i haven't journaled or blogged in a LONG time and so much has happened. In an effort to put some of my thoughts and feelings about these past months into words, i wrote this post. most sentences are not complete and it's basically a brain dump for myself, but i felt like i needed to document a bit.
i started writing this at 12:54 AM on January 18th 2013.
i started writing this at 12:54 AM on January 18th 2013.
last week, i approached one of my best friends weston about running for student body president. it was a tuesday afternoon and the idea/question of him running had been gnawing at me for the weekend. i had an offer to run as a VP with another party, but i felt like i should look at other options. if he was going to run, i knew that was the ticket i wanted to be on. so i asked him. he said he had actually thought about it before (only briefly) but was uncertain because of other leadership roles that he has on campus. i told him to think it over and let me know. of course, i thought it would be another few days before i heard anything from him on the topic. to my surprise, that same tuesday night, he got back to me. his exact words were:
"so...i've been thinking. and i've decided, why not?"
i was excited and extremely nervous. why not?! i'm still not 100% how i'm feeling about the idea of running and you've just said, within hours of me asking you about it, WHY NOT? But then I thought about it. yeah. why not? the moment reminded me of one of my all time favorite movies 'we bought a zoo'. it only takes 20 seconds of insane courage.
the next few weeks became a whirlwind. the toughest part was finding people who were interested in running. it was a constant mixture of happy and disappointment--something i now realize was only the beginning of a roller coaster of emotions. we would move forward with something or someone and then hit a roadblock and move back a few steps.
but somehow, it worked out. and our party became IMPACT. we have a stellar team. a dream team, really. our vision is to help students make their mark at SUU and understand how they can impact their college experience and education.
meetings, meetings and more meetings. planning, planning and more planning. day after day. pretty sure i have every one of my party members on speed dial. more roadblocks. late night discussions. "productive" party meetings. seeking advice. ordering stickers, pens, chapstick and shirts.
president's day weekend seemed like the perfect weekend to whip out all of our wood signs we wanted to paint. oh how wrong we were. we probably put in a good 30+ painting hours on these 30 signs. it took another 2 weekends to finally finish all of them. alex has the pizza orders down to a science. we also learned the art of "stippling". basically, that is when you take a sponge brush with a little paint on it and dab the stencil with quick up and down motions. believe me, we are pro stipplers.
pictures to prove it:
the closer the campaign got, the more nervous i became. i also became doubtful. "what am i doing?!" "this is crazy!" were the constant phrases running through my brain. but, there were also the "i feel passionate about this." "i want to serve SUU students, i want to do this!" thoughts as well. this is where i relied heavily on my incredible support system of family, close friends and party members.
campaigning began, and WOW. that is where the whirlwind really began. 6 am to 11 pm almost every day. talking to more people than i can count. FREE FOOD! approaching students who could care less about voting and telling them about my vision and platform. exhausting. that's the word that comes to mind. not a day went by on the campaign when i didn't think about how completely outside of my comfort zone i felt. for someone who likes to stay behind the scenes, i felt like i was the lead in the play. hard, exciting, tiring, and emotional. but i had to keep reminding myself why i was doing this.
debate = ROUGH. low point in the campaign for sure. a word for future campaigners, make sure to eat at least something before you go up on stage to spend 2 hours being grilled with questions. if you don't eat, your brain might stop working an you'll feel like you want to faint.
people always asked me if i was nervous, and i was, but i knew that whatever was supposed to happen would happen.
the day of results quickly became one of the longest days of my life. i had become best friends with my IMPACT party people but the hard truth was that there was a big chance i wasn't going to be elected with all of them. and that's exactly how it worked out. winning and losing is always bittersweet. but it was especially for me that night. i took a leap of faith with people i respect and trust and grew to love and i wanted to be in office with all of them. what i realized that night is that attitude is everything. i was amazed and inspired by every candidate's class and grace. win or lose, we are all student leaders who want the best for this university.
this whole process has shaped my character and my confidence immensely.
i made some best and close friendships i wouldn't trade for anything.
and i learned that getting outside of my comfort zone is not always a bad thing. i learned the hard way that being kind is a lot better than speaking ill of others. i learned that god really does have a plan for me.
the next few weeks became a whirlwind. the toughest part was finding people who were interested in running. it was a constant mixture of happy and disappointment--something i now realize was only the beginning of a roller coaster of emotions. we would move forward with something or someone and then hit a roadblock and move back a few steps.
but somehow, it worked out. and our party became IMPACT. we have a stellar team. a dream team, really. our vision is to help students make their mark at SUU and understand how they can impact their college experience and education.
meetings, meetings and more meetings. planning, planning and more planning. day after day. pretty sure i have every one of my party members on speed dial. more roadblocks. late night discussions. "productive" party meetings. seeking advice. ordering stickers, pens, chapstick and shirts.
president's day weekend seemed like the perfect weekend to whip out all of our wood signs we wanted to paint. oh how wrong we were. we probably put in a good 30+ painting hours on these 30 signs. it took another 2 weekends to finally finish all of them. alex has the pizza orders down to a science. we also learned the art of "stippling". basically, that is when you take a sponge brush with a little paint on it and dab the stencil with quick up and down motions. believe me, we are pro stipplers.
pictures to prove it:
the closer the campaign got, the more nervous i became. i also became doubtful. "what am i doing?!" "this is crazy!" were the constant phrases running through my brain. but, there were also the "i feel passionate about this." "i want to serve SUU students, i want to do this!" thoughts as well. this is where i relied heavily on my incredible support system of family, close friends and party members.
campaigning began, and WOW. that is where the whirlwind really began. 6 am to 11 pm almost every day. talking to more people than i can count. FREE FOOD! approaching students who could care less about voting and telling them about my vision and platform. exhausting. that's the word that comes to mind. not a day went by on the campaign when i didn't think about how completely outside of my comfort zone i felt. for someone who likes to stay behind the scenes, i felt like i was the lead in the play. hard, exciting, tiring, and emotional. but i had to keep reminding myself why i was doing this.
"why not? why not now? why not me?"
people always asked me if i was nervous, and i was, but i knew that whatever was supposed to happen would happen.
the day of results quickly became one of the longest days of my life. i had become best friends with my IMPACT party people but the hard truth was that there was a big chance i wasn't going to be elected with all of them. and that's exactly how it worked out. winning and losing is always bittersweet. but it was especially for me that night. i took a leap of faith with people i respect and trust and grew to love and i wanted to be in office with all of them. what i realized that night is that attitude is everything. i was amazed and inspired by every candidate's class and grace. win or lose, we are all student leaders who want the best for this university.
 |
| never could have done it without the DREAM TEAM! |
this whole process has shaped my character and my confidence immensely.
i made some best and close friendships i wouldn't trade for anything.
and i learned that getting outside of my comfort zone is not always a bad thing. i learned the hard way that being kind is a lot better than speaking ill of others. i learned that god really does have a plan for me.
moral of the story: do things that scare you. terrify you, even. perhaps that is the best way to truly grow.
so, why not? why not try something that you've always wanted to do but you're too scared to do it. that's what these 2 months have taught me. and that's what i am continuing to learn on this new adventure as the incoming SUUSA VP of Academics.
