The End of Week 1, of Year 2

The time has come and gone again when the campus has left its lovely state of silence for one full of chaotic excitement, jam-packed sidewalks, and sobbing parents. The empty rooms collecting dust all summer long are now settled in and re-stocked with young bodies and fresh minds seeking the never-ending quest for knowledge...and experimentation. Yes my friends, college move in weekend has come and gone again at Missouri State.

(Me in all my Maroon glory...TA-DA! *Horrible, Horrible Picture*)

As my supervisors for my previous 5 years in Residence Life have put it: "The two best times of the year are move in day and closing." I couldn't agree more. Despite the 5 AM alarm soundings seven days a week for roughly 3 weeks in a row, the feeling that it was no longer blood that coursed through my veins but coffee and sugar, and the countless hours of training, I still become a giddy ball of excitement when the doors open at 8:00 AM to let all the students return to their home-away-from-home. Equipped with my Maroon MSU polo, my shiny magnetic nametag, and my bundle of $20,000 keys around my neck (no joke here with the $$), I welcomed my new students to the Sunvilla/Dogwood community. In the same manner, I welcomed in the new academic year -- responsibilities, classes, and all.



So far things are going pretty well I'd like to think. I've been through a week of classes where I have already been assigned the equivalent of 10 chapters of homework. I've been through the very beginning of Apartment Association recruitment (i.e. Hall Council/Hall Government) and have received only 3 applications. And I have been through my first holiday on Area Coverage where I got paged 11 times in 39 hours for things such as broken elevators, lost keys, a severed pig's head left directly outside the front entrance to a building, a possible marijuana bust, and a resident who accidentally put an abundance of laundry detergent in her dishwasher. But, despite all of this and it only being a week into the year, I still think I have a much better handle on things, thus having an increasingly positive attitude. Let's hope I can keep this up!



I have to say that my Hall Staff this year is also a huge reason to why I'm so positive. Everyone seems so great and helpful! In Sunvilla/Dogwood alone, the new HD and RAs that I get to work directly with are astounding. We all seem to pretty much be on the same page with everything, eager to do well, open-minded, and so forth. All of these things make me feel like this year is going to be SO much better than the last.



But, just in case things don't go according to my plan of success, I found some rather helpful tips that I wanted to share with you all, and repeat to myself. I guess I would call them words of wisdom...

SEMRAD SAYS:

1. Every time you fall on your face and fail, if you learn something from it, you progress; if you don't, you go down the drain. You're all younger than you think--you have most of your failures yet to come in the future.


2. The only reason to make a mistake is to learn something from it. Otherwise it is a waste of time.


3. It takes a certain amount of time and exposure before you can make all the mistakes that are possible to be made.


4. You can have definite opinions only when you don't know anything about a subject.


5. The only fuel for learning is the sadness you feel from your mistakes. It's important not to waste this fuel.


6. One can get in the habit of not thinking as a defense, of not perceiving and not considering what are his perceptions and feelings about life, in order to avoid what is painful.


7. You can't win them all if you try; you can't win any of them if you don't.


8. Is there any other way to lean than the hard way?


9. You can tell people what you think, but they don't have to believe you.


10. Everyone is either sad, mad, or afraid.


11. Taking over is a 2-person proposition; someone has to want to, and someone has to allow it.


12. There is no human being who can resist a helping situation. They will always go there, like a fly to honey.


13. We must help others to acknowledge, bear, and put into prospective their feelings.


14. Go after what the person feels/needs and cannot do for themself. Help them to acknowledge what they cannot bear themself, and stay with them until they can stand it.


15. As a person in a helping role, it is your job to help others stand their pain/problems/consequences. This is directly contrary to the rest of the scientific/medical world's beliefs.


16. No confrontation is comfortable, because it involves dealing with strong emotions. Despite this, there is one comforting thought: Two people sharing in these emotions can bear it easier than one.


17. Stay with the person's thoughts/experiences/stories. Don't become seduced within your own mind. Stay in the now.