Mind Over Matter

So for some reason, the time change has made me feel even more tired, and its already been a few days. You would think I would be used to it by now! I usually get up before classes at 6am to work on my insanity workouts, and today I shut my alarm off and continued sleeping!

I am in a speech 100 class this semester. You ever wonder what the people's secret is that seem to be so confidant in speaking in front of other people? I rehearse, I pick topics I know, and yet I get so nervous. I used to never talk in my classes either because I was thinking of how I can feel the whole class stare at me. I found the solution to this problem though was to be taking classes that I felt passionate enough about to raise my voice up, but even more then that to sit up front so I could feel like I was in a small class with just one row of students and the professor. That really made a difference for me to start making sure that I was contributing in classes. Sometimes I wish I had learned this trick many years ago. I have had professors and teachers in the past deduct points for not speaking up in class. I never thought this was fair to bring down a good students grade simply because they were shy, or had a fear of talking in public. This could go into a whole conversation also about extrovert versus introvert, but that may be a little of what I wanted to say today (although it would be a good subject in the future). I have learned through out my time here at FC though, that no matter what you will always have to do presentations, or speak in front of people. So there is no way around it and I need to be comfortable with it. I have done acting in my life and people always ask me "how can you do that, and then have a fear of speaking?". I always tell them that it is different, because when I am talking, I am myself. I am not a character at that point, and I am not in a scene acting with others.  I need to just say to myself "this is me, you may not like me, but this is what I have to say." I have not perfected speaking in front of people. I know that I have not hidden behind my fear so that i can try and still take opportunities that come my way. But the fight of flight response happens every time. My heart starts to race, my hands start to shake and perspire and I feel like I am speaking super fast.

Oh and for the record, I don't know who actually can picture their audience naked to make them calm. Sometimes I think to myself "is this just something that some bored person made up and then some how it got started that it was a technique to make you less nervous?". I don't have the answers, I admit i even get nervous going on stage, but there is a rush that I can't describe after the performance is over. I am waiting to someday have that rush for speaking in public. Until then I just try to mask to the best of my ability the fear I have. In my speech class though, you realize that almost everyone has this same fear and it makes you feel that you are in a safer environment simply because you are not alone in feeling this way.

Okay well today i just want to crawl back into bed but I have another class. I hope you all are adjusting to the time change better then I seem to be!

Live life to the fullest and don't forget to smile at some one today!

Serena

Spring Forward

I hope everyone remembered to set their non digital clocks forward and so that no one was late for anything! My internal clock seems to be waking me up regularly at 6am everymorning, and on Sunday it was no different...I still woke up at 6am, which was actually like 5am! I was just glad that I was able to go back to sleep because the worst is waking up and not having to be awake that early!

Okay so I really try and reduce stress in my life. In my Sociology of Gerontology Class we could do an assignment for extra credit. If you go to the website realage.com it will calculate your real age according to your body, and many other factors. So I did the test, and even though I am slightly younger than my actual age after taking the test, I want to be able to bring that down. Well sometimes I ask mysylef how do I not get stressed out, when life is beyond our control. When I can control things I feel less stressed. I think that is normal for everyone, but you can't control life. I have tried to not wait for the last minute on deadlines, and homework and such, but there always seems to be one thing I forget about and then I have to hurry up and get it done before its too late. I try and eat healthy and excercise on a regular basis, which helps with stress. What do you guys do when you feel stressed or anxious? I would love to hear any useful tips to help get my biological age down! The little things in life that I will never be able to control, I know that I need to not try and worry about them as much as I do. Worry I believe also causes stress, and often times I have noticed I worry about things for no reason. I myself am trying to let more worry go in my life. But like many bad habits, it is easier said then done. But we are almsot to spring break you guys! we have made it to this point and I would like to challenge you all, as I challenge myself, to break one bad habit and turn it into a fantastic habit. New years resolutions are made to be broken, so I never make any. Plus its not the new year anymore, so what bad habits can you give up before spring break that will help your bilogogical age make you younger in years to come?

