Focus on Me!

As I became acquainted with my new way of life and my new surroundings, I am learning it takes more out of me to stay focused. At the end of the day in high school, I would ride the bus home and I would be done for the day. None of the loud distractions from fellow classmates just the quite, known convenience of my house. At home the distractions were limited to TV and texting, but those are simple distractions to over come. The biggest change from high school to college would be in lifestyle. In high school I had limited distractions and parents to keep me on track, but not so much in college. In college there is unlimited distractions and there is virtually no escape from them; I can't go home everyday after class to concentrate, its just not realistic. I am proud to say that the longer I stay in college, my focus is becoming sharper. I am slowly learning the go to places to study and what times are best to study there. For instance the upstairs library is my go to spot when I need to crack down and really concentrate. The library is the perfect place for me to study because it is open till eleven on the weekdays and it is always quiet. My next go to place is the classrooms on the first floor of Centennial Hall. At night time when the classrooms are empty they are the perfect place to close the door, creating quiet study are with plenty of room to work. With time my knowledge of the campus is slowly growing and with time I am finding good studying patterns to follow. Perhaps the greatest realization that I have come to while being here on campus is that I need to focus on myself and my studies. Everyone loves to hang out and have a good time, but at the end of the day my grades are the ones that will reflect how much effort I put into my assignments. As I go further into my first semester, I study more than ever before and I am alone a lot more. My time alone has been beneficial because it allowed me time to think about my actions, and it allowed me to realize that in order for me to be a successful student I needed to focus and spend more time on my assignments. In the end I hope my focus continues to become sharper and more focused because I need to focus now more than ever.

Focus

Now I'm going to be honest with you here, at the beginning of college my focus was everywhere but my studies. How to make friends, who to hang out with, who to eat with, what to eat, should I stay up this late? All questions that ran through my head within the first weeks of school and they didn't help me academically. As I found my way and I found my social niche I realized that I was worrying for nothing and that my real focus needed to be on my grades. Since the beginning of school I concentrate more on my studies and my grades and less on the petty social aspects of my college experience. Focus and concentration are one within each other and can be very challenging for me to accomplish. As the days and weeks drag on here in college, my mind fills with a constant to do list that seems to be never ending. With my to do list continuing to grow and not enough hours in the day, I struggle with staying in the moment. I plan ahead my next evening or the next class of homework that needs to be finished instead of just cracking down and completing assignments. As a person who likes the see the big picture first before focusing on the minor details, focusing on the current task at hand can be a challenge for me. When I finally do decide to concentrate on the small details, I sometimes over think the simplicity of them. In my mind the big picture is this huge complex diagram, and when I brake it down into small details I tend to over think and expect the small details to be extremely difficult when in fact they normally are not. Living in the moment is something that comes and goes and at times I live in the moment and I didn't even realize it until after the moment is over. For instance it was a Wednesday evening and me and my friends were bored out of our minds. Instead of studying for a Frex's test that we all knew we would have in the morning we decided to run around Centennial Hall. We ran, did cart wheels, and had chair races down the hallways of the dorm. In this moment of fun all my thoughts and worries went away and I was truly living in the moment. After the chaos of the night died down, I realized that I still had a test to study for, but for the hour of fun I can truly say that I lived in the moment. To live in the moment means to block out all other distractions and to concentrate only on the task at hand.

The Go To

The go to player, the person the ball goes to when the game is on the line, the person that steps up when his or her team mates need them the most! This player usually knows his or her role and knows that when the game gets out of hand, they are the ones that are called upon to keep the game close and lead their team to victory. In many situations, I have found myself as the go to person and in other situations I have found myself looking at others to step up. What I have learned as the go to person is that you may not know what you are doing, you may be scared out of your mind, and you may even not want to be the person others look up to, but for some reason you are! There were times where I loathed being the it player on the basketball court, it was easier to just give the spot to someone else. What personally got me to step up in tough situations is the fact that I am super competitive and I don't want to lose! With my competitive spirit in full swing the fears and the concern of all eyes on me fade away, and the game just comes to me. My role as the go to person in basketball has helped me in numerous situations in life. For instance my role in my family life sometimes required me to be the so called go to person at home. Raised by my father, there were times where he couldn't always be there, so I was needed to fill the void. There were times where I had to step up in cooking, take my sister to school, the doctor appointments, and practices. There are also situations in school that required me to step up. Many times "group" projects would turn into individual projects. It would be easy to say I'm only doing my half, but the reality was no matter who did what the grade would rely on both parts of the project. So in situations as such, I sucked it up and did both parts of the project. My competitiveness in life translates to competitiveness in the classroom and in order to compete in the classroom you have to have good grades. Another situation of being the go to person in "group" projects is when no one including myself understands the project or task at hand. It is very easy to give in to defeat and wait for other people in the group to step up. Instead of waiting I would have to step up in these type of situations and go to the teacher for help so that my group could get the project done. Whether it be on or off the basketball court, my experiences in sports have better prepared me for tough situations in life.

