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There is only one word to describe the Baha Mar resort in Nassau: magical. I hope when I go to heaven, that it will resemble this resort. From the lobby, to the rooms, to the pools, to the pristine beach, there wasn’t an “ugly” area to speak of. It felt like I was in an alternate reality during my 4-day stay with my mom and sister. So as not to forget our stay in this fantasy land, we took a TON of pictures. Every trip down to the ocean required a full on photoshoot, because how else would we remember such an incredible experience? After all, one of the best parts of vacation is all the Instagram posts you get to make (jk). On our first excursion down the beach, we immediately started snapping pics of each other. And we got some really great shots. A few of my favorite pics are from that first day (peep our Instagram to see these). But on the second day of our trip, our picture taking took a turn for the worse. The day in general started out a little rocky. We woke up with plans to meet with the concierge to discuss potential excursions for the week. By the end of our meeting, we had excursions planned for that day, the next day and the day after that! Four-wheeling, horseback riding and a trip to Blue Lagoon for a dolphin encounter. We were excited for all of these excursions, no doubt, but something felt off. Before our pickup time for four-wheeling, we decided to mosey down to the ocean for lunch. When we got down there, the sun was shining, blue water glistening and people were glowing, enjoying the gorgeous atmosphere. It didn’t take long for us to a reach a general consensus that we had no motivation to leave the resort. We quickly scurried up the path to the hotel and canceled 2/3 of our activities. Then we went to the room, put on our cute swimsuits and made our way back to the ocean. We staked out on some beach chairs and spent the next few hours playing in the water (and taking plenty of pics). We got some SUPER cute pics in the water, but toward the end of the day we were continuing our antics with not quite the best results. At one point my mom even got up in Diana’s face and took a pic so close that even Cindy Crawford would cringe if she was the victim. We all got back to the room that afternoon eager to post on social media. My mom announced she would be posting a collection of pics. When I peeped Facebook to see what she posted, my first reaction was to scream “MOM WHY DID YOU POST THAT???” Let’s just say she didn’t post the best pic of my sis (the up close one) and also posted one of me and my sister on the bed on our phones (I look drunk in it). I guess it was out in the open that we aren’t as glamorous as we look on our instagrams. Social media is a glossy version of people’s lives. So I was quite shook when the opposite was on Facebook. What are your thoughts on less-than-flattering pics on social media? Here is a very unflattering pic of possibly one of my fave memories from the trip – eating truffle parm fries and drinking and Bahamian beer. Pic gone wrong

Ahh, vacation.  Triangle Park’s highly anticipated trip to the Bahamas has come and gone.  We truly had a wonderful time.  Some of you may have seen pictures of how we spent our days. We were somewhat cocooned in the beautiful, brand new, Baha Mar Resort.  Actually, “somewhat” is an understatement.  We literally were cocooned on the grounds of Baha Mar…by choice.  It’s a downright spectacular enclave of restaurants, bars, pools, beaches, casinos, and high-end shops.  We were never without something to do, eat, or drink. It’s amazing how “pictures drive vacations” these days.  Back in the old days (haha), it was important to pack a camera just like it is in 2018, but the photographs, as I recall them, were not all consuming.  They were more like souvenirs, a take it or leave it, no big deal, option. Nowadays, vacation photo opportunities seemingly motivate and energize with incentives — the likes of which are “likes.”  But, what if a picture of you is unflattering?  What if it doesn’t show potential to satisfy the “likes” count that you might garner from an otherwise “great” (doctored?) shot.  Would you care?   Would you still post it? Getting older and watching myself fade away in the mirror is bad enough.  But, doing it publicly while watching my young, beautiful (if I do say so myself J) girls enjoy photogenic heaven, is the personal picture-pits.  (I love pictures and I love the game, but if you’re over 50, I’m going to assume you know what I’m talking about.) Solution:  Maintain an energetic sense of humor. One night while in Nassau, the three of us went out for a delicious dinner.  