Every once in a while, I have my moments when I get ridiculously upset over something completely stupid. It doesn't happen often, but when it does I get this feeling deep down like I'm ready to just break out into a temper tantrum. I try not to let other people see me when I'm in these abnormally bad moods, but usually I do let myself vent it out in private, take a breather, realize it was a stupid thing to get upset at in the first place, and move on.
Today, that little thing had to do with football. One of the playoff games that I REALLY want to watch (Broncos vs. Patriots) is on at the exact same time as my company's (belated) holiday party this coming Saturday. I've heard nothing but good things about this party in the past (not to mention the fact that it's held at the Ritz), but the fact that it was getting in the way of football time really ticked me off. And apparently I HAVE to go to this thing. Ugh. That just shows you something about my personality - I'd much rather be at home or at a sports bar watching football than at a party at the Ritz.
While I was steaming over the oppressive working world making me go to this party, I was basically letting my temper build up more and more. That way I could just get my venting session over with and move on, especially since I knew that I was getting far too upset over something so small. But just as I was working up to my boiling point, I saw something that struck me back to reality in an instant.
I went onto Facebook and was scrolling through my news feed when I saw something I didn't expect. Someone had posted a status that the son of the offensive coordinator for the Packers had gone missing yesterday...and his body was found today. I looked into the story further, and sure enough, Joe Philbin's 21-year-old son Michael was gone. Here I was worrying about not being able to watch a football game when the games were probably the last thing on the mind of a football professional.
I moved past my moment of pure insanity, but it was not through the short session of rage I had originally expected. It was through a solemn reminder of what true pain and anguish really is. A life lost too young, a son lost too soon. While it's ok to be excited and passionate about our sports teams, we need to remember that behind those sports teams are real people that suffer real tragedies - more than just the loss of a game.
My condolences go out to the Philbin family and they are all in my thoughts and prayers.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
A Little Bit, A Lot of Times
I must admit that this year I didn't exactly take the time to come up with any sort of New Year's resolution. But I just had a minor stroke of genius that could actually pass for a New Year's resolution, so I'm just going to go with it, even if it is a few days late.
One of my biggest flaws in life is that I can still be a bit of a slob, even at 22 years old. Despite living with my semi-OCD, sickiningly-organized father for my entire life, my bedroom usually still looks like it's placed in the middle of Tornado Alley getting hit by F5 storms on a daily basis. For most of the summer, I wasn't too concerned, thinking that I would eventually find the time to spend a whole day or two just attacking my room full force and getting it clean. After all, I'd done it several times before. Unfortunately, life in the real world turned out to be much busier than I expected, and those full days that I planned to dedicate entirely to cleaning my room never came.
Several people had suggested that I just clean a little bit at a time, but I continuously brushed them aside. All previous attempts to follow that method had failed miserably, and I figured it wasn't even worth trying again (not to mention the fact that I usually like to follow the "go big or go home" way of doing things). But with such a lack of time and such a big mess, I just had to admit that I had a long war ahead of me and that I would have to fight it a battle at a time.
The first battle was getting and keeping my floor clean. I needed space, so one day I just said, "Screw it. Even if I get nothing else done, I have to get my floor clean." I successfully finished in a relatively short period of time, and I continued to clear my floor for a few minutes each day. Recently, I started a separate project on my desk. Each night I've been grabbing a small stack of papers off my desk and sorting them into a box by my bed, keep and trash, before going to sleep. It only took about 10 minutes a night, and shocker, my desk is already much smaller. A little bit a lot of times is actually working!
So tonight, I realized that I don't just have to apply this method to cleaning my room. One of the biggest things that's been bothering me lately is that I haven't had time to write - blog or journal - and I'm far too much out of practice. So rather than spending tons of time on my long and verbose entries, I'm thinking I'll write more posts that are smaller (even though this one is beginning to drag on). I'm not sure how interesting or well-written they'll be at the beginning, but hopefully it won't take long before I get back into the swing of things and I can tell better stories again. I also plan on applying this to other fun things in my life like working out, reading, sorting pictures, etc etc. I can already see progress in all of them!
So as it turns out, no matter what you're trying to achieve, a little bit is always better than nothing - and it always seems to pay off! Still don't think it could ever work? I just rolled a bunch of coins that I had lying around the house and I'm ready to head to the bank!
One of my biggest flaws in life is that I can still be a bit of a slob, even at 22 years old. Despite living with my semi-OCD, sickiningly-organized father for my entire life, my bedroom usually still looks like it's placed in the middle of Tornado Alley getting hit by F5 storms on a daily basis. For most of the summer, I wasn't too concerned, thinking that I would eventually find the time to spend a whole day or two just attacking my room full force and getting it clean. After all, I'd done it several times before. Unfortunately, life in the real world turned out to be much busier than I expected, and those full days that I planned to dedicate entirely to cleaning my room never came.
Several people had suggested that I just clean a little bit at a time, but I continuously brushed them aside. All previous attempts to follow that method had failed miserably, and I figured it wasn't even worth trying again (not to mention the fact that I usually like to follow the "go big or go home" way of doing things). But with such a lack of time and such a big mess, I just had to admit that I had a long war ahead of me and that I would have to fight it a battle at a time.
The first battle was getting and keeping my floor clean. I needed space, so one day I just said, "Screw it. Even if I get nothing else done, I have to get my floor clean." I successfully finished in a relatively short period of time, and I continued to clear my floor for a few minutes each day. Recently, I started a separate project on my desk. Each night I've been grabbing a small stack of papers off my desk and sorting them into a box by my bed, keep and trash, before going to sleep. It only took about 10 minutes a night, and shocker, my desk is already much smaller. A little bit a lot of times is actually working!
So tonight, I realized that I don't just have to apply this method to cleaning my room. One of the biggest things that's been bothering me lately is that I haven't had time to write - blog or journal - and I'm far too much out of practice. So rather than spending tons of time on my long and verbose entries, I'm thinking I'll write more posts that are smaller (even though this one is beginning to drag on). I'm not sure how interesting or well-written they'll be at the beginning, but hopefully it won't take long before I get back into the swing of things and I can tell better stories again. I also plan on applying this to other fun things in my life like working out, reading, sorting pictures, etc etc. I can already see progress in all of them!
So as it turns out, no matter what you're trying to achieve, a little bit is always better than nothing - and it always seems to pay off! Still don't think it could ever work? I just rolled a bunch of coins that I had lying around the house and I'm ready to head to the bank!
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