To Blog or Not to Blog?

Blogging over the past few months this semester, has been almost theraputic for me. I have always been the type of person who loves to write, hence why I am a communication major. Blogging has given me an outlet to voice my opinions and speak about things that matter to me in terms of this social media course. Since this is the end of the course you may be wondering what will happen to me, the over-worked college student. Unforunately, this will be the end of my time blogging in this space, but surely it is not the end of my online presence. Though in the summer months I will not be too overworked and I will only be a college student for two more years, this is not the end of my online presence. It may be the end of Through the Eyes of an Over-worked Clollege Student, but it is not the end of me being over-worked and having a voice on social media. This blog has given me experience in writing that I may not have otherwise had on my own; I got experience being able to be creative with my thoughts in a public, online forum. It ultimately has given me more ideas and tools to make a name for myself in the future. Though I don't think that I will be blogging in the traditional sense, I most definetly will be making a personal website or portfolio for my professional projects as life goes on. Blogging has also given me a chance to write for the public in my own voice. This is particularly valuable to me because I would like to try my hand at journalism and or publishing a book or two in the future. Overall, blogging has been a valuable experience to me and is a lesson I will take with me throughout my professional endevours.

SPARC Marketing

The SPARC festival is one of the biggest student and academic driven events on campus.It is given its name "SPARC" as it highlights scholarship, performance, art, research, and creativity of the student body. It is a time to see what your fellow students have been up to for the past year. I think that this festival is a great idea, but should not be marketed as a festival; it does not give festival vibes. Rather, the university should market it as a "fair" as it reminds me of a science fair, and not so much a festival. If the university wants to make it a successful "festival " with higher student turn-out rates, then they should turn it into an actual festival with food and raffles, or things of that nature. This is just one of the aspects of SPARC marketing that sticks out to me. In addition to what it is marketed as, I am also conflicted with how it was marketed this year. As a Mount student, I know what the SPARC festival is by default because it is one of the things that this school hypes up to prospective students and incoming freshman. When thinking about the way that it was marketed this year, it truly lacked in care and creativity. If there was good marketing, I did not see it. The only time I was made aware of the festival was by professors that required me to attend. I feel as though this does not do justice to the hardwork that each student presenter put forth into their presentations. There was not any colorful graphics on posters or emails sent, and I had little idea of the type of topics that were presented. There was not much effort to highlight any individual presentations or topics. The only way I found out about certain topics was by word of mouth or professors and the last minute email with zoom links and times. If I may suggest, each department should send out emails regarding students with presentations in that department. The only department I see that does this successfully is the art and music department. I have gotten many memorable emails from them about their student's SPARC performances. Overall, the students did very well, but the advertisment of the event should align with the effort of the student presentors!

Fresh Look!

This week I was tasked witth designing my own logo for this blog! I like the new look and think it represents this "brand' quite well. It was a lot of fun designing this logo and it was a fun change from regular class work. I love creating, so this was right up my alley. As for my process, I used the logo teplate on canva. After a bit of scrolling, I found the perfect graphic; the skull coffee cup. I feel that this image is a good representation of this blog because I use coffee to fuel me throughout the day, and the skull represents the death I feel after a long day of classes, homework, and practice. I went with a slightly "cheesy" font to go with the theme of exhaustion and the overall vibe of students taking notes in their notebook. As for the background, I chose the green to go with the already existing color scheme of the blog.

(I)dentity

There are "i"s in the word "identity" for a reason; it is a representation of what makes you, you. In college, and even in high school and middle school we are all looking to find ourselves. In college, this becomes an increasingly prevalent issue. For many of us, we still have no clue what we want to do with our lives after graduation, or we are over immersed in our school. We consume ourselves in our sudies, participating in clubs or sports, and identify ourselves by our associations with others. I am personally still trying to find myself, and it has been a humbling journey nonetheless. From being a chubby, socially awkward art kid, to becoming a somewhat extraverted Division I athlete (and still an art kid), it is safe to say that I have gone trough it. Though, through all of the name-calling and embarassment, it was a humbling yet rewarding experience as it made me more resillient and the person I am today. As of right now, my identity would consist of being an awkward runner who loves warm weather and weird art. What if a part of our identity gets taken away? Life isn't always a linear path, and this leads to inevitable mishaps and setbacks. Right now, I am just an awkward person who loves warm weather and weird art. Running recently got taken away from me as I am out for the outdoor season with injury. This random setback took a blow at my evolving identity. I am no longer defined by running, nor does running consume my days or weekends as it once did. I now have to start from scratch and reframe my identity. No one prepares you for having a significsnt part of your life taken away, but it is not an end-all. It has taken me months to have this epiphany, but setbacks are a chance for positive change and reframing your life in a way that fulfills you in the moment and gets you stronger when the next setback occurs. I think of this almost like physical therapy, but for the soul. If anything, the take away from this post is to not rely on few things to frame your identity. We are all constantly evolving, and with the way life goes, things happen that we don't always expect or want to happen. Instead of being defined by physical things such at an "artist", "runner", or whatever else you may be defined by, we should be defined by what is on the inside. Insteag of being identified as an injured runner, or over-worked college student, I am defined by what I have been through and my character. I am resillient. I am kind. I am brave. I am creative. I am witty. This is me.

When I Grow Up...

 The age old question that everyone asks- the annual question at every family function: "So Alex, what do you want to be when you grow up?" If I had a dollar for every time I got asked this, I would be able to pay my tuition or drop out of school completely to live a life of lavish with no work. Though, to answer that question, I don't know.

