What To Do If You Find A Lizard In Your Kitchen Sink...

If you're like me, sometimes you wake up in the mornings and find small creatures in your kitchen sink.  If you're not, I envy you.

This morning, as any of you who are friends with me know, I found a small lizard in my kitchen sink.  It was a monstrous 2 inches max in length and had beady eyes that resembled that of a beanie baby, except smaller.  Unfortunately I have this horrible phobia of any reptile that can move faster than me.  Mainly frogs, but I apparently am not good with lizards either.  I don't know what it is.  Just the sight of them near me is such a horrifying experience.  I start shaking and just have a strong urge to jump on top of things and scream (even though they can still get to me!!!).  Maybe it's just a "girly" thing or maybe I just have some sort of mental complex but it's awful.  I wouldn't wish it upon anyone.

So naturally, when I am faced with a problem that, yes I am terrified by, but I also find semi comical, I rant about it on social media.  Tweets...statuses...blog post... you name it.  Essentially though, that does nothing.  Except maybe provide you all with some laughs, I hope.

When I saw it at first, I really hoped it was just too early and I was imagining things.  That however was not the case.  So then I thought, "Okay, maybe I can trap it under a cup...and it'll just die."  I don't know how that was logical but maybe I was hoping for a heart attack or something.  Most people think trap under a cup then remove it from your house but I could barely stand the thought of just putting a cup on it.  My thought process was more like, "What if it was too fast and jumped on the cup and then onto me!?!??  That would NOT be okay."

Finally, I got up the courage to smash the cup over it.  It was trapped.  I couldn't feel it but it had to be there.  I had to go to class so I put the dish soap on top of it and left it so it couldn't escape.

I came home to realize I still had an issue to deal with.  After staring at the cup for a very long few minutes I decided to try and slip the dust pan under the cup and trap it and then I could finally get it outside.  But it was too fast!!!  It didn't stay in the cup and was back in the sink.  When I saw it I dropped the dust pan and cup and jumped back so it wouldn't touch me.

After this failure, I was at a loss.  There was no way I was getting the dust pan or cup back, and the stupid thing had shelter now.  After jumping up and down, screaming, and pacing around my kitchen, alone...There was only one thing left to do.  Call Mom.  Who, as expected, told me to trap it and throw it outside (anticlimactic I know.  I was really hoping she'd fly out and deal with this for me).

So, as you see, that just hasn't happened yet for me.  Fortunately the lizard can't seem to climb out of my sink because it's so slippery, and I really hope it stays that way.  I may be forced to evacuate my home if it escapes.  But on a brighter note, maintenance has been called, and they will get to laugh at me tomorrow when they arrive and see how tiny the thing is.  And I will blankly stare at them, from afar, until it is removed.

Clearly, I am not mature enough to live on my own.

What To Do When You're Stranded At The Airport

For starters I'd like to say I could be doing my Management homework, but I found this much more entertaining. 

So, what do you do when you're stuck in the airport?  Well luckily I've had quite some experience in this area so I'm basically an expert.  First, you will get off the plane and go over to the monitor.  You'll find your flight on the screen and look over to the right and see the word "CANCELLED" in all red or yellow or whatever lovely color they choose that day.  You'll check the monitor over and over, you'll check your flight number, but unfortunately...that really is your flight in red, and you really are stranded.  

Then you'll wander over to the gate attendant and be like, "Yo, why you have to cancel my flight?"  And then he'll be like, "Yo, I'm a pilot we don't do that."  Then you'll find the real gate attendant and they'll be like, "It wasn't me I swear!"  So you go through your options, see if there's a later flight and so on and so forth.  Sometimes you'll get to spend the night in the airport in the oh so luxurious gate chairs (they have improved I will say that), and then other times you have that unfortunate realization that you are in fact stuck, and there are no options for you.  That's when you catch yourself standing at the random gate you decided to stop and ask for help at and think to yourself, "Where do I go now?"

Usually the next option is to go and rent a car and drive to your destination.  Which, if you're as lucky as I am, you are not actually old enough to do.  After you are rejected from five different rental car companies you will begin to feel somewhat inadequate; helpless in a way.  You'll think to yourself, "If I can't rent a car, what can I do?"  You'll take this inadequate feeling out on your mother who swears that she can rent a car as a 20-yr old online, and just demand that she's wrong even though all she's trying to do is help.

Then you'll kind of snap out of it and begin contacting everyone you know in the state where you are currently stranded.  If you're as fortunate as I am, you will actually have friends to come and rescue you from this horrible spiral downward that could potentially lead to a night on the streets.  

After being rescued you'll probably wake up and remember you have no luggage.  Aka no belongings of any sort other than what you had on your back or in your purse the day before.  It truly is a humbling experience.  

