This year has truly been amazing! I have survived my first semester in college. I have learned a tremendous amount of insights. I have prayed, cried, and laughed. I never thought I had those many emotions. I have always had the personality of a non-crier. That name was truly broken. I had to cry about some things; at times, I think it was a coping mechanism. I have successfully made the transition from high school to college. I cannot believe that it is almost over. Now that I calmed down from the anxiety of college, I can say that my classes were not that challenging. As previously stated, my mind was clouded by the external factors, such as being away from home, living on my own, not having freedoms of driving, choosing what to eat, and resting. It seemed that once one major project or paper was complete another project was patiently awaiting my company. I remember the first weekend I had to write a blog. It took me hours. Although it was only 2000 words, I was not use to writing so much on one simply topic. I believe the blogs expanded my writing skills. I now know how to be personal, and bring in other aspects into a situation without confusing my reader. My writing was not horrible before this class it just was not great. There is always room for improvement. However, I am very satisfied for the practice I received. Weird enough, I continue to have problems reaching the 2000 word limit, but once I rethink of a way to attain that goal, I exceed the limit of 2000 words. I have learned an enormous amount of information about myself. I had always had a negative viewpoint of myself. As the individual, certain situations appear to be more challenging than others. Many people told me that I was doing well academically, and that I needed an outlet for a social life. Clearly, I did not hear nor understand their perspective, because I felt that I did not have time to hang out with my friends. I always had projects or assignments to complete. However, I took their word on taking a break and enjoying myself, and I found that it is possible. The stress that I normally had was lessened, which allowed situation to seem easier and carefree.
I was so glad to come home for Thanksgiving. It seemed like this was the only relief I would have, during the semester. I learned a couple of things while on my break. One of these insights is wait until the next day when classes are over to fly out of town, it’s cheaper. The second insight is home is never the same once you leave. This is a positive conclusion. I will pause, and explain the previous assertion. One waits anxiously to come home, during the semester. Once you finally are home, time flies, and your back at school. While on break the basic routine is eating, sleeping, and catching up with people who miss you. This is a great feeling, but realistically you do not ever hang out with everyone who desires your company. So then, you are left to visit them during the next break, Christmas. This holiday is spent with family as well. However there is a greater chance that you can mingle with your friends because the break is longer. Honestly, I am unsure about the entire situation. Speaking with several of my peers who traveled home for Thanksgiving, everyone wants the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, this cannot occur. The third insight is enjoy the break and recuperate for the last few weeks of school. I think I have done exactly that. It feels great.
This class has taught me a lot. Inventing a project that would change people was somewhat challenge. There really was not a problem with establishing a problem, it was more so trying to implement the change. I started with three issues, divorce, depression and stress. I narrowed my problem to stress and the transition from high school to college. I myself, became the lab rat. The information that I researched on stress, I tried to apply it to my life. I did this because I felt most of the problems that first time freshman experienced I felt personally. My plan worked. I am now, less stressed. I learned that if you did not do as well as you wanted the first time, for the second time do better. I met successfully with my group, although I never received help from the Wellness Center. At first, I was disappointed, but I learned how to make a bad situation into a good one. I made signs, passed a few handbills to students and impacted a few people. In the beginning of my project, I wanted to incorporate the entire community. I did not have the time, so I took the Xavier community into assessment. I reviewed the campus, to see if Xavier did everything possible to make the transition from high school to college smoother. In addition, I researched to see if the campus helped to lessen stress and provide a healthier atmosphere. The results were interesting. Although freshman orientation was designed to help the new students adjust to Xavier’s atmosphere, the peer deans were helpful for one week; after that week, no one every spoke to their peer deans. The freshman orientation classes are dreadful. They are helpful, but when one reviews their workload, the homework given from this class is ridiculous; no one wants to do it. I think the most ingenious assignment was writing resumes’. Other than that, the group projects were not great connectors. The purpose of these group projects was to unite our class, and network. The food in the cafeteria was not always healthy. Sometimes, the cafeteria would serve vegetables, but hardly anyone would eat them. To improve these little problems, I advised my group to by fruits and vegetables, take the longer way to class, and take vitamins to bust their energy.