People People Please!

People here, people there, people everywhere! Its like I can never escape people and the constant buzz of life around me here on campus! Don't get me wrong, I love being involved and mingling with people, but for a moment of peace and quite I would die for. Campus life is always up moving and never ending, just like the people that walk the sidewalks and fill the classrooms. In my short three weeks here on campus, I have meet just about every kind of personality. Ive meet the athletes, the partiers, the computer helpers, the studiers, the student worker, the country folks, the super senior, and much more. As I am making my way into the fourth week of school, I am learning who I want to be associated with and who I should stay away from. Whether I like it or not,the people I associate myself with tells people a lot about me and I want the impression of my friends and I to be good on people looking in from the outside. The partiers are the people that will be the most tempting to me and many other students throughout our years here at Texas Lutheran. It is very very tempting to say forget the homework, forget the classes, I'm going to party! The reality is that I can't afford to party; I can't afford going out on the weekends when I have time consuming class work that needs to be attended to. I can't afford going out on the weekends when I should be working on getting better grades in the classroom and getting better on the basketball court. As I navigate my way through my first semester, I am learning a lot about myself, like how the discipline that I once praised for earlier in life seems to be slowly fading away when I need it the most. My self disciple got me to where I am today in every aspect of my life: school, basketball, family. Up until this point in school I haven't been the most disciplined, but I see that changing. I see myself buckling down and focusing on the real reason why I am here, which is for school and basketball. So here's to finding our way through the fog and coming out better for it.

Goals into Realites

When ever I think of goals, my mind always wanders to sport related goals. It is easy for me to see myself playing basketball because I have been playing for the majority of my life, so it is fairly easy to come up with basketball related goals. When it comes to making personal and life goals, it is a little more difficult because I don't like looking deep into my life. In order to make a life related goal, that means I have to critically look at my life choices in order to make a good goal. For basketball, my goals are to work hard, get stronger & more disciplined, and to work my way up to a starting position this season. As for my life goals, I want to do my laundry this week, eat healthier, pray every night, and be a little smarter about my decision making. For basketball I knew my goals and did not have to think about them before I wrote them down. As for my life goals, I had to think a little harder, but in the end they are all things that I wish to accomplish in both the short run and the long run. For basketball, I know I have a ways to go and I know that I have to work harder than I am now to accomplish theses goals. My life goals will be somewhat of a challenge. Doing my laundry on a weekly basis and eating healthier are the easier of my two short-term goals and should be done with ease. As for praying and making smarter decisions, I need to start doing theses on a daily basis and work hard to keep up the good habits & lose the bad habits. By no means would I consider myself a religious person, but I believe that praying is a good habit to maintain and is something that I feel is important to my life& is lacking in my life currently. My smarter decisions will come along with the praying and with a stronger mental game. In order for me to make smarted decisions, I need to be more disciplined mentally. With all of my goals, my mental toughness comes in to play; the tougher I am the more my goals will become successful realities in the near future.

Back to School

Well August has come and gone and brought along college, new experiences,and September. As my first two weeks of classes and a new life come to a close there are many things to tell and share. First off, when everyone says, college is the time of your life they aren't lying! Two weeks in and I love Texas Lutheran so far. The small campus and classes, the wit of our teachers and their ability to freely teach in class, and lastly the welcoming feeling that continues to radiate throughout campus even after freshman orientation is long gone! As I sit here and reflect I notice the challenges that I have faced thus far and realize that they will only get more difficult. Between the work load of my classes and basketball I will have plenty to balance as I make my way through the first semester. The more I stay focused on my education, the better my chances are to do well in all of my classes. My classes are a pain, but interesting which I guess makes up for the challenge of the class. My teachers are refreshingly enthused about there subject and actually like teaching; who ever thought teachers may have enjoyed their jobs! With all seriousness though it is nice to see people passionate about their jobs and to actually care about what happens to the students around them which is a major difference from high school. I have yet to explore the entire campus, but I have learned my way around and with the help of a few upper class men I have learned a few shortcut to and from my classes! I almost went into shock when I learned of the shortcut going to Moody. Instead of going all the way around Tschope Hall, we could just cut in between it and the resident halls and walla I was at Moody in a fraction of the time! Its little things like this that blow freshman minds and make our first year of college unforgettable. As I continue my college experience here at Texas Lutheran, these short cuts will become important and will be crucial to my time here.