#10by25
- Brit
- Apr 23, 2020
- 7 min read
Unless you've made it a habit to live under a rock, I'm sure you're aware of the pandemic that currently has the world turned upside down. Writing is something that I've had my sights on for a long time, and I don't think there's ever been a better time to get my toes wet!
Hold up. I haven't even introduced myself yet!
I'm Brit. I live in Central PA and I've been a freshman English teacher for four years now. I'm a 2016 graduate of Penn State University, and I'm an avid traveler/cat slave. I'm a fan of the outdoors, anything literary, and making spaces beautiful!
My birthday is coming up early next month, and I'm turning 26! Another trip around the sun means that I'm officially older than a quarter century, and calls for capturing 10 things I've learned by 25. Enjoy!
10. #Goals
Look. I don't claim to be relaying some huge piece of knowledge that you don't already know here, but setting some goals for yourself is key in getting to where you want to be. For as long as I can remember, I've been someone that has set goals for myself, and it seems like many of them have been manifested in the blink of an eye. Setting a concrete goal for yourself--I'm talking old-fashioned pen and paper, dream board type stuff--gives you this visual thing that you can work towards.
For the longest time when I was younger, I had this goal of writing a novel by the time I was out of college. When I got to college, however, my goals began to revolve more around really dedicating my experience to success (which I defined as "good grades"). The goal of writing something sat on the backburner, and became something I only "wished" I could do.
A few months ago, after a few months of digesting the novel Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, I decided to set some goals for myself when it came to writing. Get so much finished by this date, have editing finished by this date, get a preliminary draft printed by this date, have some people read it by this date, edit/revise again by this date, send it off...You get the point.
Suddenly I've found myself with a book that is in its editing/revising stages, and I'm thinking about publication possibilities.
What you want IS possible, as long as you set your goals to meet along the way.
9. The Relationship Between Worth and Productivity
I'm a fan of productivity. I feel like I'm "lazy" if I don't accomplish a million things in a day, and I have a habit of letting it impact my mood. Although I'm still working on not letting this get to me in the moment, I've realized that what I accomplish in a single day has nothing to do with my worth.
We all need a good recharge day once in a while, and if that means a good Netflix/Hulu binge than so be it.
8. A Key to #Happiness
Happiness is in the traveling, not just the destination.
If you go your whole life thinking that you'll reach happiness "eventually", then you'll spend your entire life waiting. You'll continue to evolve, your idea of "happiness" will evolve with it, and you'll never get there. It's so important to consider the small beauties and victories in life, and to allow yourself to revel in them.
7. The Construct Called #Failure
The summer before I started college at Penn State, I began to work as a phlebotomist in a lab near my hometown. I was trained and began poking people for a living, and I can't tell you how often I was called a "vampire". I did this because I just KNEW that I wanted to be in the medical field, and I was planning to become a doctor of some sort.
Fast forward to about halfway through my freshman year at PSU.
I wasn't doing as well in my Chemistry class as I'd like (and mind you, I would've passed), and I began to have this huge revelation about my future. I was going to FAIL in the thing that I set my heart out to do, and I was devastated. There were many sob-filled phone calls to my parents and late nights spent thinking.
At this same time, I happened to be taking an Intro Creative Writing course, and I found that I could breathe easier when I was lost in writing my own things and critiquing the writing of others.
One day it hit me like a brick wall.
DUH, Brittany! You've loved reading and writing since you could, your favorite classes in high school were always English classes, and you had a secret dream of becoming an author one day. Why WOULDN'T you pursue something that you clearly love?
It was then that I decided to pursue secondary education and get my English cert.
I hadn't failed at all, I had simply given in to my TRUE interest. When I realized that, it was so easy to see all of the possibilities that were laid out in front of me, and I understood that my "failure" had simply been a lesson.
6. Prioritizing #Health
I'm not going to claim to understand what really set this off for me, but I will say that during my first year of college I began feeling...different.
I was depressed a majority of the time, and I chalked it up to being an only child away from home for the first time. I wasn't eating very well, and I constantly wanted to be at home (which was ~2 hours away). I was so relieved to return home for my first summer, and I knew that I'd "handle" things better the next year.
