From the beginning of WAIP until the end, there are several
constant themes that you will experience throughout the program. Be sure to
network, get plenty of sleep, we are going to have pizza tonight are among a
few phrases that fall under this category. But the one I think to be the most
overlooked is the idea of reflection. You have probably heard many times about
how wonderful reflection is, a true journey to the soul. There are many ways to
reflect. You can write a journal or a blog or sit in a quiet room and think. I
often find doing these sort of reflections to be helpful but also easy to cast
aside. How much time do I really have to write a journal entry? I feel like I
have to go through my whole day! Why write a blog if I feel that no one is
going to read my thoughts? Also, where is there a quiet place in the WAIP
house? That place is yet to be discovered.
All jokes aside, reflection can be
integrated in so many different ways, especially during your WAIP experience.
It serves as a way to think about all that you have accomplished and what you
wish to accomplish in the future. These reflections do not have to be
groundbreaking, however. It is always great to think about how you can grow as
a person but some of my reflections consisted of what meals I wanted to try
next. There are many portions of your WAIP experience that go into your full
narrative, including the meals. You do not want to head into the final week
with regret of all the things you have yet to accomplish. Quite frankly, you
should be entering the final week with the sense of accomplishment of
everything you have done and perhaps everything you would want to do again when
you come back. On the other hand, maybe you have already devised your hometown
check list to transfer your experiences from DC to exploring in a new light. I
know I’ve already created that list with going to get tacos at Condado at the
square top of it.
I talk about reflection as a daily
task for me. As I said before, sometimes it is difficult to integrate into a
busy lifestyle. However, I have found some more “non-traditional” ways that
make reflection for your WAIP experience that much easier:
Make your planner your journal
This point is dependent on how you plan
your day but considering that you are likely a very busy, driven person, you
are not foreign to a planner. I am a large proponent for using a written
calendar. I use a brand of planner called Passion Planner (100% recommend
purchasing one of them, you get can them on Amazon Prime or
www.passionplanner.com). I have to admit, prior to trying this calendar I was
horrible at keeping a planner. I would get one at the beginning of a new
calendar year or school year, all excited with my new colored markers to be
organized. Come week four, that planner would be left in a drawer and only
filled out periodically. Now, I cannot think of a day where I haven’t written
in my planner. I put everything in it. This planner shows my day hourly so I am
able to block of time for events that are going on. In each of these blocks of time,
I will use a pen to talk about all of the things I was doing during that block
of time. For instance, when I have a bunch of meetings at my GAO internship, I
would put them in their time slot in my highlighted block of time. This would
be helpful when someone would ask me what I did that week since I had it all
blocked out. I would even include projects or fun things that I did during the
day to remind myself later. Believe it or not, I will include times that I am
supposed to hang out with friends. In each week, there is a section for “Good
Things That Happened that Week.” I make it my mission to write at least one
thing positive that happened each day, filling the box. There are many times
that I will exceed the space of the box. That’s how you know you had a good
week.
By putting all of the positive things that
happened during your week, this frames how much you are able to accomplish. Studies
have shown that by thinking positively about the stress that we experience, our
bodies experience less of the negative effects and can even be more productive.
If you do not believe me, listen to this expert (https://www.ted.com/talks/kelly_mcgonigal_how_to_make_stress_your_friend).
I can recall a particularly stressful week this past semester that, when I
recall, does not cause me nearly the stress it did before because of how I
thought of the positive things that happened which outweighed the negative.
Even if you do not have a Passion Planner
such as mine, I challenge you to put one positive thing that happened that day
and what you did. After the end of each week, I generally do this on a Sunday,
go back and see what you were able to accomplish and how you spent your time.
If you find that you need to study a bit more for the upcoming weeks because
you were lacking one week, plan more time for studying in the new week. This
periodic reflection does not take much time and you are able to make more
milestone goals rather than larger, and often unattainable, goals.
Write
a list of all the positive things that happened that week
Grab a pad of paper from work because I
have another challenge for reflection if the planner thing does not quite work
(or if you just want to be extra reflective, whatever floats your boat). Heard
of bullet journaling? Yeah, I do not really understand it either. But this is
much easier than that. To start, find a habit that you do every day. If you are
someone who always spends time to eat breakfast in the morning, drink coffee,
do stretching, whatever, think of that habit. This is something that is already
ingrained in your everyday life and you associate certain times of the day with
that habit. Because of this ingrained routine, it makes it easier to start a
new habit. For instance, when I was in Middle School, I learned about a yoga
pose “you should do while you are brushing your teeth to improve your posture”.
