s too much. It can be very stressful and feels like all you can focus on. But what I have to sometimes remind myself is that years from now I’m not going to remember all the nights that I avoided friends, going out, or laughing historically in the living room. I’m going to remember working hard at my grades but I’m not going to remember individual times, it’s just going to be one big blur of studying.

When I force myself to take a break and do something random on a weekday night like staying up till 3 a.m. live tweeting a High School Musical marathon with my sisters, or seeing a play, or celebrating a friends 21st birthday, I know that I will always remember. I know that when I look back on college, those are the nights that I’m going to remember and look fondly on. Tonight I went to an event with my sorority sisters where we paired with a fraternity and learned different ballroom dancing styles. We all dressed up, gathered in the big ball room, had little appetizers, and had a blast learning dances and getting to know each other.

Moral of the story, keep your grades up. Don’t fall too behind in classes and neglect what you are responsible to finish. However with that being said, don’t neglect your friends. Don’t be afraid to put your homework aside to have a fun time because if you’re a good student, you will always find time to get it done. Make time to make memories.