I personally find the human body pretty amazing. Did you know that we replace the majority of our cells every seven years? Even more amazing: we change the upper layers of our skin every two weeks. If all the cells in our body did this, we’d be immortal. But some of our cells, like the ones in our brains, don’t renew. They age, and age us. Even more simplistically, we exhale. We inhale what's good for us, and then exhale what we don't need anymore. What an appropriate metaphor for a cliche post about the end of the year. Next Sunday's post will be straight from the year of 2016. Another year gone by, and new one beginning. It's crazy to think that 2015 is over. For me, it was a big year, huge actually. I remember sitting in my 2nd grade classroom hearing that we would be the class of 2015, a time I couldn't even fathom would ever get here, but it did.I graduated high school, and then moved to Omaha to start my first semester of college. Although, in between these moments so many other things happened: I ran my last season of cross country, won a grand championship in show choir, had a role in the musical, went out of the country for the first time, had my senior prom, played my final season of soccer, and,of course, had my last summer at home. It was a big year, so big, that sometimes when I look back I can't believe I did it all. I got a book this Christmas, Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon. (I strongly recommend it to anyone with a complex for tragic love stories with a happy ending.) One of my favorite quotes from the book was: “You can't predict the future. It turns out that you can't predict the past either. Time moves in both directions - forward and backward - and what happens here and now changes them both.” You might have already experienced the past, but you have no idea what that will do to your present, and no idea what that will lead to in the future. Kinda crazy huh? Regardless, time doesn't stop, and it won't stop for anyone. So it's what we do with our time that matters. My 2015 was pretty mapped out for me in my head, (or so I like to think.) I was going to graduate, and I was going to move away. There was a little timeline in my head checking off each milestone as it came and went. A perfect little checklist to my life. However, my 2016 looks to be completely unauthorized. Which is a little more than terrifying. There is no checklist this time, no way of knowing what comes next. A terribly white canvas, so white that I'm not even sure what colors I'm going to use. I suppose the best plan of action is to inhale what comes next. Fresh air in the lungs never hurt anyone. It's good for a clear mind and heart. It's the exhale that gets rid of the old, and there's nothing wrong with that. The old has served its purpose, and done its job, so it's okay to let go of the clutter. So I suggest we all take a big breath in. 2015 HighlightsSick days aren't what they used to be people.
It's never any fun to be sick, the aches, the pains, the chills. I will have none of it. However, there was always a guaranteed fact that I got the works from the grocery store: 7up, jello, homemade soup, every sick person's essentials. Not to mention the fact that if I was lucky enough for mom or dad to stay home with me, I basically had my own butler for the day, waiting on me hand and foot. Another perk, no school. I may feel like crap, but nothing beats a day on the couch with my favorite tv shows. Even more importantly, medicine just showed up on the coffee table. Somehow my mom was keeping track, down to the minute, of just how much and how often I needed my medicine. This all changed when I woke up last week with a sore throat and achey legs. When you're not home with your mom and the works, sick days have little to no perks. I've spent the past few days drinking water and eating cereal. Not exactly sick pop and soup. Guaranteed, skipping class is a lot easier now than having to get consent from parents, and make up work from teachers. That is until I looked at the syllabus and realized I missed a quiz, and an in-class writing assignment. In this case, it's not so easy to catch up. Taking medicine also comes with instructions now. Not the daily four hour dosage that just magically appeared on the night stand next to me. And what's with the fine print on the bottles? It's like they are trying to poison me so that they make more money when I need more medicine because I didn't get better the first time. And, medicine is expensive! I just have a chest cold. I'm not recovering from open heart surgery? It's also really hard to rest up, when I have to get up to go get my laundry, because being sick is the only time I have to do it, or having to get up and get myself water, or even when I think I'm hungry, but I look at the fridge and realize there's no sick food in there, because to acquire sick food is to go to the store which I don't have the money, energy, or time for such amenities. Of course, I wasn't in dire need of a bed side nurse, but when I'm sick, I want to be the sick person, not the caregiver to my sick self. All I'm saying is, chicken soup from a can doesn't taste near as good when it's not handed to me on my couch made by my mom. As a young adult in the emerging job market, there's a lot of pressure placed on me to find a steady, secure job that will provide a regular income, and enough money to support me and a (far future) family. The Princeton Review says that the top five college majors are computer science, communications, political science, business, and economics (in that order). All 'in the box' jobs that provide us with the sense of safety we crave.
But I bet half of you fell asleep reading that list of majors; for pretty obvious reasons. I know the world needs these areas of study for jobs that create balance and blah blah blah, but I've created my top five list of unobtainable jobs that aren't taught in school. 1. A famous blogger. If you guys couldn't see this one coming, your'e not paying close enough attention. C'mon! I'm sitting on my couch next to a Christmas tree in my favorite hoodie, simply stating my opinion. Now, IMAGINE I'M GETTING PAID. Dream gig right there. Especially for my fellow writers out there. There's so many things you can do with blogs: mommy bloggers, traveling bloggers, advice bloggers, personal opinion bloggers. You can literally do anything you want. A few companies like the amount of people who view you, and boom, you're making bank. I'm telling you there would be nothing better. 2. A Kardashian. No one can deny this. Take away the scandals that got them there, and most of their questionable behavior and what's left... GETTING PAID TO EXIST? Seriously, think about it, what is Kris Jenner's job? How about Kim's? What exactly do they even do? Basically, people just pay them to show up and be famous. Kylie Jenner (a Kardashian by birth right, for those of you who live under a rock) lives in a 2.7 million dollar mansion and she's EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD. Are you kidding me right now? I can't even spend $2.70 on a happy meal without questioning myself? 3. A talk show host. I'm talking Jimmy Fallon and Ellen size. Now that's a sweet gig. Ellen's net worth is 200 million dollars, (do you know how many happy meals she can afford?) All you gotta do is sit in a fluffy chair, crack a few jokes, and meet every celebrity on the planet. Throw a few games, and a couple giveaways in there and you are golden. 4. Having your own show on HGTV Lets be real Chip and Joanna Gaines, are you even lifting a finger when you flip those houses? Pretty much the only thing you have to do is pick some pretty colors, and then pay someone to slap them on the wall. Let's not forget the fact that they make money from the houses they flip and HGTV pays them too. Plus, she gets to go shopping pretty much every single day to go buy stuff to make a house look pretty.How fun would that be? 5. A professional shopper. I'm not kidding, this exists, and it's exactly what it sounds like. Basically, a (very well off person) hires you to come look in your closet and get a feel for your style. Then the shopper goes out and buys you all new outfits with your money and gets paid to do so. Let's not mention the fact, that we all wish we could afford this too. It's a little hard going to school to make 5 figures a year knowing jobs like this exist. Where are the majors that get me to this point, huh? *Honorable mentions for this list include: any type of celebrity, a hand model, commercial star, and abstract artists. |
Purpose:To express, explain, and exclaim the lessons life continually throws at me, and my take on how to deal. Archives
December 2021
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