Creative legitimacy, Gravity questions, and a year in review

Hello! I've been lazy and busy. But I'm back, and I'm planning to be writing at least once a week. Some quick catch ups. I took a job at a fancy cycling center, and I helped plan their 2 year anniversary bash. I'm forcing myself to work out more, and I quit drinking by myself..woohoo progress. I currently have a life coach, and I have been working a lot hours between two jobs. I've traveled to DC, Chicago, and Miami. I dated a guy, and broke up with him. I went on a bad date with a random tinder dude afterwards. Elton got fixed. I've applied to event planning jobs in different states.

Okay so now that we all are on the same page, time to go to work! The three books I'm currently reading are The Defining Decade by Meg Jay PhD, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, and Designing your life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. All three of these books are amazing! They all are relevant to post college grads, each providing different perspectives and insights on how to get one's life in order.

The Defining Decade was recommended to me back in January (eek- it took me so long to buy this one) from a friend of a friend who loves Jen Sincero's books. The author, Meg Jay works with twenty somethings, and details the struggles they face. Each chapter has a narrative that shows a struggle and how it's resolved. These struggles represent the most common issues twenty somethings face such as work, love, and brain, body. This book illustrates many of the issues my generation is facing but no one (and I mean no one) is taking about it. The book also explains why no is addressing these issues, and gives an adult voice to a group of people who feel disregarded and confused. Overall, the Defining Decade helps twenty somethings make their twenties meaningful, impactful, and significant. Meg Jay does a great job illuminating problems and then explaining how to fix them.

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert is one of my new favorites. Not only is Elizabeth Gilbert's writing style seamless, but she writes about living a creative life. Many people who are creative struggle with calling themselves an artist, needing a permission slip to be creative, and feeling overwhelmed with the "lifestyle" that comes with being creative. Elizabeth Gilbert slashes myth after myth to arrive at the declaration that to be creative, one needs be creative. Simple decisions to live in your art, and to not focus on larger society's opinion. She defines creativity as a process of being inspired by a creative genius that comes and goes as s/he wants. Her reasoning for this ideology makes sense because it takes the pressure off the artist to be a genius, make world changing art, and to not feel the pressure and overwhelming sense of discouragement that comes with being creative. Big Magic is comprised of the four sections: Courage, Enchantment, Permission, and Persistence. More to come on this one as I keep reading it: Gilbert's book is helpful, witty, and inspiring.

Lastly, Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans describes how to change your life by changing the perspective of your problems. Burnett and Evans portray their perspective with the quote, "You are Here". "You are Here" reminds someone by using a design structure they will be able to move themselves forward. Both of these authors describe how many people focus on the wrong problem, other peoples' problems, or they feel stuck in their problem. The last problem is defined as Gravity problems that need to be evaluated, reflected upon, and then taking action to fix them. Although I have just started this book, it relates to Jen Sincero, Gabby Bernstein, and Mike Dooley's work a lot. The book has bold sections of false limiting beliefs and suggestions to reword them. In the first chapter the reader completes a gauge of their life broken down into the areas of play, work, love, and health. The book discusses the importance of mental health and spirituality.

Alright long paragraphs, no fun. With graduation around the corner, I have came to the conclusion that the first year out of college is crazy. You make friends, you lose friends. You start the unpaid internship that leads to the rest of your adult career. You try. You fail. You reflect. You grow. You have a career change. You lose weight. You gain weight. You get a kitten. You isolate yourself from the world. You become insecure. You slowly open back up. You date guys for the wrong reasons. You hide from the guy who could steal your heart. You break down at job that isn't your career. Multiple times. You read too many self help books. You stop and start eating healthy. You travel. You realize that success is subjective, and a meaningful life is more than making money.

If you have actually read the entirety of this blog post give yourself a compliment. This blog post is long and contains way too many topics. (Next time I'll just write more consistently).

Happy Graduation to OWU's class of 2018 and Happy Tuesday!