All in all, if you don't have friends, or aren't above the meager age of 20, you're out of luck.  I guess you could get a hotel, but that just seems boring and lonely.  Not that sitting here and blogging isn't... 

The "I" Stage

In Human Development this semester we learned about Erikson's stages of Psychosocial development.  Not that it shows in the grade I made in the class, but I was very intrigued by these stages.  Erikson's theory said that from about ages 20 to 40 years old we are in a stage called Isolation vs Intimacy.  In this stage we are focused on how to overcome the fear of intimacy while hiding behind isolation.  We know it's easy and could be less painful if we keep our feelings isolated and not open up to others, but once we establish our identity we still have a desire to share ourselves with someone else.

Looking back at this stage I noticed that both of these words begin with the letter "I".  Being the over analytical person I am, it got me thinking.  This fear of rejection is really rather selfish?  Are we only pursuing things in regard for ourself?  What about the love we could bring to someone else?  Or the experience we could gain or provide for someone else, from something that might take us out of our comfort zone?

I think that it's important in this stage of life to pursue love, relationships, experiences, or our work for ourselves, but also to see what we can bring to the table for others.  We are afraid that society won't accept us, or that we'll end up alone, but really that fear only hurts us!

In this phase we need to be focused less on protecting ourselves and more on what we can bring to others.  Our career successes should benefit someone; whether it be our family or the world around us.  Our relationships should be strengthened by bringing out the best in ourselves as well as the other person we are in the relationship with.  And rejection, it will happen, but it should only grow us more.  Rejection should never be something we should fear, and fear should never be something to keep us from taking a chance on something that could change our lives forever.

"Everything In Moderation, Including Moderation"

We've all heard it, everyone preaches it, but who can say they really practice it?
Moderation.

It seems simple.  As long as we don't over indulge ourselves in one activity, food/drink, or individual we are practicing moderation... right?  Well yes, but it's much more complicated than that.  How often do we find ourselves obsessed with something?  Whether it's something new, some goal we are working toward, something we love, or someone we desire to be or be with all of the time, it's easy to let something that we are so fixated on consume us completely.

In my opinion, moderation starts with a list of priorities.  What are you going to give the most attention in your life?  Your work?  Your family?  Your faith?  Your friends?

Then you continue to work down from there.  But what happens when that new opportunity opens up at work and you have to stay all day and all night for the next 6 months and have to miss dinners with your family and friends or keeping in touch with the ones you care about?  Or when you have that favorite food or drink that you just cannot go a day without having but it really is hurting your body and keeping you from being in the shape you'd like to be in?  This is where moderation comes in.

It is important that we pursue our dream positions in our careers and that we enjoy the things we love in life, but we can't let these things exhaust us of all of our energy.  When it comes down to it, our careers or any materialistic item that we love or love to consume, won't do us any good when we're laying on our death bed (some of those things might even put us there).           

The list of priorities that I try my best to stick by goes like this:
      1.  My faith and God
      2.  Family and Friends/Relationships
      3.  My goals and dreams

That's not to say though, that I don't ever get distracted.  There are many times when I put my friends first and kind of forget about God, or even put my goals before my social life.  And sometimes we do have to make sacrifices, but it's important that we always have something that we keep as a priority.  As long as you have some general basis of morals or faith to guide you, I believe that having a healthy balance in the other of your life areas will come.  Of course, effort and discipline will always be necessary and something we need to be consciously applying, but as long as we don't forget the important, intangible things like love in relationships and faith in whatever it is we believe in, being able to balance and apply moderation in every other aspect of our lives will come.

So have that something you're passionate about.  Work for it.  Crush it.  But don't forget what really matters and who really matters.  Make sure that what you love doesn't take over who you are.  In the end, your accomplishments won't be worth it if you have no one to share them with, you won't be able to surround yourself by good people if you don't have a basic set of morals behind you, and after this world is all said and done, your faith/beliefs is all you've got.  If you can find a way to balance, prioritize, and use moderation in these areas, I think that is the key to being happy in life.  

1 Corinthians 9:25

  

"There's No Such Thing"

In John Mayer's song, No Such Thing, there is a line that states, "I just found out there's no such thing as the real world, Just a lie you've got to rise above."  When I was younger that line always confused me.  I was convinced there was a real world.  That was what Mom and Dad lived in right?  And all of those other adult people?   

Well just recently I've come up with a better understanding of this line.  I think Mayer is exactly right in that this whole concept of the real world really doesn't exist.  I mean to an extent, yes, life gets harder and we are steadily gaining more responsibility, but the actual concept that the real world is any different than the world we're currently living in is far from the truth.

