My Simple, Happy, Beautiful Life

I have learned a secret that really helps in my graduate school program. It is a thing that I have always known about but never actually applied until this semester. It is this concept called procrastination. ' I used to be really good at it. I could put off a month long paper and finish in the day before. I would find any distraction to put off starting the project. I would get a pretty good grade and then move on with life and feel accomplished until I went to graduate school.  I  have learned that doing them before the deadline is beneficial and reduces my stress enormously.  So, graduate school has taught me the brilliance of getting things done before the deadline and working on them early.  Cheers to getting things turned in early!

This weekend I was forced to slow down and relax. Everyone around me has been sick and I was just lucky to not get it from them. Well, this weekend was my not so lucky weekend, but I have watched quite a few cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies. Let me tell you, I actually like them. They are all really cheesy and extremely predictable but I adore them. They are a great escape from reality sometimes. Anyways, things have been going. When I say that they have been going, I mean that time is flying and I am constantly trying to keep up with things. This semester has been pretty fast and I only have two or three weeks and then I have one more semester until I graduate. Sometimes I have to do a reality check because I feel like I just got accepted into the graduate program. My thesis keeps me busy as my partner and I meet weekly to "perfect" our thesis. I have learned from this process that I do not want to get my Ph D anytime soon.  I thought that the thesis project would be exc

I have not written in here all summer long. It really shows how busy I was, but it was definitely a good busy. I had a great summer full of learning, traveling, new friends and time with family. I really wanted to be a EFY counselor this summer and I interviewed and I was rejected from the job. I was a little heartbroken since I really wanted to travel and be a EFY counselor, but this summer was exactly what I needed. I had lots of opportunities to expand myself and have fun at the same time. I ended up being in school to get my PPS credential. It is basically a credential to work as a school social worker. The class itself was really interesting, it was on Saturday's all day, but I finished the course work. I am now doing my internship hours, so I can receive my credential when I graduate with my MSW. I did start my internship at the school for students with developmental disabilities and emotional disturbance. I worked there for summer school and I started the school year as

I have been confused for the last month or two regarding my future employment and internship. This whole not knowing where I was going to end up was making me really stressed out, but I am so happy that things are finally working out and coming together.  Do you want to hear my happy news?  I feel like my social work identity is finally coming together as I know who I am as a social worker. My professional identity is developing.  I am starting a new position as a Education Related Mental Health Therapist Intern at this private school called Guiding Hands. It is going to be a paid internship and I am working with the population that I love working with. I have developed a love for working with people who have disabilities, specifically developmental disabilities. I find working with this population is extremely rewarding yet challenging. It pushes me to work hard but I find the work very enjoyable. So, I am very happy about this placement. It is in El Dorado Hills, so it is

So, I am ending my first year of my internship and it has been such a learning process. I haven't really thought about the termination process because the end never really seemed like it was near. Well, I have two more days of my internship. That is absolutely crazy to think that I have been here for a year. I have been at Health for All, which is an adult day health care center. I am with adults who have physical and mental disabilities. There is a wide range of clients who have mental health diagnosis, extreme physical health limitations and isolation. Many clients lost contact with family and live with caregivers and board and care. The clients struggle with isolation, depression, grief and loss of independence. The more I think about it, the more sad and happy I am with this termination process. I don't think I am really ready for the termination process, but I have to be though. I am happy because that means it is summer! Sometimes having the internship along with the sc

So, I have learned something kinda funny throughout this whole process of making decisions for next fall. I have learned how I deal with stress, anger, frustration and anxiety. I clean. I organize. I do my laundry. I clean my bathroom. I do anything that is productive besides the actual thing I need to do. Avoidance is a great technique. Today, I had a stressful interaction with a teacher again. I am in the process of picking my thesis advisor. I have a partner for a thesis and we want to write our thesis on how income level affects education obtainment. I am actually really interested in this topic, and I am kinda excited to go through this crazy process of writing a thesis. Anyways, I may be stuck with a thesis advisor who doesn't really care about my topic, which is really frustrating. I was driving home angry. I realized that my car needed a oil change. Instead of doing homework and thinking more about this problem, I thought it would be better to work on cleaning, vacuuming,