Sav and Dan looked spectacular.  As for me, I was feeling all of 56 and then some.  After dinner we walked around the grounds to take some pictures. As my co-tri-angles were posing in their usual youthful way, I accidentally clicked the reverse camera button.  Gasp!  What I saw was nothing short of flabbergasting.  I went from seeing two 20-somethings to…omg…who is that weird looking woman and why is she on my camera screen? Nobody is more sensitive to lousy shots than I am (it’s a long, painful, story :-). But, get this!  Right then and there, I decided to give myself a great, big grin, and go into selfie overdrive.  Sav and Dan had no idea what I was doing; they were posing away.  I snapped the selfie and it was every bit as wretched as I knew it would be (don’t you sometimes hope they’re not going to be as bad as you think?).  It was perfectly imperfect and I loved it!  I said, “who gives a manure?” Why do pictures have to be flawlessly, phony-baloney?  We all know we’re far from flawless.  In stories, characters with flaws that readers can identify with are the most beloved characters.  Why not in pictures too? Here’s the dreadful selfie.  I must confess, I edited it.  The shadows, highlights, and sunburn on my neck desperately needed adjusting, lest I die of insecurity illness. The three of us laughed our booties off at the whole spectacle. PLEASE, please, PLEASE, girls, have a sense of humor and publicly share the not-so-good photos too.  If people (and you) don’t “like” the imperfect shots, perhaps they don’t sincerely like you. And, worse than that, perhaps they don’t have a sense of humor. Thanks for reading everyone!  Love, Shelley http://triangleparkatl.com/savanna-blog/2018/5/30/bahama-mama-picture-drama http://triangleparkatl.com/diana-blog/2018/5/30/toxic-pictures Also, I’m thrilled to mention that a story I wrote was chosen as a winner in the 2018 Bristol, England, Flash Fiction Walk, contest.  It will be read by an actor at a Bristol festival on June 16.  Here it is if you’d like to read it:

Remember the “no phone” rule in high school? At the time it annoyed me so very much. If one of my teachers would turn around during a lesson and I could tell they would be standing at the whiteboard for a couple minutes, I’d sneakily pull my backpack onto my lap and slip out my phone. Somehow, I mastered the art of looking at my phone while my eyes were on the whiteboard, but that’s another story. How to Break Up with Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life By Catherine Price This was such a bad habit for me, that even today, I catch myself peeping my phone while it’s in my purse out of fear that someone will “catch” me on it. There is currently no one in my life monitoring my cell phone usage. I am an adult, after all. But a few months ago, I had an epiphany. I waste a TON of time on my phone. This isn’t groundbreaking news. Everyone knows phones can be massive time-wasters. But when I really thought about the amount of time I was spending on my phone, I was stunned. It was taking away so much valuable time that could be spent working, engaging friends, taking care of myself, etc. I knew I had to do something, so I decided to take a baby step: leaving my phone in my purse at work. This helped a little. But not enough. An hour would go by and I would start to feel an itch. An itch to see the latest Instagram post or text from my sister. So, I would pull it out and waste 5 minutes doing literally nothing. I knew I had to take a more drastic measure. I challenged myself to leave my phone in my car (secure and out of sight) during work hours. The first day was tough. I didn’t know how to take a “break” from work without my phone. But as the week wore on it became easier and easier. And I still check my phone at lunch. At this point, I hardly even think about my phone. Sometimes I get in my car to leave for the day, and I don’t even open the consul to check my phone because I have forgotten all about it! You may be wondering how I stay in touch with people during the day. And what if an emergency happened and I wasn’t reachable? The answer is G-Chat and email. I make sure to tell my closest friends and family about my new habit and let them know I am reachable on the computer. If you have trouble focusing in school or at work, I highly recommend leaving your phone somewhere out of reach for at least a few hours a day. It’ll be hard at first, but eventually you will forget all about it. Checking my phone instead of enjoying the event I was attending in 2017.

