Finding Balance

As a college student I feel like I am always searching for balance in my busy life, and I know I am not alone. Many of my friends tell me about how they have to shift their schedules around because things come up that take priority over others. It is very difficult to keep that “perfectly consistent schedule” as a college student.  With so many goals and things to do all clashing at once, it becomes a challenge to keep calm and stay balanced. 

People who don’t know me quite as well say that I am pretty good with keeping my cool in pressured situations. Where as many of my closer friends tell me to calm down and quit freaking out about everything.  Slowly over the years here at Purdue, I have acquired the grand skills of multitasking and thinking quick on my feet.  Having these skills has helped me avoid stressing more than I need to, if at all.

I would have to say one of the most valuable lessons Purdue has taught me is finding my balance and getting through any challenge in a rational way. This was such a crucial lesson for me to learn as a young adult. I know it is so important in the professional world to keep a healthy balance of all priorities that arise and to handle them one by one in a methodical sense.  Purdue has made me aware of many valid realizations within society. 

When I graduate Purdue in a year, I know that the school has opened my eyes to cultural awareness as well as the many diverse majors made known to me by many good friends. This will translate into the professional world. Finding balance in life however, still remains the most important cognizance I have gained from this University thus far. 

The power of Teamwork

Fellow Visual Communications, Design students generally look out for one another, helping the other person when needed, and being honest when criticizing work. Being in Visual Communications Design here at Purdue has really helped me become a more valuable team player. In the major, we all experience high stress situations that force us to feel for one another and help each other out when needed. For instance, our professor surprised the class and I one day and had people come in from Purdue Convocations. My professor had not emailed or told us in advance that people from Convocations were coming. I scurried to print my designs and trim them down. As I trimmed one of my email designs down, my hand shook a bit, and I trimmed one side crooked. Nancy, who works at the monitor station where VCD and industrial design students print things, saw me make the mistake. She immediately took action and printed another copy. Nancy was in the earlier section of the same class that day, and she knew I was moving fast because of our unexpected guests. Once all my designs were printed, Nancy held down the paper for me in order to help trim more precisely and prevent another mistake. Without Nancy’s help I could have panicked further and been more stressed. It certainly would have made the trimming process more difficult without an extra set of hands working towards completing the same task.

Over the past couple of weeks in our web design class, we have been working on coding an HTML email on an event hosted by Purdue Convocations. We each got to choose an event from the Convocations page, which I was so excited to do. It was a nice change of pace, to be able to pick my own subject matter for the email. I chose Philip Glass, a piano prodigy, not only for his music and creative talent but to add something diverse to my portfolio. In the beginning stages, we just worked on tweaking the design elements of the email and layout. As the class progressed, we went forth with our chosen design. After choosing a final design, we got into the nitty gritty of how to code the HTML email. Our teacher taught us how to code it through drawings on the board, visuals, explanation, and trial and error. As a class, we had no choice but to come together to ask our professor and each other questions. We would often have to stop him and ask questions before he would continue to the next steps. As I asked my professor questions, I realized others would nod their heads, assuring me that they too were stuck on the same thing. Then, someone else would ask a question, and we would do the same. The slight head nod was encouragement of question asking. I learned just as much from other student's questions as I did from my own. With a more difficult topic, or any topic for that matter, learning really becomes a team effort.

There was another instance when as a class we were individually coding the same table our teacher chose for practice. Some of the class was stuck on making the colors exactly match the model table, while others were stuck on the alignment of the text or getting the right font in Dreamweaver. We all would communicate with each other from behind our computers helping to solve our different coding issues. Even in a classroom of design students, who are all visually inclined and similar thinkers, we still have our own individual strengths. This really came through when we were under a time crunch and needed to problem solve quickly. Teamwork is essential in the classroom and in the workplace. It contributes to a healthy bond with other people while gaining the most knowledge possible in a given situation.

My number-one go to when overcoming anxiety…aside from the gym

Every individual of course has their own ways of overcoming feelings of anxiety and enabling themselves once again to focus on the task at hand.  Last semester I had a large gap in between classes in which time I would often go over to my friend Jen’s house, who I’ve known since our freshman year.  We would usually sit and work on assignments, but there was one day in particular I remember when Jen, as any good friend does changed my perspective on something.  One of my classes last semester proved to be very difficult and caused me much anxiety and stress.  Jen saw that I was working on my project for this class during our allotted work times and noticed by the look on my face how frustrated and stuck I was.  I am never one to hide my facial expressions, so it is quite apparent when I am feeling off, which is something my friends all talk about.  I look at it as both a gift and a curse that my facial expressions come right through. It’s a gift because I physically cannot lie, and I am very honest with how I feel but a curse when people are sensitive to my reactions.  Jen, like all of my other friends became acquainted with my face making and was very in-tune to when I needed to calm down.  As I was stressing on my project, it took me a few minutes to come out of my cursing and storm of vulgar emotion to look up and realize that she was laughing at me.  At first I squinted my eyes at her with a smirk then she uttered something similar to: “Are you going to be alright over there?”  Above all else she got me to realize I was taking things to seriously and really need to “take a chill pill.” She insisted that I saved what I was doing and put my laptop away.  With some heavy breaths I did just that.  She turned on her TV to Netflix and put on one of my new favorite comedians Iliza Shlesinger.  Like an infant watching a mobile above a crib I was instantly locked in and completely distracted from all of my stress.  We sat there for the next hour busting at out laughs and losing track of the time.  I left Jen’s that day feeling much more relaxed and once again able to focus on classes and what needed to be done.  She reminded of my Granny Pearl’s number one cure for anything-laughter.  Laughter is known to release endorphins in the brain and instantly make people feel better.  The greatest friends one could ever hope for, I believe, are the ones who can completely flip our mood 180 in the blink of an eye, only to make us learn more about ourselves. 