Overall, my project was a success. It would have been nice if I had more time to meet with my group, but that is fine. The blogs were interesting. They made me think critically, which is often hard to do. I think I deserve an A on my blog. I have made a 2000 words each blog, and I adequately answer the questions. It was hard to reach 2000 words, but I learned how to insert poems and interesting facts. I think the blogs were a good idea, however the 2000 word limit should be decreased for the next class. The word limit should be a 1000. This should apply for assignments that are reflections, and correlations between readings and projects. This was a hard stretch to meet at times. Moreover, I deserve an letter grade of an A because, I influenced a couple people. I provided interesting information that will allow their college experience to be less stressful.
As this is one of the last blogs for the semester, I will close it with a excerpt from Your Best Life Now, by Joel Osteen.
“The second step to living your best life now is developing a healthy self-image. That means you must base your self-image on what God’s Word says about you, rather than on false, fickle standards such as what neighborhood you live in, the style of car you drive, or the opinions of power-lunch groups. How you see yourself and how you feel about yourself will have a tremendous impact on how far you go in life and whether or not you fulfill your destiny. The truth is, you will n3ever rise above the image you have of yourself in your own mind. What is you self-image? With the new interest in self-awareness these days, it is easy to become confused over terminology. Is my self-image the same thing as my self-esteem and self-concept? Although clinical psychologists enjoy parsing the slight differentiations in actual meanings, most people use the words self-image, self-esteem, self-concept, and self-worth interchangeably. That’s fine for our purposes.
Self-esteem, then, is that the deep-down feeling you have about yourself. It’s how you regard yourself, your opinion or judgment of your own value, the extent to which you think you matter in life. It’s the feeing that says, ‘I like myself’, or I dislike myself.’ Similarly, your self-image is much like a self-portrait, it is who and what you picture yourself to be. Interestingly, your self-image may or may not be an accurate reflection of who you really are, but it is how you perceive yourself to be. Who do you think you are?
Unquestionably, a healthy self-image is one of the key factors in the success and happiness of any individual. The reason your self-concept is so important is: You will probably speak, act, and react as the person you think you are. Psychologists have proved that you will most consistently perform in a manner that is in harmony with the image you have or yourself. Oh, sure, even with a negative self-concept, you may occasionally break out of the pattern and land a bid deal, win over a new friends, or belt a softball out of the park at the company picnic. Conversely, even those individuals with healthy self-images blow it from time to time. But usually, your mind will complete the picture you tell it to paint of yourself.
If you see yourself as unqualified, insignificant, unattractive, inferior, or inadequate, you will probably act in accordance with your thoughts. If your self-worth is low, you will imagine yourself as a born loser, a washout, unworthy of being loved and accepted. ‘I can never do anything right.’ ‘Why me?’ ‘I’ll never amount to anything.’ These are just a few of the phrases that dominate the conversations of a person with poor self-esteem. On the other hand, individuals who view themselves as God sees them are usually happy about who they are. They know that they have been created in God’s image and He has crowned them with tremendous honor. They feel good about themselves, because they known that God loves them and He feels good about them! They can honestly say, ‘thank you, Father, for creating me the way You did. I know that You have a purpose and a plan for me, and I’d rather be me than any other person on earth. You have promised that You have good things in store for me, and I can’t wait to discover them!’
Your self image-image is not a physical part of your body. It is more a subconscious ‘governor’ that controls your actions and performance. It function similar to the cruise control on a automobile. Once the cruise mechanism is set at 70 miles per hour, the car may speed up or slow down as it encounters different terrains, but the cruises control will always bring the vehicle back to the set speed. Similarly, when you exceed your expectations or go a little too far, your self-image pulls you back in line. If you fall below the setting, your self-image will pull you back up.
Where did you get your self esteem? Ironically, your current self-image may be the result of what other people have said about you, how your parents or peers regarded you, or it may stem from your own self-imposed images—portraits that you have painted of yourself in your own mind regarding your personality, your appearance, your abilities, or your accomplishments. Every person has an image of himself of herself. The question is, does your image of who you are line up correctly with who God says you are?
God wants us to have healthy, positive self-images, to se ourselves as priceless treasures. He wants us to feel good about ourselves. God knows we’re not perfect, that we all have faults and weaknesses; that we all make mistakes. But the good new is, God loves us anyway.
I share this excerpt because I raps up my entire project. I hope everyone enjoyed it.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 29th, 2004 at 10:01 am and is filed under Project Progress, Week 14: Grade. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.