Hearing and reading about how excited my mom and sister are for the Bahamas has me reminiscing about my summer exactly a year ago. I spent last summer studying abroad in France, while traveling on the weekends. It was an absolutely incredible experience that I am ever grateful to my parents for, but with the good came quite a bit of bad. Things are bound to go wrong on vacation, and I’ve discovered a couple key things that help everything go smoothly and prevent disaster from striking: 1.     Portable charger. So many times when I was traveling I would find myself on a train or in a station for hours, without an outlet or charger, and my phone battery slowly dying. Having a portable charger helped avoid some big catastrophes, like missing a train, losing a friend, and getting lost. 2.     Cross-body purse. An absolute MUST when travelling, and honestly in everyday life. It keeps your wallet, passport, and phone extremely close and greatly reduces the chance of someone grabbing your purse off of your shoulder or someone pick-pocketing you. 3.     Reusable water bottle. My parents deem reusable water bottles a “millennial thing”, but they are essential in my everyday life, and when I’m travelling. Airports, train stations, colleges, malls, parks, literally everywhere all around the world has stations to fill up water bottles. Buying plastic bottles over and over again not only wastes money, but is bad for the environment. 4.     Checklist. Whether this be in your head, on your phone, or on a piece of paper, it’s utterly important to stay organized. I constantly run through my head, making sure I have my phone, wallet, and passport wherever I am. I always keep a checklist for what I’m packing, both on the plane and checked, so I know where everything is. I am so excited to go to the Bahamas in a week, and am even more excited to write about it. I hope these tips help you, whether you’re going on a road trip or halfway across the world!

The Tri-angles are going to the Bahamas.  It’s been 36 years since I’ve been there.  The girls have never been.  Jeff opted out on this one.  Excess travel and not desiring a hot(ter), humid, climate are keeping home.  What his absence means is…girls gone wild.  Well, maybe not, but you neeevverrr know. I gotta say, Savanna is a lot like me http://triangleparkatl.com/savanna-blog in that I’m in ward-robe planning over-drive: ·        Sparkly, rhinestone, sandals;  check ·        Classy Beach dress; check ·        Hats and visors with adequate coverage; check ·        Bathing suit with adequate coverage (ugh – this category is just not fair.  Diana and Savanna are in their 20s…I’m in my 50s for crying out loud.  I will properly hate them during the bathing suit hours.)  NOT CHECKED YET ·        Evening dresses; check ·        Shorts; check ·        Sunscreen; double check I hesitated slightly while planning this trip.  I booked the hotel, bu air travel details slowed me down:  Do I really want to travel to a party destination with 20-somethings?  Do I really want to get in a bathing suit with my husband 1,000 miles away?  Not really!  But, before I knew it, Savanna had the tickets wrapped up.  She’d even got me on board to swim with the pigs! Bahamas here we come!  We’re high as the sky with excitement. Off Point: Do you, or someone you know, want to lose weight?  I sell Anovite Colostrum6 — It’s AMAZING.  I inadvertently ordered inventory of LepiTrim6 Vanilla Shake (860 grams) and LepiTrim Daytime Capsules (180 count).  If you google it, it is not the Immune Tree product, it’s from Anovite (photo below). Wholesale price: Capsules:               $ 42.00 Vanilla Shake:          40.00 I have never taken LepiTrim, but know someone who does take it with great results.  If you would like to know more about it, please email me:  shelleysweeney@rocketmail.com or visit my website:  https://10618.anovite.com/ Check out my reviews on Ebay.   https://www.ebay.com/usr/shellsween And also on Fiverr:  https://www.fiverr.com/shellsween Thank you to everyone who visits and reads blogs at Triangle Park.  Happy Mother’s Day to all MOMMIES!

