College is a crazy adjustment. You go from the top of the world as a senior in high school to the bottom of the barrel as a freshman in college. Your confidence is shaken. You have an identity crisis. You have incredible opportunities and pressure to take advantage of them all. It can be easy to get caught up in the stress of it all. But it is an adjustment. What do you have to do with an adjustment? Adjust to it (imagine that). I am using my current situation of college, but feel free to replace college with anything you would like: a new job, a lost job, a marriage, a divorce, a new pet fish. I don’t know your situation, but I bet this feeling of a fish out of water is relatable (pun intended, thank you very much).
I am famously a fighter of change. If you change the plans on me right after I went through all of the trouble looking up restaurants and picking out my order in advance and researching the cheapest travel plan, I will probably be a little hostile. I will try to maintain my composure, but I will be frustrated. That is my aversion to change. Well college (insert your situation here) is a big change. Yikes. What did I get myself into? I just thought I would share the marvels of my Monday morning last week that helped transform my fear of this experience into gratitude.
Of course, I planned out my entire day the day before. The first thing on the agenda was to get up early and go to the District of Columbia Public Schools office to get verified to be a volunteer. The building is a bit of a distance, but I didn’t want to pay for public transit. Instead, I put on my walking shoes. I planned to leave at 7:15 to make it to the office a little bit after they opened. Well, the me that woke up that morning didn’t like that time frame very much, so I didn’t end up leaving until 7:50. I knew that it would be fine to be a little later, and I started my trek.
Earbuds in and phone navigation on, I made my way through the streets of D.C. On my walk, I looked to my right and saw the White House. I kept walking to see large buildings and business people making their commutes to work. I saw homeless people hanging out in parks. I saw two cars almost get into an accident. I saw all of this while mouthing along to my favorite songs. Some of those sights weren’t necessarily positive, but I was happy to be able to experience the city. I was grateful to get some exercise in and see more of D.C.
Next thing I knew, I made it to the office, got in line and waited only a short amount of time. Another win. It was also interesting to see how the district office differed from mine back home. I even got to see a cute, little toddler accompanying his mother to get her verification as a volunteer. I sat in a comfortable seat and had a painless experience.
On my way down the elevator, I smiled at a stranger. I noticed that people on the first floor had wet drops on their clothes; it was the rain that the forecast put off. In my planning of the day, I looked up a café I wanted to try–about a thirty minute walk away. I packed my rain jacket before heading out that morning, so I put it on and decided to embrace the weather. Who can say they walked thirty minutes in the pouring rain, soaking through their rain jacket, and jamming out to some indie pop? Now I can. It was a bucket list experience. One that I didn’t even know I had on my list.
I made it to the place where the café was supposed to be, and it wasn’t there. I did some quick thinking on my feet and headed into the café across the street. My goal was to find a really good breakfast burrito that could satisfy my cravings for my favorite one back home. This unexpected café had me covered. I ate the most amazing burrito with fresh flavors. It was also cheap. A huge win!
I checked my email at the café to find out that I was awarded a free ticket to go see one of my favorite artists. Yay! Another great surprise.
Then I sat at the café, writing this post in appreciation of my long, soaking wet, and glorious morning. I felt grateful for the productivity. I was beyond grateful for my amazing breakfast. And I was happy to be there. Adjusting.
P.S.
I wrote this the other day, and I had a great realization about it today as I was reading You are a Badass, my self-help of the time. In it, Jen Sincero writes about the power of gratitude. Being appreciative for everything going on in your life, positive and negative, sends out light and love into the world. This positive energy returns to you in ways you wouldn’t expect. I was overwhelmed with gratitude on Monday and positive things kept jumping out of the little inconveniences. I challenge you to focus on the positives and gratitudes and see what manifests in your life. You might be surprised.
Faking It Made 