I have quarter-life crises about this far too often. We spend all of our childhood and young adult life preparing ourselves for a career. We work hard to get perfect grades, learn social skills, and watch what we post to social media just so we can be reputable adults in the work force. All my life, it feels like I have been working towards an uncertain goal; I spend so much time studying and working towards good grades and a degree, but will I actually use my degree? What if my career path has nothing to do with communication or art? What if I decide to live off-the grid and forage through forests for the rest of my life? 

Even though all of these thoughts constantly loom in my mind, I am getting better at putting myself at ease. I know that whatever I decide to do, even if it is foraging through forests, I will be successful because I learned how to work hard and I have a good online reputation. Since my generation has grown up with social media, there is no doubt that it will continue to evolve and play even more of a part in our lives once we reach adulthood. There are already so many jobs that revolve around social media, and there are even social networking sites that help you find a job. Just like me, social media is still growing, and I think it will eventually have an impact in all lines of work, even if they aren't directly dedicated to social media.

Me running away from my responsibilities.

Top 10 Ways to brand YOU!

 Why would you want personal branding tips from an over-worked college student? Well, for starters, I just learned these strategies in class so they are fresh in my mind, plus, I am pretty good at staying on brand. (See what I did in the first sentence?) Personal branding is key to having a respectable online presence, especially if you want to become a public figure. Here are 10 things that I think are key to successfully branding yourself:

10. associate yourself with others who will benefit your image

    The old saying "you are who your friends are" is so true when it comes to who you surround yourself with. for example, if you follow a bunch of right-wing are conservative pages, chances are you are right-wing and conservative. Who you surround yourself with also impacts the type of people who will visit your online presence. 

9. interact with your followers

    The beautiful thing about the internet being asynchronous is that engagement with others can be on your own time! This allows you to come up with well articulated responses to people who reach out to you. In addition to this, interacting with others shows you to be real and an active member of social media.

8. post things you would want your mother to see

    This is a great rule of thumb for avoiding cancellation. If you are thinking about posting something a bit risky stop and think; "how would my mother feel if she saw this?" If the answer is far from positive, then you should probably steer clear from that post because your boss or the general public might not like it either.

7. post frequently

This shows that you keep up with the times and are an active member of society. It also shows that you don't abandon things you start.

6. post things that are true to you

    Being authentic to yourself shows that you are confident in yourself. This gives off a sense of trust and accountability. Anyway, it's easier to be yourself rather than trying to stay true to a false persona.

5. be respectful to others in your online community

    I think this should be obvious, but unfortunately, some people think that being rude to others online is justifiable. Treat others the way you want to be treated, and a great personal and professional brand will come to you in return.

4. come up with a theme for you brand

    What do you want to be known for? Choose something you are passionate enough about that you wouldn't mind it being attached to your name. If you are passionate about running, center yourself around that and interact within that community. If you are content with being known as a crazy runner, then have at it.

3. stay out of internet drama

    The thing about internet drama is that no one listens to the facts and things move extremely fast. That being said, thoughts and opinions can change so the "cancellers" can quickly turn into the "cancelled". In my humble opinion, it is always best to stay out of internet drama because the future is never clear and plot twists can occur at any moment.

2. Confidence is key

   People love a confident person, especially when it comes to the professional setting. Just don't get cocky. There is a difference between confident and cocky, so don't forget to stay humble and take criticism with a grain of salt.

1. consistency is everything!

    consistency shows that you have yourself together and really know your brand. Consistency is important in everything such as interactions, content, and more. Consistency is key to unlocking the professional side of social media and maintaining your brand.

The internet is your oyster, so go out there and make the most of it by connecting with others and growing from it. Don't forget that consistency is important in all of the rankings above and that being yourself will get you far!

Be like this dog I saw on the beach: confident, classy, and professional.

 

A Guide to Stress Management for the Stressed Out

 Yes, life gets stressful at times. Especially in college. Between late night study-sessions, essays to be done, sports to be played, and life to be lived, it often times feels like we are in way over our heads. School is a stressful time on top of life in general and beginning to adult doesn't make it that much better. As someone who is constantly busy, it can feel like life is a demanding coach and we are the overworked athlete. Though, with lots of trial and error, I have found ways of coping with this crazy, and often times dubious thing we call life. By no means to I have my life perfectly figured out, but I do know my way around it quite a bit, and I would like to share some of my favorite ways to managing everyday stressors brought on by this beautifully stressful thing we call life.

One of the most old school (and fool-proof) methods to organizing your life is by writing things down. I have a yearly planner; it is my bible. I take it everywhere I go and write my plan for each day along with assignments and daily reminders and activities that I must complete. The most exciting thing for me is when I complete something because I cross it off with a brightly colored highlighter. This just makes me feel so accomplished and confident that I am on top of my goals! Having a planner or calendar is also a great way to plan out the upcoming weeks or months so you don't over commit. You have everyday of the year in front of you so this is a great way to avoid conflict.

Another way I stay organized and on task is by doing both the most important and most difficult parts to my day first. If I have a difficult assignment or have to go to the bank to figure out my non-existent money, then I do that first because they are the most difficult and boring. If I get these kinds of things out of the way, I have more time to do other things, and the thought of doing them no longer weighs me down. I have never been the type of person to fall victim of procrastination, but I do know the looming thought of having to. do some of these things destroys me mentally. That is why I tend to make these tasks a priority so they don't negatively impact my thoughts and in turn, my day.

Lastly, my favorite way to cope with stress is by rewarding myself after a long day or hard task that I was initially dreading. In psychology, rewarding good behavior is shown to lead you to want to continue doing such behavior because of the reward that follows. Good rewards lead to dopamine, and dopamine leads to happiness. The feeling of sitting back with ice cream and Netflix after a long day is a feeling like no other. After completing every hard task of the day is a really good feeling and I know for me, it makes me feel at ease knowing I am doing something right.

Me, busy at work writing this blogpost.