Aruba, Jamaica, ooo I wanna take ya. No need to take me to either of those places because I’ve already been to both. And quite enjoyed them. I am working my way down the list of locations in that famous song and will be going to the BAHAMAS in two short weeks. I’ll be travelling with my mom and sister, staying at the SLS in the new Baha Mar development. I’ve been stalking their Instagram and the resort looks dreamy. While I look forward to the fruity drinks, clear water and great weather, I am especially looking forward to all the outfits I am going to wear. Isn’t that the point of travelling? Having an excuse to buy new clothes and look fabulous in a foreign town? The moment we booked the trip, I began to furiously online shop, imagining myself in a plethora of scenarios. What will my airport outfit be? What will I change into when we get lunch upon arrival? How many trendy one-pieces is too many to take? I wonder if 3 hats can fit in my tiny suitcase? Once I am hit with the travel shopping bug, I don’t stop obsessing until we are wheels-up off the tarmac. All of this doesn’t necessarily involve buying new clothes. It can be just as fun to “shop your closet” and come up with fun outfit combos that you wouldn’t usually wear at home. While most people my generation travel for the Instagram post, I pretty much travel for the fashion. In addition to all the outfits I am looking forward to, I also really want to try to swim with the pigs in Exuma. Imagine the outfit possibilities! I think this is quite hard to do, but I hope to report back soon with some awesome picture of myself in a chic red bikini kissing free-roaming pigs in crystal clear water. Savanna

Finals week is over, which means that sophomore year is over, which means that I have moved home for the summer to intern and take a couple classes. That means the stress of the previous semester is finally over, right? Wrong. The several days after your final exams, before your letter grades are released, can be full of some of the most anxiety-ridden hours. If you’re on the line between letter grades, or simply don’t know where you stand in a class, you have experienced the stress, pit in your stomach, and frantic attempts to distract yourself. Having worked hard all semester to receive a simple letter that you may not be satisfied with can make you question everything from your major to your college to your entire future. I am a strong believer in that someone’s intelligence, let alone their self-worth, is not entirely determined by their grades. But you cannot deny that your academic performance can play a huge part in your quality of job (or lack thereof), graduate school, and overall opportunities that may or may not present themselves. So getting a “bad grade” can be difficult, but it’s far from the end of the world. If you find yourself having taken your final and stressing like crazy, here are a couple things you can do: 1.     Email your professor. They aren’t as heartless and apathetic as they sometimes pretend to be. If you took a final and are genuinely concerned, email them and ask if there is anything you can do. Best case, they may give you a small assignment to bump you up a letter grade. Worst case, they say there’s nothing you can do. 2.     If you talk to your professor, and they say the latter, talk to your academic advisor. It is their literal job to talk to you and give you advice. They can help you talk to your professor, give advice for how to move forward, and help you in the future when it isn’t too late. 3.     If none of the above work, just expect the worst and trust yourself. You may surprise yourself, and end up in a better position than you thought. 4.     If you have received your grades and it isn’t what you wanted, accept it. At this point, there is nothing you can do except better prepare yourself in the future. Now would be the time to make a plan for the next semester and motivate yourself to try harder, plan better, and be more proactive. Now may not have been your time, but you can only go up from here. This week, some people may be sharing their grades with you or posting their transcripts on social media (which I find utterly absurd, and something I could delve into for a whole other blog). The best thing you can do is not compare yourself to other people. It is unproductive and will not give an accurate representation of your character and skills. Starting this week, Triangle Park is going to become more collaborative and cohesive. Each week, we’re going to pick a theme, phrase, or idea to prompt our blogs, and see how each generation approaches it. Tune in next week to see what we’ll be delving into! xoxo

