creative visualization: a lesson in life and office space

Tara Stiles on WhoSay

Tara Stiles on WhoSay

regardless of whether tara stiles (one of my favorite yoga inspirations) is using it, i’ve been coveting an imac for some time. it just so happens that this setting (replete with the wooden furniture table, not so much the chairs) is something i have been building my intentions toward. building, as in, saving enough money to purchase my own home.

a life lesson at freshman year of college:

two weeks ago, i “treated” my freshmen students to something that most of them won’t be exposed to until they’re professionals in the workforce: an abbreviated version of a leadership workshop. (these are pieces i’ve taken away from a FranklinCovey workshop i attended this summer and a number of books on leadership and motivation.) a few of them groaned at pulling out sheets of looseleaf paper, but

“the sheet of looseleaf you’re ripping out can be one of the most important things you write on in the next four years. maybe, when you’re seniors, preparing for graduate school, finishing out internships, you’ll find this and see how much has changed and how much remains the same.”

i had them list and describe at least five core values and why they’re important to them.

then i had each of them stand up, identify and pair off with a classmate with whom they weren’t as familiar. 

“okay. it’s 2 years ago. you’re 16 years old. talk to each other about how your summer was (speak as if you really are 16). talk about what’s happening in your life, and what you’re looking forward to. you have 3 minutes.”

these things rarely last three minutes with adults, let alone teenagers. after i got them to stop, i had them

“act as if it’s ten years later. you’re 27 or 28. talk about how your summer was. pretend as if you are that age by envisioning what you think your life will look like (and want to look like). talk about your accomplishments, your goals, etc.”

my rationale, that they actualized, was that life had changed so much from 16 (when they were getting ready for junior year in high school) to 18. they could only imagine how much change 10 years would be. some were married. some were living a bicoastal lifestyle. some were CPAs at one of the “top-four” accounting firms. some had kids. a lot of them were so engrossed in their 28-year old adulthoods. “that was deep!”

i asked them to share their values (if they wanted) and if they feel as if each goal, and each decision abided by these values.

“our values are ideally the foundation of what drives our goals. and from then on, we make goals. and you got an idea of what you’d like life to be at 28. what happens after we set our goals are the decisions we make to veer ourselves towards the direction of those goals.”

 a few of them were pretty emotional, some teary-eyed. i think i got through some of them :). my last class is tomorrow. it will be bittersweet. i told them to email me whenever, and, if they remember me, to email me before graduation (in four-five years).

tying this back to the imac, i’ve been on this macbook for three years. i’ve certainly grown since then, and have soo many more responsibilities and roles. but i’m putting an extra price tag on it: a down payment for my own place.

I’m 25, now.

My old Tumblr bio!:

Deeply Superficial…Superficially Deep I watch Gossip Girl and probably own a menagerie’s worth of shoes. I like oatmeal and lentils, though not together. Karl Marx is probably one of my favorite reads, but you’ll find Star magazines properly situated next to the toilet in my apartment. I’ll have a master’s degree under my belt at the age of 22. It’s both revitalizing and heartbreaking to understand the pedagogical difficulties when Maslow’s hierarchy of needs has several voids in it.

If you ask me what my plans are, or invite me to do something this summer, I’ll respond with, “ideally, I’ll be out of the country.” 

I created this Tumblr when I was in the throes of contemplation, sitting in my apartment, and about to finish grad school. The world seemed incredibly open and, in that same vein, I was incredibly directionless. In the span of three months, I had taken the first steps in solidifying the future as I’d known it to be for the next few months: I researched ad nauseum and applied for the Peace Corps, then Teach for America (actually meeting with the recruitment director who was about to process me in), and then, with the blessing of my parents, I chose to teach in China instead. Phone interview already done, I was spending the summer working and taking Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) lessons.

Two years later and nothing is the same: I’m more rooted in New York City than I’ve ever been: I’m doing research, grant writing, and advocacy for a non-profit, I’m a mentor to a 8-year old girl through Big Brothers Big Sisters of NYC, and I’m teaching a freshman class on (yup, New York City and sociology) at my old university. 

I have a much clearer idea of who my friends are and what my values are. And more importantly, I’m totally embracing life as a journey, rather than a destination. (Or in my case 2 years ago, an escape :p)