So I did. I have to say, I had the best posture in high school (studying over a
desk in a dorm room has since ruined that posture; I am working on it though!).
After you pick said daily habit, make sure to have your notebook and pen ready.
I challenge you to start off by writing three positive things that happened
that day. If you have more, feel free to write all of them but never less than
three. Do this every day for a week. After your done, post the list of things
somewhere you refer to often. This could be a bathroom mirror, you planner,
your desk, even the ceiling. That way, you have things you can look at during
your other routines.
After you have been in this habit, start
thinking of a goal that you want to achieve. Say that for a semester, you want
to get a 4.0 GPA (hey, you can do it!). Write that at the top of each day and
write your three positive things as well as the three things you are going to
do that day to get closer to that goal. If you have a paper coming up (haha,
sound familiar?), then you should write that you need to work on your
introduction section today. Say you don’t follow your goal today, write it
again unti you finally accomplish it. You will see that perhaps you need to set
aside more time for the goals that you currently have in mind. You can do this
with personal goals as well but never sell yourself short. Only cross it off
when it is complete but also let it be complete.
Create
a playlist of all your favorite thoughtful songs
My favorite types of songs tend to be sad
songs even though I would consider myself a fairly happy person. However, a lot
of the sad songs I listen to make me think more or were songs that I used to
listen to in middle school and high school (times of lots of angst, I assure
you). I recommend making a playlist of songs that have good memories to them or
make you think. A few songs that I put on my playlist include “Miserable at
Best” by Mayday Parade, “How to Save a Life” by the Fray and “Remembering
Sunday” by All Time Low (I called it “But I’m Not Sad” on Spotify if you want
to take a listen). I’m not saying that these have to be on your playlist, but I
might suggest looking at these lyrics or giving each one a listen and see how
they make you feel. Then pick songs that make you feel reflective like these
songs do for me. Sure, there were times I may have been sad in the past listening
to these songs but it makes me realize that I was strong enough to overcome
them and be better for it now. It’s easy to zone out while you listen to music
but it creates an environment where the rest of the world may be a little shut
out so that you can think.
Go on
a walk around Capitol Hill
You have probably the best area to walk
around in the world. I have made a point to go walking around the Capitol Hill
area at least 4 times a week, generally in the morning or at night. It is a
really safe area with well-lit paths that go past some of the most magnificent
looking buildings and monuments. I’m someone who really enjoys walking, so I do
have to say that if you want to go to the Jefferson memorial and back to the
house, it will take you about 5.5 miles so keep that in mind (I walk decently
fast and this could easily take me 90 to 120 minutes). I found this a
particularly great time to reflect and relax because it is so quiet and you see
buildings full of history and glory around you. You can think about why we have
things like the Washington Monument or just enjoy its beauty with the lights
against it and a dark night sky as a backdrop. The area looks so different at
all points during the day so I definitely recommend mixing it up whenever you
can.
You are going to be constantly engaging
people from OSU alumni to your supervisor at your internship to even your
roommates. This allows you a chance to be a way from all of the craziness and
just…. well, be. I don’t even necessarily write down what I thought about when
I go on these walks but I find it would often influence what I would do the
next day. For instance, I went on a walk last night with my new playlist and
thought about all of the mentors that I have had. I thought back to my English
teacher in high school that transformed my writing. I thought about my tennis
coach, my friend who taught me to be a better public speaker, my parents, you
name it. I thought about how I would not be who I am today if it were not for
them. But then I also thought about how I cannot be who I want to be without
continuing to seek guidance, finding more mentors to teach me.
I got back to the house with a smile. Not
only did the endorphins of exercise make me feel happy, I was happy with the
people I had in my life to thank.
So although you will have many themes that will be your
driving force during WAIP, I could not emphasize the importance of reflection.
I can assure you that the most thoughtful, emotionally attuned individuals I
know are the ones who reflect daily, if not multiple times a day. It makes
getting through the noise of negativity far more bearable. Also, I might
recommend deleting the social media apps for a few days. Try to be more
productive with your time – read the news, read a book, work on your paper, make
your reflection list, anything but social media. It’ll be amazing how quickly
you will adjust to not having it. Hope you enjoyed this! I would love feedback to know if this
works for others.
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