NOTHING CHANGED. In fact, throughout my years in college, things only got worse. I noticed that as I felt worse in my mind, my body seemed to follow. I was puffy and bloated, and I was losing hair. This time, I chalked it up to the stress that went along with my studies, student teaching, and the prospect of working in the real world.
I was lucky enough to find a job right out of college, and although I was proud of myself, the negative feelings continued. I remember going on a trip with my dad right after I graduated, and I was in pain the entire time we trekked around France and Switzerland. My feet were SWOLLEN, and I chalked it up to not exercising enough (you're welcome for the visual).
Fast forward another two years, and my long-time high school boyfriend, Daniel, proposed. We had a trip to Spain, Portugal, and France planned that year, and I was stoked. We were crazy enough to attempt the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, and our host had us running through the streets to make the mini run before the huge event started. We didn't want to start from the beginning, where the bulls are actually released, so we had to race to get to a location that was just before the arena. I remember trying to run along with them and the muscles in my leg literally making it impossible to move my quads quickly up the very shallow steps. It was in that moment that I decided to make an appointment with the doctor when I got back.
I did my research before my visit, and had a stinking suspicion that I had some sort of thyroid complication. My symptoms seemed to match every single one on the WebMD list. Within a week I had an appointment, a blood test, and a confirmation that I had VERY low thyroid levels.
I was put on a medication that was upped MANY times, and since that day I've had a HUGE reversal. The puffiness is gone, my hair is growing back, my mood is UP, and my feet didn't swell to the size of a watermelon on my honeymoon. #WINNING
Instead of just writing something off, GET A PROFESSIONAL opinion. I wasted years feeling like crap when I could've been living my best life the entire time! Prioritizing health is HUGE.
5. The Power of #VitaminD
This is a quick one. Whenever I'm feeling low or uninspired, getting out into nature and taking a walk in the sunshine INSTANTLY soothes my spirit. This is one of the reasons that I appreciate summer more and more as I get older.
4. In Friendships, Quality and not Quantity Counts
I've never been one to have a ton of friends, but I definitely used to have a larger crowd than I do now. I've learned as time goes on that having a few friends that lift you up means so much more than just having more people to talk to. Finding authentic, kind, and honest souls to be part of your circle is so important.
3. Life-long #Learning
Confession time! I'm a geek. I like learning, A LOT (which is one of the reasons I decided to become a teacher). This isn't something that I've learned recently, but something that being in the education field has really brought home for me. It's SO important to have a growth mindset, and to continue to seek out opportunities to learn.
2. Pursuing Your #Passion
So back to my story about pursuing my love of all things literary. When I was taking that first creative writing class in college, there was this deep feeling of connection that I wasn't getting in any of my other classes. This feeling of...Man! I really enjoy this and it doesn't really feel like I'm doing "schoolwork".
That's the moment that you need to make the decision, no matter how scary, to pursue the thing that makes you feel happy and fulfilled. There are too many people who feel that they HAVE to do one thing because that's what society tells them to do.
The truth is that you will shine brightest when you do the thing that makes you the happiest. Taking the leap and pursuing that thing might be terrifying, but it's worth it.
1. The Importance of International #Travel
I grew up/live in an area where there are many who haven't been out of the county, much less out of the country. It's understandable if international travel simply isn't possible for whatever reason, but if you are at all able to make this happen for yourself, DO IT.
Besides being able to appreciate the beauty of a place that is completely foreign to you, the growth that you can make as a person when you're outside of your comfort zone is IMMENSELY valuable.
I've been lucky to travel a lot during my life, and I've come to expect and appreciate some of the difficulties that inevitably come along with being in a new location (that might even include a language barrier). I've grown closer to family and as a person because of these--sometimes hilarious--situations, and it's so blissful to leave the rigidity that I realize I can create for myself when I'm at home and in a routine.
Seeing how other people eat, live, and play is something that's immensely valuable to any human. Through seeing and living a different culture, you realize that we're not so different after all.
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