It has been a tough last couple of weeks. I am making some big decisions for my future. Do I want to write a thesis or take a capstone class? Where am I going to intern at next year? Do I want to do this summer program to be a school social worker? Can I get a paid internship? What population do I want to work with? Where would I want to work possibly after I graduate? What are my ultimate career goals? Needless to say, I have been trying to find the answers to all these questions. It is a process that is not the must fun. I have tried to stay strong with all of these unknown's in the air. My friends in the program have been a big support since they completely understand the stress and pressure that comes from these decisions. We provide encouragement to each other which helps the process move much smoother. Like I have said, I have tried to remain strong throughout the process. I tell myself, "things will work out". "If I have faith, god will direct me to where

For my spring break, I took a spontaneous trip to Rexburg, Idaho. I haven't been there since who knows when, so I decided it would be a good time to visit again. I was reminded of how much things change yet stay the same this spring break. Being back in Rexburg, reminded me of my college days there yet things are so different. Most of the people I knew when I went to the university have graduated, got married and have kids now. I had a couple really good friends I visited, but it was interesting to see how much of my life has moved on. Being there, I felt like I was reliving my freshman year when driving past places in Rexburg. I was driving through memory lane. It's weird to think back and remember my freshman year. It wasn't my favorite of college years, yet it was so important. Being a freshman was freedom. I was living in the college dorms and had no parents to tell what to do. I could stay up late and eat cookie dough and no one could stop me. I could go to the dan

I was texting one of my friends today about the graduate school program and she asked me about what I have learned. It made me think about the growth that has come since last September. My experiences in graduate school have been challenging and not what I expected at all. So anyone wanting to go to graduate school, here are some things that I have learned about graduate school that might be useful (especially social work). Have a self care plan. Make sure that you keep yourself healthy because you need to stay healthy to be successful. Exercise. Eat Healthy. Find some kind of plan that will keep you mentally, spiritually and emotionally healthy.  Learn how to separate between work, school and personal life. When you are doing an internship and classes at the same time, it can be hard to separate your social work life and your personal life. When you let your personal life be overtaken with social work, you will go crazy. You need to create some healthy boundaries between your c

For my chemical dependency class, I had a homework assignment of attending a open alcohol anonymous meeting. I was a little scared for this assignment. I don't have any family members who have struggled with substance abuse, so my exposure to this field is very limited. The reason I took this class was because I knew this was an area of social work I needed to be exposed to. I found a AA meeting in my local community and planned to go a meeting. I didn't know what to expect from a AA meeting. You know how some people make fun of the phrase, "Hi, I'm (insert name) and I'm a alcoholic". That is pretty much all I knew about these meetings. I was afraid that people would look at my weird for being a visitor. Would I disrupt the meeting? Would I feel like a outsider? Will they look at my as stupid for not being a consumer of alcohol? These were the majority of my thoughts before I even walked into the building. As I was walking into the building, a group memb

So, I haven't written in here for a long time. I thought I might write about recent events in my life. My winter break was fantastic and really long. I am not used to having a month long break so I didn't know what to do with myself. The first part of my break, right after finals, I spent way too much time watching Netflix. I would just lay there in my pajamas and enjoy doing nothing. When you are really busy, it is nice to do nothing at some point. After getting bored of doing nothing, my brother came home for Christmas time. We had lots of family time just talking, playing games and catching up. I experienced one of the most beautiful days in San Francisco. We went hiking in Marine County and looked over all the bay. It was absolutely stunning and brought a lot of new perspective. I love being outdoors because the perspective from nature reminds me of God's love for us. I had a friend from BYU visit for New Years Eve week. I have told her all about my hometown and