AUTHENTICITY

One of my favorite pieces of advice that I offer to people before recruitment is to be your own level of excited. Not everyone is has a bubbly personality and that is okay! If you are not one of those girls and you go into recruitment acting bubbly, then you come across as fake because... well... you are faking it.

It wasn't long after I first started offering this advice that I realized that it transfers into real life. As you may know, I recently started a new job which is so exciting. It has taken a lot of getting used to and I am constantly learning as I go. I love that even though I'm not in school anymore I still get to learn. It wasn't too long after I started working that I was talking to a coworker. We were talking about summer vacation and how invigorating it is to have students gone for a few months. For a moment, I felt like I should agree with her, but honestly that wasn't how I felt. I love working with my students and having them around even if they are just randomly stopping by to say hello. I felt really weird admitting this because that isn't how I am supposed to feel, but it's true. I love having students around even in the summer and I miss them whenever I haven't seen them in a while.

The other day another one of my students forgot to turn in a form for an event. As I was running from my office to go to a meeting with another group, I felt frustrated, but then I realized I really wasn't frustrated. I was feeling that way because that is how I was "supposed" to feel in that situation.

Sometimes I feel like I am wiser since I am older, but it is realizations like this that make me feel good about my personal growth. I really think it all comes with getting older, but I made myself a promise the other day to not let another person's feelings impact my own. It is important to be authentic to your feelings no matter the situation.