Give it a YEAR!

While driving, I tend to reflect on things to not only keep the road rage at bay (hey, I live in Dallas), but also because I believe constant reflection is important. Continually assessing yourself, how you fit into the world (your job, your family, your relationships) is so very important. It helps me stay grounded and also helps me to plan what new adventure I’d like to tackle next. While driving to work in horrible fog and rain that paralyzes Dallas drivers from not riding the break or going the speed limit, I thought about how much you can actually change within a year’s time. Now a year as you get older (haha, like me) seems like a very short time to be able to accomplish major life changes, but I feel as if a year is a good way to measure if you have been actually attempting to do something differently. 

The past year, for me, has changed in many different ways. I still work at the same company and I still do Industrial Organizational Psychology, but I feel that my job has changed ten-fold for the better. I’m continually learning and growing and taking on new tasks and challenges. Peer training has been an amazing experience for me. There was a point in the past year that I was very upset with my job, the role, everything about what I was doing. And then I looked around within my group and organization and thought, hey, maybe I can learn new things within my function. So, I reached out to anyone that would listen whether it was my boss, the head of my department, more senior coworkers or coworkers on my same level. Really I talked to anyone that would listen to why I was upset and how I wanted to grow. Since then, I’ve taken on so many varied tasks and am learning and developing myself much more in the past year than I have in the three years prior. I really took initiative and took control of my feelings of unhappiness and made the best of out the situation. Now, I couldn’t be happier. I feel as if I’m really progressing and really developing. In one year, going from wanting to quit this job and career path, to excelling in it. 

I talk about the next thing a lot, as it is one of my passions. Last year at this time, I made the decision that I will dance on a professional or semi-professional dance team. I knew I had no idea the ins and outs on how to accomplish that, who to reach out to, what I needed to be doing to train; none of it. And I went to audition after audition and was cut in the very first round. Each time, it hurt my heart, confidence and dream. I got to the point that I almost stopped auditioning for the fear of rejection yet again. I did get some help from several people who told me to just keep trying. That someone will see my potential and really help me to develop that. Since then, I’ve made the Texas Tornado Sirens who support the Texas Tornado Hockey team and have really grown as a professional dancer. I’m training for audition season again, and have so much more experience, insight and confidence. I also have a lot more resources that I know who to ask when I don’t have a clue on what to do. So, in one year I went from the girl who gets cut first round to being on a dance team. 

Since being on the dance team, I had to change my workout schedules and nutrition just to be able to support the demanding physical activity and schedule that I held. I started out auditioning for teams and feeling like all the other women around me were much more fit and healthy. I attempted to get there, but it is really a case of “you don’t know what you don’t know.” Since I gained access to great resources, I’ve not only increased my overall health, I’ve lost 18 pounds since September. I wasn’t a large girl to begin with, but I feel much more energized, active and just GOOD. That wasn’t even a year’s time and I look forward to seeing what becomes of my journey to accomplish a healthier lifestyle. 

The point of this entry is to point out that taking control and making the decision to change your life for the better can have AWESOME results within a short time (JUST A YEAR). I challenge each reader to go for something that they have been holding out on, or to make a bad thing in your life better by taking control of what you can take control of. Sometimes, that isn’t always possible, but trying and continually trying can have very unexpected and positive results. Give it a year!!