How I Prioritize

I find that I can best prioritize when I draw things out on my whiteboard at home.  Being the visual person I am, creating a map of sorts really helps me out.  When creating my weekly “map," I categorize by each class and have a different shape for each class..circle for web design class, square for my Classics class etc.  Inside the shapes, I write as well as sketch the things I need to do and by what date.  By the end of the week, the map usually ends up a little jumbled but it still makes sense to me. 

A map or visual drawings may not help everyone to prioritize. I know many of my friends are super neat and have their schedules and to-dos written in what looks like perfect script in their neat little columns and every week looks about the same..it’s all in what works for you.  One of my friends is extremely organized with her white board. She is precise to the point that if I changed just one little letter or put a smile or something minute on her board, she would realize it within no time.  Of course it was fun messing with her while it lasted. 

Prioritizing with scheduling as well as with note taking is very important.  Some of us are highlighter people, some underline, or put shapes around certain key words, and some are doodlers, like myself.  When taking notes in class I prefer to sketch things out that are important. For me, sketching is the best way to get material to sink in. when I'm in a hurry, I can usually sketch something legible, but there are times I resort to different colored highlighters.

Finding the Fun

As we grow older every day it is so important that we find the fun in our lives through any activity.  So many things as we grow up become mandatory which always seems to make them less fun.  This is quite contrary to the days of recess and elementary school art class where the world was at our fingertips.  As children we have such a loose interpretation of what goes on around us, which is what made us so much fun when we were young.  We were not concerned with disturbing global news or what kind of grades we would get in school or what kind of job we would have waiting upon our college graduation. Were never afraid to say what we felt for fear of our reputations.  No absolutely not! As kids we enjoy the simple things and love the world around us that is so new and fresh.

With that said, it is so healthy that as young adults or any adult for that matter we find the fun in our lives from day to day no matter what task may be at hand.  I was in my web design class for visual communications design today and was trying to understand a concept for coding an ebook.  I didn’t understand right away when my professor had explained it so he re-explained by grabbing a piece of paper towel and excitedly wrapping it around a fellow student’s pencil case in order to better explain the concept.  Some students laughed and rolled their eyes as if he was being immature or something but I took a different view.  I greatly appreciated his enthusiasm as it kept it light and didn’t make me feel silly for not understanding; rather he joked around to take any tension off and make it okay.  His simple explanation that some other students felt was immature or foolish I loved and actually better understood the concept.  His explanation and how the class reacted to it got me thinking about youth and enjoying simple things that odd enough sometimes help us better understand. It amazed me that such a simple and fun explanation could be applied to something as mundane as coding.  By enjoying the simple things though, sometimes using them in demonstration and by not taking ourselves too seriously for fear of upholding some special reputation that we can have a true understanding of ourselves. It is so important we do not take ourselves too serious and that we bring out the inner child we all have because it is such a more colorful and fun way to navigate through life.

Get to Know the People Around You

In a university of over 40,000 students, it is so important to get acquainted with people in your classes.  Making friends in a variety of classes whether they’re classes for your major or not widens the range of friends you have. Having a wide range of friends opens your eyes to new perspectives and ideas.  Put yourself out there and talk to someone you don’t sit next to everyday.  Sophomore year I was in an astronomy class to fill my lab science core requirement for liberal arts.  I was thinking when I signed up for the class that it would be all about looking at pretty stars-but it was so much more.  There was a good amount of physics and some math involved with it, which really scared me because I never did well with physics or any kind of math.  I got to know people who sat around me in lecture and we ended up working together on every lab at the end of each week.  It just so happened that one of the four students in the group was biochemistry, another student was mechanical engineering, a theater major and myself-visual communications major.  When put together we worked really well because essentially we had two very analytical thinkers and two creative thinkers.  The labs consisted of some math and physics but also had drawings that needed to be done.  We would put our best effort forth but would fill in for one another’s weaknesses.  We learned a lot from one another by having people with a diverse skill set put together.  I ended up doing pretty well in the class but without this group of people joined together that would not normally be together I may not have done so well. 

My advice to any student at Purdue is to get to know the people around you. In particular, people you might not normally socialize with because likely they will have valuable ideas to offer just as you do.

Keeping Creative in a Structured Environment

With it being such a busy time of year I often find it healthy to take a break from working on things and go outside on a walk to get some fresh air.  I've always found this refreshes the mind and brings new ideas.  When there is so much to be done at this time of year it is sometimes difficult to come up with new ideas in a major that demands new ideas constantly-but with a change of scene, even if it's just for a half hour it gives me a fresh set of eyes and a new perspective.  I have found myself using this technique over and over again whether it's going to the gym to relieve some stress, drawing something of my choice or just soaking up some sun outside.  Taking a break from work is essential; it allows time to relieve stress and find new possibilities for work that may not have been found otherwise.

Here are my top 5 ways of relieving stress:

1) Cooking and eating a healthy meal

2) Drawing or painting something of choice that doesn't have to have an explanation or meaning

3) Working out at the gym or outside with TRX or yoga

4) Catching some rays of sun

5) Going on an outdoor adventure with friends

These methods will help give a creative boost and make a healthy alert mind.