How I “Lost” my Creativity

There’s a lot about the transition from high school to college to the workforce that we don’t ever talk about. In my last blog post, I wrote about some career-focused issues. But lately, I’ve been thinking about how our educational structure affects something more integral to human nature: creativity.

Now that I’m a year into my career, I’ve more or less developed a routine. Strangely enough, it’s basically the same routine I had in high school: go to work for 8-9 hours, come home, eat and read or watch Netflix.

The major difference that kind of frightens me is this: I haven’t written a poem in two years.

4 Things I Sucked at When I Graduated College

Happy woman smiling at desk. Oh wait, that’s me. Photo by Brad Holt, videographer, photographer and Tesla owner extraordinaire.

 

When I began my first internship a year ago, I was pretty clueless. I wouldn’t speak up in meetings, I second-guessed my intuition, and I simply had no idea what was going on in the industry, or even how to find out.

Now I realize that I lacked some tacit but important skills, ones we never discussed in college, and ones I believe were actually hindered by the education system itself. Granted, these aren’t easy skills to develop, and I know I’ll be working on them for years to come. I just wish someone had told me about them ahead of time, helped me understand how important they were. I may not have worked very hard at developing them then, but at least I would have been prepared.

DIY Midcentury Modern Coffee Table

These past few months have definitely been an adjustment. I graduated college, got a job, and moved (again). Then there were holidays and birthdays and SXSW… it’s safe to say I got a bit behind in my posting.

But, I’m back in the saddle again! This time with the biggest (and best) DIY project I’ve tackled to date.

You see, I really wanted a simple, minimalist coffee table for my living room (in my new apartment). Turns out, “simple” and “minimalist” are expensive words in furniture these days. And let’s not get started with “midcentury modern.”

4 Questions for Living with Intention in 2014

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to live with intention. I’ve just graduated college and I’ve got my whole life ahead of me. It’s hard not to feel pressured to “do it right.” But what is right?

There are hundreds of factors in every decision we make. Money, work, family, society… Too often we end up making choices out of necessity, or by default. Now, sometimes we do have to grit our teeth and do something we don’t want to do. But if we make too many choices without our own values in mind, we risk losing ourselves. That’s why I want to know my intention.

6 Life Lessons I’ve Learned from Yoga

Okay, I promise this will be the last yoga post for awhile. I just can’t help it. My life has changed a lot lately, and yoga has healed, calmed and carried me through it all. After two years of practice, it’s clear to me that yoga alleviates much of the suffering and anxiety we impose on ourselves.

Yoga is a lifelong practice, and its benefits extend beyond the body. One of my yoga instructors describes it perfectly: “To learn to control the body, we learn to control the breath. When we learn to control the breath, we learn to control the mind.” Yoga does improve fitness, but awareness, self-control and inner calm are the real rewards.

Recently, I’ve thought a lot about how the lessons I learn in yoga extend beyond my practice. These ideas are helpful when applied to exercise, but enlightening when applied to life.

Social Media Guest Blogging

This semester, I’m taking a class in social media. Yes, we do have a class. Although I don’t think it would be entirely prudent to major in social media, I do find value in a class that teaches students how to monitor analytics, write engaging content and explore new apps and networks. So here I am.

Obviously I haven’t been blogging here lately, but my social media class has a class blog, and every student has to post at least once every two weeks. To fill the silence here, I’m going to use this post to aggregate all of my social media class posts for your reading pleasure.

And if you have some time, poke around on that class blog. Chances are you’ll find another stellar undergrad to follow!

The Era of Brand Personality
“Why Don’t Teens Love Us?” – Facebook
Smart Move, Snapchat: Stories
The Quantified, Overwhelmed Self
How Fabletics Fueled my First Seen-On-Pinterest Purchase
What Makes an App “Educational”?

Crochet Yoga Mat Strap

It’s amazing how many things you can crochet if you put your mind to it. I needed a strap to carry my yoga mat, but I didn’t particularly care for the velcro-y patterned ones sold at places like Target.

All together it’s only three rows of SC, with one adjustment: on the second row, SC two, chain 3 & skip 3, and then continue your SC until 5 from the other end, then chain 3 & skip 3, then SC two and turn for the final row. This gives you two gaps, one on each end. When you’ve finished and tied off, pull an end through each gap so you have two adjustable loops on each end. Wrap over your mat and enjoy!

I made mine out of jute, but if you want to use a normal yarn without sacrificing strap width, all you need to do is add more rows. Just make sure you do an odd number and the row with the gaps is in the middle.

Yoga Thoughts

I’d like to start this post with a disclaimer: I’m not a designer. My color theory sucks, and I’m generally not very visually imaginative. About the only thing I have going for me in the design department is my insistence that everything be understated and properly aligned. That’s it.

But when I was in yoga class the other day (as part of the DFW Free Day of Yoga — look for it next year!), I heard a phrase that really hit home. And when I got home, I had an insatiable urge to make it into a Pinterest-like typographic quote so I could look at it for inspiration. And here it is.

I often struggle with thinking too much during yoga or meditation or when I’m trying to sleep or just… any time. So when the instructor said this,  it just worked for me. I envisioned myself doing a downward dog in the middle of a quiet, italicized e, and my mind was quiet, contemplating the space. Not the letters, words or phrases, but the space.

I hope this helps you find your space.

Five Lessons from my First Internship

This is the last thing I shall ever write from my (adopted) desk at my first internship at an advertising agency. Well, possibly. It’s only 11 a.m. But the melodrama is hard to resist.

In all seriousness, I’m really going to miss Firehouse. They’ve been welcoming and friendly, offering a perfect balance of advice and companionship. I’m so glad I had the chance to start my career here. I’ve learned a lot — about myself and about agency life. The things I’ve learned about myself, I’ll keep to myself, but I thought other students might like to hear some of the things I’ve learned about working in an agency. Especially as an intern.

Meditation and Keeping Yoga Sacred

I have a secret to tell you. Something I’m really proud of. And I hope telling you won’t spoil it. It’s called I’ve Practiced Yoga Every Day For the Past Two Months.

Well… mostly. I’ve done yoga every work day on every normal morning for the past two months. The thing I’m most proud of is that I’ve successfully made yoga practice part of my weekday morning routine. For me, that’s a Big Deal.

Like most routines, it was easy to start, but difficult to keep going. After the first few weeks I found myself waking up sluggish, wanting to sleep twenty more minutes, resenting my Sun Salutations. I knew I enjoyed practicing yoga, so I made a more focused effort to motivate myself. Ah, there it is. Motivation.