Life is short we all know that, but how we live and what we do can drastically decrease or increase our time here on earth. Happy Monday everyone and I look forward to hearing what bad habits you are going to kick starting now!

Scholarship time

Hello everyone! It got a bit chilly again here in California! I wore the wrong shoes today! So today I felt like informing you all about stuff going on at Fullerton College. I think sometimes there is so much going on that its easy for people to not get the information.

First off, tomorrow you can give blood because the American Red Cross will be there for one more day. I don't know about you guys but I hate needles. But last year I decided to start giving blood every year around my birthday. Did you know that you could help save 3 lives when you give blood? I decided that my fear of needles should not stop me from helping others. If I was in need I would be kind of hurt if someone had the choice to help save my life, but they let this fear get in the way. So I try and suck it up once a year now.

The other thing I thought I would remind people of, is that its scholarship season. I think people don't realize it could be beneficial. A little hard work can go a long way. One club on campus (and I am in this club, many great ones to get involved in if you haven't yet.) Alpha Gamma Sigma actually will be doing some great scholarships for club members, and you do not need to be graduating or transferring to get them. But there are so many scholarships that I think you all can look into and take advantage of. The Fullerton Foundation is the first place to start. If you have any questions on what websites and how to find out more about scholarships, feel free to ask me. I know with the economy, and high costs of college we could all use some more money. I know there are so many different types of scholarships out there too, and many go unused each year because people don't apply.

Okay well i must admit that my arm is hurting from giving blood today. But I got a really cool sticker that said "Be nice to me, I gave blood." Lots of people tried to take my very much earned sticker from me, because they wanted people to be nice to them also, but I earned the sticker. I told them if they wanted a cool sticker, then they needed to give blood also!

Remember that it only takes one person to make a difference and that life is short. Do what you can with your time on and live with no regrets. Happy wednesday people and remember its not to late to make someone smile today!

Serena

Did you know?

The weather for the last two days has been amazing. I played hookie from all responsibilities and enjoyed the lovely weather, and hope you all did as well.

My birthday was on Saturday, and if you didn't know this already, you can get a free boat trip with a registration on the Catalina express web page. It is a $70 boat ride that you can now enjoy for free on the day of your birthday. because I am not from California I like to take advantage of many things that you can take for granted if you have lived here all of your life. I was actually surprised at how many people have lived here so long and have not ever ventured out of the 10 mile radius of where they live. So if you haven't gone to Catalina Island, you can now go on your birthday and enjoy the beauty.


One thing I was not aware of when I decided to go and have an adventure on this island, was that you really can't be that spontaneous. I don't know about you guys, but with school, work, and life it seems like we have to schedule everything, and we do not leave much room for adventure and spontaneity. I feel like those moments keep me feeling care free and young and I love being able to just fly by the seat of my pants.
I had a really great time, but because it was my birthday I wanted to sleep in. The boat ride itself is an hour long, so leaving at 12:15 now put me getting to the island at 1:15. Well I was quite hungry and so this now put our activities having to start at after 2pm. I really liked the idea of kayaking because I haven't ever done that before, but my friend did not like that idea as much, so then we thought about para sailing. I got information that you could para sail for only $20 on your birthday. I was so excited when I saw the place and the lady informed me that they were booked solid for the next two days. Okay so then we thought lets go hiking, well they said that it started to get dark at 5, and again my friend seemed less then thrilled about the idea because all the hiking trails seemed like a full day needed to be planned. Well as we were eating, we looked up possible other tours, and because it is off season there is not as many tours so we missed our chance for that.
Don't worry though we still had fun, not what we had thought originally but we were able to go to the Wrigley Memorial and Botanical Gardens, which is also free on your birthday. It was beautiful and you could see faintly in the back ground, Mt. Baldy, which didn't get captured in the pictures because it was too far and faint. So the lesson I learned in this trip is that if you want to experience more you have to actually plan, and not fly by the seat of your pants.

Happy Monday everyone and remember to live life to the fullest and not let moments pass you by!

Serena