Archive for category Life
Life-Changing Experiences
I haven’t had very many life-changing experiences, which I suppose is obvious given the word “life-changing.” However, skydiving with my co-workers on July 11, definitely counts as one of those moments. When I think back on all of my adventures, across the world and back again, very few can be identified as events that altered my state of mind and being. In my opinion, the experiences that can be defined as life-changing encompass the following characteristics:
- Something that challenges you, whether it be physically, mentally or emotionally
- Changes the way you view yourself or the world around you
- Provides a rush of emotions: accomplishment, excitement, fear, etc.
What do you think defines a life-changing experience? Or, is it the very nature of these experiences that they cannot be defined by any number of qualifiers?
Have you had a life-changing experience? Multiple?
“Life changed after that jump…I’d suddenly stepped to the highest level of daring, a level above even that which airplane pilots could attain.”
– Charles Lindbergh (1902 – 1974), describing his first skydive
Mid-Year Goal Check
It’s hard to believe, but 2010 is near the half-way point. Just flew right by us. Seriously.
So, it’s time to check in on your list for the year. Whatever you choose to call them: goals, tasks, resolutions. Most people have some sort of a list of things to accomplish, a bucket-list of sorts.
How’s yours coming?
Taken straight from the right sidebar of my blog, here are mine as a reminder (and an update on where I’m at this June 21, 2010):
- Stop biting my nails. – I think I might be there. Hooray!!
- Read more. – Miserably failed thus far. I have two books waiting to be opened. Will start this weekend.
- Take more pictures. – Ehh… not bad. Now that it’s summer, I have more opportunity to get outside and shoot. Might need to change up the scenery a bit.
- Commit to exercise. — Decent. Not great, but a considerable effort has been made. And continues.
- Be a tourist in MSP. – Good. Hit up Rock the Garden this past weekend, and have more plans to see local sites including Minnehaha Falls, the Greenway (if I learn to ride a bike), art fairs, etc. Again, summer is the perfect season for this stuff.
- Build and grow relationships. – Of all my goals, I am genuinely pleased with my efforts here. On several occasions I have stepped outside my comfort zone, and fear of meeting new people, to meet up for impromptu happy hours with Meg Gerritson Canada, Kasey Skala and Lindsi Gish. I’ve got a long way to go, but this one is off and running.
How about you? What were your goals for this year? How far have you come in accomplishing them?
Pitch, please
A while back, I responded to a ProfNet query. Unlike the many times I have done this before, this time I was the expert. Me. Seriously?
Unfortunately, I didn’t hear anything back from the reporter – and I’m not surprised. I didn’t really sell myself. I failed to describe how I was the perfect source for this story. I didn’t convince myself that I should be the expert source, so no wonder she didn’t email me asking for more information.
What’s your WORD?
While on my vacation, I finally got around to reading Eat, Pray, Love. The book, as a whole was great – a wonderful example of writing about personal experiences and simply about self. However, I don’t want to write a review, especially since I am quite possibly one of the last people to have read this book. Instead, there was one small part of the book that I found to be very intriguing.
In conversation with one of the many characters the author comes across throughout her journeys, they discuss the idea of cities having one word. According to this individual: “Every city has a single word that defines it, that identifies with most people who live there… And if your personal word does not match the word of the city, then you don’t really belong there.”
The natural follow-up question to this idea is: What’s your word?
Is this a fluid concept? Does it change as you age, accomplish new things and meet new people?
At the moment, I think my word is BALANCE. Finding equilibrium is consistently on my mind. Work-life balance. Friends-family-fiance balance. Active-lazy. I also like to think this fits in well with Minneapolis-St. Paul. But, I could definitely see others having a different word for the Twin Cities.
What do you think? What’s your word? What’s the Twin Cities’ word?
Balancing Personal and Professional
Posted by Kristin in Life, Social Media on May 10, 2010
The concept of defining one’s identity online has been discussed endlessly. I’ve worked to develop my professional persona through Twitter and lately, my website. However, as I enter a new stage in my personal life, I feel the need to document and ultimately share these experiences with friends, family and anyone who is interested.
However, I fully acknowledge that my professional contacts and readers of my website (all seven of you, hello!) may not want to read about my struggles with wedding vendors, stresses of budgeting and ideas for cheap dates for poor newlyweds. So I decided I would be one of the many to venture into the world of multiple blogs. Yikes.
This blog will continue to allow me the freedom of posting about a variety of topics – ranging from first date etiquette (thank you Twitter!) and book reviews to PR tactics and mishandled crises. Everything directly related to my personal life, and my transition from single to engaged, and later to becoming a wife (gulp) will be housed on my new site.
As I work to build up content and adjust to maintaining two separate sites, I will be a contributing columnist on Just Judy Judy Judy. Thanks, in part, to a chat with Judy, I feel comfortable and am ready to be the owner of two separate identities online. Eventually, I will be moving to a brand spankin’ new website, but until then check me out at Little Miss Bride to Be.
Here’s the question: How do you balance your personal life with your professional image online? Do you use two separate identities? Or, do you take the opportunity to showcase you as a completely balanced person?
Need-to-knows: Eastern Europe
I just returned from an amazing vacation in Europe, where my family and I ventured to Berlin and Prague. I plan on posting my photos to my Flickr account and tossing up at least one additional blog post, but here is my quick recap of Prague (and a subsequent generalization for all of eastern Europe).
What you need to know about eastern Europe:
Sausage. Everywhere. And, it is delicious.
First Job Checklist
Earlier this afternoon, I gave a presentation to the University of St. Thomas PRSSA chapter. It was a great exercise for me, because as a young professional I often struggle with feeling inexperienced and “too young.” Throughout the process of preparing my presentation – and thanks to Arik Hanson for the idea – I decided I could speak to what I know, which is what to look for and expect in your first job out of college.
For this presentation, I also experimented with Prezi. While I found it a bit hard to get used to, I definitely think that with more practice it will become my favorite presentation tool. If nothing else, it definitely wins points over PowerPoint for being more visually interesting and engaging.
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About Me
Public relations and communications professional. Passionate about sports, photography, travel, friends and family. Minnesota native, looking for where life will take me next."In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary." --aaron rose