I wish I had been born a princess. But I was not. How sad. Ever since the age of three I have been obsessed with dressing up. Princesses get to dress up every day so seems like I would be a perfect fit for the job. Again, how sad. I remember as a child putting on leotards, tutus, gloves, scarves, fake pearls and plastic heels. Then I would clunk across the hardwoods of my childhood home until I got to the TV and stare at Disney princess VHS tapes for hours. My obsession with dressing up has not wavered in the last 23 years. The only thing that has changed is my taste. I am no longer satisfied by $10 costume pieces from Toys R’ Us. Now I like the finer things in life. Unfortunately, my salary doesn’t warrant purchasing the finer things in life quite yet. Enter Rent the Runway. Rent the Runway has truly fulfilled all of my dress-up fantasies. I was first introduced to RTR when I was working for a small PR firm in Atlanta. My boss asked me to attend an event on his behalf so I could write a column the following week. I mingled among hundreds of gorgeous dresses and sipped on Diet Coke. When it was time to go, I was given a swag bag with fashion tape, a sticky bra and a $100 gift card. At this stage of my life, I was not yet attending black tie events. The soonest I would need a dress was for a trip to Puerto Rico with one of my girlfriends a couple weeks later. In between classes and work the next couple weeks, I browsed the “vacation” section of RTR – which is full of casual dresses perfect for a day in the sun. After lots of casual browsing I was dead set on a red Halston Heritage number. Perfect for a night out in Puerto Rico. It was only $30 to rent so I decided to tack on a casual Missoni dress for good measure. I cannot even describe how fun it was to wear these designer dresses while on vacation. And for FREE. The rest is history and I have been using RTR for nearly every event I attend. I do have to warn you the experience is not always perfect. I’ve had some mishaps including dresses that didn’t deliver due to a snow storm and even a last-minute email telling me my dress wouldn’t be available the night before a NYC gala. But somehow RTR redeemed themselves after every incident. I highly recommend having your dresses deliver at least 2 days before your event. You need enough time to decide if it’s right for your body and also to accessorize. There’s nothing worse than throwing on a new dress right before an event and not having a single pair of earrings or shoes to match. I understand that some people are scared of using RTR. To them, the risk and expense is just not worth it. But for a dress-up addict like myself, the drama and risk is SO worth it. What could possibly be better than wearing a flowy Badgley Mishcka gown that I could otherwise only afford if I skipped rent for a month? Some of my fave RTR looks: Cynthia Rowley for a holiday party. Badgley Mischka at a charity gala Haute Hippie for a wedding (one of my faves) Badgley Mischka for a wedding

By the time this blog is posted, I would have taken three of my finals, and will have two more to go. In fact, this will be posted in between an 8AM and 6PM exam, so I will either be cramming or napping, depending on the mood of the day. For better and for worse, my most difficult tests are towards to end of finals week, which allows ample time for both preparation and anxiety. Hours and hours of studying can quickly reduce to redundancy and unproductiveness, so I am taking a break and pouring some brain power into five small tips to help when you are in the middle of the storm during finals week: 1.     Plan. Know well in advance when and where your finals are, and plan your week around them. When to study, where to study, when to eat, etc. Waking up the day of an exam and having a set plan will make you feel organized and in control. Even if it’s as simple as “I’m going to leave my room at 9 AM, eat breakfast, and start studying at 10 AM”. Having goals and plans increases efficiency and morale. 2.     Relax. Spending all day everyday holed up somewhere studying and crying in between exams will turn you into a lifeless, vitamin D deficient, depressed zombie. A couple times a day, spend 30-60 minutes doing something enjoyable, whether that’s getting lunch with your friends, walking outside, or watching an episode of Narcos (10/10 would recommend). 3.     Sleep. I know I mentioned this in my last post, but sleep is way more valuable than staying up all night cramming, ESPECIALLY if you have a test the following day. And if you absolutely need to stay awake for something, chug a cup of coffee and take a 15-minute power nap. That’s about how long it takes for caffeine to hit your system, so you’ll feel both rested from the nap and energized from the coffee. 4.     Eat well. I know how tempting it is to eat chicken nuggets for every meal because it’s fast, cheap, and convenient, but don’t. Eating a balance of fat, carbs, protein, and sugar will put your body and mind in a good place, and won’t leave you feeling lethargic and still hungry. 5.     Be confident. After a certain point, you just have to trust that you learned everything you had to. Don’t go into an exam panicking and telling yourself you’re going to fail. Just calm down, take a breath, and tell yourself that you know this. I am going to end this post there, short and sweet, because I need to get back to studying! Next week we’ll talk about post-finals and getting grades back (yikes)! xoxo

