Costume Identity

Oh, Halloween!

What a time of the year. It's a time where everyone is able to dress up and be someone they're not. What does this do for us? It creates an image of confidence in someone we are for a day and then it disappears. Why is that confidence there for a short time? Or a lasting time in others? What is it about Halloween that allows us to become something else and feel good about that?

This week, I dressed up as a Ravenclaw from Harry Potter. I guess you could say it was pretty magical! Haha.

Something I've learned about Halloween and activities this week is that we are all able to help each other out and be the people each other needs. We are here for each other and no matter what our identity may be, we have something to give. Nobody looks the same whether we dress up similarly or not, but we have so much to offer.

This Halloween and the rest of this year, I want to work on being the person someone may need. I may feel like my identity isn't hidden but to someone else, I am a new person with a hidden identity and I have much to offer.

This Halloween, remember that. Your costume identity is not who you are but it is fun and allows for a good time. Remember that aside from your costume, you have much to give to those around you.

This helps us in every day lives as we are able to connect more with those around us and be a beacon of light to our peers.

I Will Survive

This song could not be more applicable than right now!

On Thursday alone, I had six midterms. Is that even possible?!

But I survived and and am able to feel such relief from knowing how blessed I am to be in school and be studying at such a great university.

I've taken for granted the chance I have to be studying at Brigham Young University and to get such a great education. I want to strive to be more diligent with my classes to take advantage of the time I have here.

Something I want to begin doing is using more of the campus resources. I am striving to search for an internship and with the career connections trip I went on last week, I am more motivated to use the resources we have at BYU.

I had the opportunity to go and get my resume reviewed last week on campus and that helped me a ton! I learned a lot about making my resume stand out and because I worked on my resume more, I was able to get more connections with my new and improved resume. (It's still not great, don't get me wrong.) Haha but I feel so grateful to go to a university where they care about ME as an individual and not just the money I bring.

So know that YES, YOU WILL SURVIVE! Life is grand and we are blessed.

Use the resources on campus! Here's a link to the career and counseling website for BYU. It's great. Please use it!

https://ccc.byu.edu/

Shalae

Pumpkins

I really connected with President Russell M. Nelson's talk from this past conference given a couple weeks ago. He talked about womanhood and how essential and important it is for all of us. 

He said, "We, your brethren, need your strength, your conversion, your conviction, your ability to lead, your wisdom, and your voices. We need women who know how to make important things happen by their faith and who are courageous defenders of morality and families in a sin-sick world."

I love this quote and all that it encompasses. Every Sunday, my roommates and I gather in the kitchen and pick a recipe to make that day! It is so much fun! We have named it "Domestic Sundays." This fun activity brings us together and allows us to have a good time while doing so. Last week, we hit the high point of domestication. I was baking, Lydia knitting, Amanda painting, Paige reading, and Jade listening to music. Haha!

This blog post is titled "Pumpkins" because, well, we've used quite a bit of pumpkin in our recipes lately. It's the season for it! So far, we've made chocolate truffles, chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin bread, pumpkin roll, a Southern dinner, Venezuelan dinner, waffles, monkey bread, and a pasta casserole. Yes, we're domestic.

Something I've learned from having these Sunday fun-days is that WE are the ones to decide how we make life. My roommates and I could think, 'why do we spend so much time making food when we usually end up giving it away to people?'

It makes us feel good to do something we love and to develop more talents! From this new-found activity and talent, I am setting a goal in my life to spend more time doing things that make me feel good!

President Nelson said, "...sisters...step forward! Take you rightful and needful place in your home, in your community, and in the kingdom of God--more than you ever have before."

I love being able to magnify my calling on earth as a woman and be able to have fun while doing so! This is something that has been tested and tried in our society and I want to be one to take a stand and be proud of the moral force of women. I know it's important and I know that I matter.

With this, I would love your input on other fun things my roommates and I can do on Sundays and, more especially, what we can bake! Please take this survey!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RRMG7ZW

Career Connections Field Trip

Today I had the opportunity to attend the BYU FHSS Career Connections Field Trip. For this trip, each of us had to apply and send our resumes to be accepted to go. When I finally got my resume looking a little better, I was accepted and was able to attend the trip to Salt Lake City today.

The companies we visited included:

• Goldman Sachs
• CHG Healthcare
• Instructure
• Qualtrics

This trip was a great way to network and get to know these companies and some of the positions that can apply to the group I was with as Social Science majors.

I went in to Goldman Sachs thinking there was no way that anything could or would apply to ME as an anthropology major! I was wrong. At Goldman Sachs, I learned that they teach their staff the techniques of working for a top-end investment banking firm. Something I'm interested in now is working on the Human Capital Management team there.

