I'd like to take a quick break from my regular programming to bring you another hodge-podge post in which I just throw out random links, features, quotes and tips. Take what you want and throw out the rest! A Personal Update: It's not quite the beach, but it's a start! Headed to Las Vegas, Baby
I'm writing this post at the San Francisco airport, en route to Las Vegas for what I already know will be an awesome weekend with 60+ bloggers for the second annual Bloggers in Sin City trip, organized by the fabulous Nicole Antoinette.
I wrote a post a while back called "The Blogger IS Real...But Even Better IRL" - I'm so excited for this trip because I love meeting fellow bloggers offline. Read Elisa's post, "How Blogging Got Me a Best Friend" for a great story how it brought the two of us together!
For a little insight into what I'm like when I'm not buried in my laptop, read the "Introducing Jenny" post from the BiSC blog, in which I talk about my love for dancing on stage. As Nicole joked in the comments (but is actually serious), "Advance warning: this trip will contain a lot of 'Oh yeah Jenny? THIS is life after college, huh?' references." What can I say? Fun is DEFINITELY part of life after college. So you better believe I'm going to be having some!
Awesome Reader Re-Connection: Interview at Brand-Yourself
Now this is a cool story. Katharine Hoffman, from Brand-Yourself.com, reached out a few weeks ago to interview me for their blog. I didn't realize until the post went up today that I actually coached her two years ago! In her intro she says, "Although she may not remember this, I had actually spoken to the fabulous Jenny Blake two years ago about my quarter-life crisis. Even though we only talked on the phone for about an hour, it was one of the best hours I had spent because she really gave me some great advice and inspiration on how to move forward."
Katharine was one of the earliest readers and commenters at Life After College (thanks for sticking around!), and it's just so amazing to reconnect (and know that I made even a small difference in her life). Click here to read the full interview, in which I talk about coaching, blogging, and dealing with the oh-so-lovely quarter-life crisis.
Introducing Molly Hoyne's Coaching Program - The Joy Equation
Speaking of coaching and navigating quarter-life crises (how on earth do you write that in plural form?!) - Molly Hoyne, the inspiring woman behind Stratejoy.com (which also has an awesome blog), recently re-launched her Joy Equation program. The Joy Equation is a 30-day guided program that helps you "tackle the quarter-life crisis, gain confidence in yourself and love your life." The best part? You pay what you can afford - there is no set cost. Learn more here.
A Heartfelt Thank You for the Amazing "Sandboxed Life" Replies (and some follow-up advice)
So many people reached out after my post on Monday with words of support an encouragement - thank you. It absolutely means the world to me. I hope they don't mind, but I wanted to share a few of their great words of wisdom for anyone else who finds themselves in a stressed or overwhelmed state:
- From David: "When you make room for yourself, you make room for other things/people in your life. Things/people that may actually help you relax more by doing less…which translates to less stress and more happiness. So remember to breathe.Some ways to put time back into your day:
- Keep social networking, e-mailing and blogging to a bare minimum.
- Surround yourself with people who energize you, but don’t try to compete with their energy.
- Find something, and/or someone, that calms you at the end of your day. You need to get your stress out and you need someone to lean on.
- Laugh more. Worry less. (And cuddle a Bulldog every night.)
- From Ryan: "We all have times where it seems too much, but it's within those times that you find that second gear, or you quit. Just like running your marathon, I'm sure you wanted to quit a few times in there, but you didn't, and you finished...The day we figure everything out is a sad day because that means we've stopped growing."
- From Eve: "Just be selfish. Take care of YOU, because no one else will. At the end of your life, you will not regret any of the choices you make, as long as you listen to what you know is right. And you do know what is right, you just may not know that you know it."
- From Alex: "I handle stress/panic in a few ways. I have two people I call... they are like my lifelines. I also know to stop doing whatever is making me anxious, take a walk or just get up and move around, chug a bunch of water and take deep breaths. Yoga has helped a lot. I also allow myself to feel anxious or upset in the moment. I don't hold in my emotions. This has taken my entire life to learn, but if I need to cry, I cry. Something so simple makes a huge difference."
- From my Dad: "Think of yourself like a great pyramid of Egypt with a very broad and strong foundation of love from many, many circles of family and friends. There may be a bit of a dust storm at the top of this magnificent, bold and strong structure but it is composed of thousands of blocks of solid achievement on many many levels and in many many realms."
- Thanks also to Stanley for reminding me about the 80/20 rule (for "ruthlessly cutting the fat"), Jason and Vidya for sending such helpful links, and to everyone else who reached out, commented, retweeted, or just sent brainwaves of happy thoughts!
Quote of the Week:
I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I subscribe to SIX daily quote newsletters. But they send out some gems from time-to-time that really get me thinking! This one is from Positive Quote of the Day:
"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." −Robert Brault
A Little Music for Your Weekend
If you like mash-up music (not just random catch-all blog posts), do yourself a favor and download Bootie's Best of 2009 CD (free). It's one of my favorite workout/dance CDs.
From time-to-time I also share random tunes I'm listening to on Blip.fm. It's another random Web 2.0 service I don't quite understand (Formspring, anyone?), but what the heck! If you're on there, add me :)