Every move we make in any stage of life, effects our future.  When we're younger our parents have more control over what we do or take part in, but even then our parents' actions take part in how we will mature as an adult in this world.  Then in high school we have even more responsibility and control of our futures when we decide on a college and what we want to do in our futures.  

So to say that we don't actually enter the real world until after high school, when we get a job, or once we get married seems ridiculous to me.  I think starting out we do need guidance, and we are slowly eased into making our own decisions, but as far is our future is concerned, every step we take - whether we make it fully on our own or not - plays a role.  

As young adults (or really any one at any age) we can't wait until we enter this intangible real world to start living and pursuing our ambitions.  We can't stay inside the lines and wait for the real world and our future to come to us.  We have to work for it.  We have to dream of it.  We have to have a desire for it.  The real world is now.  We need to act like it.  

Home

If you asked me where I call home, I'm not exactly sure I could give you a straight answer.  Born in Mississippi, raised in Arizona, and now trying to make a home for myself in the great state of Texas, I have been fortunate enough to have multiple places that I can call home.

When I was just 5 years old I remember so vividly being told we were moving from Mississippi to Arizona.  I'm not really sure how - at that age - I had such a strong attachment to Mississippi, but I was not happy about leaving.  As I grew older  I made friends and realized that the move was not actually the worst thing that could have happened to me.  Don't get me wrong, I still to this day have tried to find ways to go back and stay connected to my southern roots in just about every way I possibly can, but what I've realized is that being able to feel at home in this many places is probably one of the best things that has ever happened to me.  

Living in all these places (yes, I know a solid 3 is just a ton) has taught me a lot about what it means to call a place home.  What I've learned is that home really is more than just a place.

Home isn't just that place, it's the memories you made in that place and the people you made them with.

Home is that group of people you can always come to that will always be excited to see you.

Home is that place you can go to and everything just goes right back to the way they were the last time you were there.

Home is that place you will always feel connected to no matter what changes you go through in life.

Home is really just more of a feeling.  More of a safety net.  I think having a place or places that you can call home is so important, but I also think it has been a huge part of my life to step out of that place. Staying connected to my roots, while still stepping out of my comfort zone has shaped me and allowed me to grow in so many ways.  I'm not sure exactly where my future home will be, but I do know I will always have my past homes to guide me in what to look for as I begin my adult life.  

Righteousness and Wrongness

All throughout high school I really didn't do much of anything wrong.  I never got a detention, didn't fail any classes, and definitely didn't do anything to get in trouble for on the weekends (except maybe try and get my 10:00 curfew changed a couple of times).  I mean I fought with my parents and got my phone taken away a couple of times, but really the only thing I was ever really seriously punished for was six-putting and in a way, that worked in my favor too!

Because I never did anything wrong though, I tended to judge people who did - or did what I thought was wrong.  When my closest friends started going off to college and doing these things that I was just so against, I judged them.  I told them to stop.  I told them I didn't know who they were anymore.  I basically was letting something that I was afraid of ruin our friendship.  Now let me just take a moment to say that my friends really weren't doing anything that crazy at all...Like I was uncomfortable with people going to parties, just cause I thought that just meant bad things.  It in fact, does not.

As I began my college career I was still skeptical on where I stood on some things.  My friends forgave me for harassing them to no end, but it was still up in the air as to what I really thought about this whole college thing.  What is right really?  And what makes something wrong?

Going through these past two years I have met so many people, who believe so many different things, and I have grown more than I could ever imagine possible in such a short period of time.  I've been amazed by how many different views of right and wrong there are, and how my own views have changed as well.  Essentially what I think I've learned is that, I don't really think anyone knows for sure how to define right and wrong.  Who are we to decide that anyways?  Not to say that we shouldn't have our own sets of morals and stay strong in our faith, but even still, who are we to judge?

My family are people I look up to so much as role models on how to model a Christian life, but I can't say I live it out perfectly.  I also can't say I agree %100 with everything they believe.  That's not what I think is important though.  What I think is important is that, as Christians (and I think most faiths in general), it is our job to be forgiving and loving to one another regardless of the circumstance.  Unconditional love.  That's what we're taught.  If someone I love is doing something I believe to be wrong I will undoubtedly let them know, but I will try and do so in a way that doesn't impose judgement, but instead provides assistance.  I'd expect anyone who loves me to do the same.  It's not an easy thing to do, and I've definitely failed in the past, but I guess what I'm trying to say is, right and wrong only matter to an extent.  Everyone will never agree on everything.  Not that we should surround ourselves by people who disagree with us on everything and have no morals, but I think there's a happy medium to be found.  By and large, I think it's our job to not let ourselves become caught up in the wrong, but also not to find ourselves becoming self-righteous in what we believe to be right.