CHG Healthcare is a little different and gives many opportunities for Human Resources at their company. Mark, the Chief Operating Officer for CHG, was there to talk to us more about the work ethic and the mission of the organization. The mission is what stood out to me the most: "Putting People First." This mission statement is brought about my many other points and I loved learning about that today.

Instructure is a newer company founded by two BYU students. They developed a new learning manager platform called Canvas and their company has developed from that. The focus I liked with this company is that they hire many people to start working with marketing development but they never want anyone to stay in that department. This department gives more experience and opportunities to build and move to other greater positions.

Qualtrics is a company we all know pretty well here at BYU. Getting to tour the office and see what it's like was fascinating! It reminded me of my mission: hipster. I'm not quite sure what I liked in particular about the company for ME personally, but it's a great company that gives opportunities for experience to anyone and everyone.

This field trip has given me the drive to search more for internships and mainly to build my network even further. These CEO's, CFO's, and COO's are ready to see what we've got and I'm ready to give it my all to be ready for when I graduate. Time to get to work!

Diligencia

Life has a way of, well, not going exactly the way we plan it to go. There are times that we don't know how to handle everything on our plates and take it all in but there are little aspects we can look at and be grateful for as well.

This week, I had the opportunity to go to the midnight release of Brandon Sanderson's new book. Due to the event, I didn't get home until 4:00 a.m. My alarm (usually) goes off at 7:00 a.m. but I guess I slept through it because I woke up at noon. NOON! 

Needless to say, I missed my morning Spanish class. Because I missed my class, though, it gave me the opportunity to get up and catch up on a lot of homework I hadn't had time to complete. On top of that, I actually got a full eight hours of sleep for the first time in...awhile.

That day, I was able to get ahead three days in Spanish homework, finish a paper that was due the next day, and study for an exam I had this week. What a blessing!

It's amazing how things work out. This past weekend at General Conference, a meeting that is broadcast across the world twice a year, I learned much about diligence and putting the Lord first.

It was amazing to see how well life gets balanced out when things are organized and laid out a specific way. It felt great to be ahead on my homework, even if it was just a short time, and to feel a relief from stress!

This incident has given me motivation to plan out my life more, to set goals and make plans for each week, and to make sure that the social, emotional, physical, and mental aspects of my life are balanced more.

There's a funny chart that I'm sure many of you have seen: this is what has been pictured in my mind for the past few days now.

I want to challenge those of you who are reading this blog to evaluate your life and balance of it. I know I've been struggling with having ideas of what to do so I would love your input.

Until next time,

Shalae

Climb Every Mountain, Er...Tower

This week was very exciting! I had the privilege of playing with the BYU Gamelan Percussion Ensemble to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Carillon Bell Tower on campus. It was an amazing experience to play a Bali instrument with the carillon.

The Carillon is something everyone at BYU hears all the time. Sometimes, throughout the year, one may even have the privilege of hearing Harry Potter being played from the tower! Oh, what joy!

Not many people get to experience what it is like being AT the bell tower, though. They miss the true joy of seeing what is there and how special it is to the area. This week, I had that opportunity.

Climbing the bell tower is so exhilarating! But, climbing the bell tower is also a lot of work. Is it worth it to climb endlessly to see something you've never seen before? How much work does it take for us to see something we've always heard and wondered about but have never witnessed or seen for ourselves? For me, it was worth it and was something I was willing to work for.

The carillon bell tower isn't exactly a small tower. It has about 100 steps on a small, spiral staircase. Once one reaches the top, though, a new view is seen and it makes all the work worth it! (It's like the "stairs of death" but you can't see the end and have no idea where you're at.)

Now, you're probably wondering why this actually matters! "Cool, you got to climb into a tower and see an instrument." Haha well, it made me feel accomplished that I was able to practice for weeks on this piece and then to have it pay off in the end by performing well AND being able to climb and see inside the bell tower.

With this, I know I can do hard things and nothing has to stop me or pull me back for whatever reason. There are no limitations. 

At the beginning of the semester, I had no idea what kind of instrument I was even playing and now, I'm excited to have played the instrument well and be able to see progress in so many ways.

I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to go and push my limits this week by working hard to see it all pay off in the end. God is aware of us and I know that's true.

With this, I am setting new goals for this week of ways I can continue to push myself forward. I want to challenge those of you reading this to find some way to challenge yourself this week.

As was said in conference today, "Reach upwards, not across." -Robert D. Hales

Until next time,

Shalae