I’m not the most technologically adept 50-something on the planet.  Updates, back-end web design, coding, and sometimes just searching for an old email, are a few examples that stand my hair straight up!  If you’re like me and find yourself less than pulled together when technical difficulties arise on computer devices…can we agree to spell it: s.t.r.e.s.s. Techies might say: so, what’s the big deal?  Just learn whatever needs to be done, figure it out.  Problem solved.  Ya right, easy for you to say. But, it’s actually true!  And, it’s a practice applicable to healthy living: be able and willing to learn; be teachable; stress less.  Remaining teachable throughout life is biblical to boot!  If you throw a little patience in the mix, well then you have a delectable icing on the learned cake.  In other words, you can do just about anything and be stress-free. All this brings me to Savanna and Diana’s first blogs (you can find them on the home page).  They were both about stress.  I can’t fully remember if I was “stressed out” in the ’80s when I was their ages.  If I had to guess I would say, not.  Again, maybe I’m not remembering correctly.  Millennials seem to be more stressed out than baby boomers were.  If this is true, it makes me sad. I took the following excerpt from one of Rick Warren’s Daily Hope passages.  It’s called Three Effects of a Teachable Spirit, 2017: “When you’re learning how to be humble, you have to be willing to listen, learn, and grow and be open to suggestions and corrections from other people. You don’t know it all, and you can’t act like you know it all, either! Here are a few reasons why you need to have a teachable, humble spirit: 1. You’ll be more likable. The Bible says in Proverbs 15:12, “Conceited people do not like to be corrected; they never ask for advice from those who are wiser” (GNT). Pride, at its root, is insecurity. You may be afraid that you’ll show that you really don’t know much, but you’ll be more likable if you’re open to teaching. 2. You’ll be wiser. Proverbs 15:32 says, “If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding” (NLT). Humble people are always learning because they’re open to correction. Everybody’s ignorant, just on different subjects. That’s why two heads are better than one. You don’t have time in life to learn everything from personal experience. It’s wiser to learn from the experience of others. The way to do that is by learning to ask questions. 3. You’ll have less conflict. Proverbs 13:10a says, “Pride only leads to arguments” (NCV). This is the first verse that Kay and I memorized after we got married. We actually memorized it on our honeymoon because we needed it on our honeymoon. Anytime you get in an argument, you can know that pride is rearing its ugly head. But when you approach a situation with humility, you’ll have less conflict in your relationships. In many ways, when it comes to humility, God wants us to be like little children. Why? Because children are teachable. They’re open to learning. They’re eager to learn. They’re not defensive. They don’t say, “I don’t need to learn to walk. I don’t need to learn to talk. You can’t teach me anything about reading.” When you think about this brief life vs. eternal life and that we all have a straight shot to live eternally by acknowledging and accepting what God’s son sacrificed for us, what is there to be stressed about.  Humility and being teachable essentially kiss stress good-bye. Like most conundrums, we’re left with a choice and that’s a good thing.  Will you humble yourself, or will you choose arrogance and prideful denial?  Will you be disciplined and teachable or loosey goosey and defiant?  Will you pray for it?  Or complain about it? “In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers.” ~ Fred Rogers, The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember I’m always eager to learn about health, exercise, supplements, skin care, fashion, travel, and all fun things that cost too much money, but I struggle with things that aren’t my forte, like technology.  I’ve learned a lot while setting up this website and, I must say, the smallest of conquered problems have brought great satisfaction.  I learned. You’re (everyone!) talented, energetic, and precious.  Be teachable (child-like) and humble.  IMHO, humility is the single most striking, beauty attribute.  The cool thing is, anyone can have beauty in humility, but few do.  Humbleness takes time and soul searching.  I wish it was “popular,”  How bright it would shine!  There’d be thousands (hundreds of thousands!) of calm, cool, collected people who appreciated learning what they don’t know.  Braggers and boasters would be rare.  We’d be a society of calm, less stressed people who were more sure of ourselves. This is a great link from Rick Warren’s Daily Hope: (2016): http://pastorrick.com/devotional/english/how-do-gentleness-and-humility-reduce-stress.  He says, “You probably don’t realize it, but the two biggest causes of stress in your life are arrogance and aggression.” “Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29b NIV * * * * * * * * * Because I added material from Rick Warren, this post went over what Triangle Park aims to maintain, 500 or so words.  I kept thinking, I bet no one will read to the end.  I’m blabbing on and they’ll want to check Instagram, Facebook, email, etc.  It was stressful thinking about it.  Millennials practically don’t know life without apps.  It begs the question: Do they causethem/everyone unfounded stress?  And, has stress become our pocket pal — that little booger we carry around thinking he is our friend, when in fact, he’s a constant-worry inducer? * * * * * * * * * Thanks for visiting Triangle Park Love, Shelley

I fell for running the way Kanye fell for Trump – suddenly and then all at once. I still have nightmares about “The Pacer” at Morris Brandon Elementary School. If you aren’t familiar, it is a recording of a series of beeps that gym teachers play while young children run across a gym. The beeps get progressively faster. All the cool kids made it to the beeps that forced you to sprint like your butt was on fire. I was never one of those kids. I always waited for at least one other person to quit and then told my self it was OK to do the same. That was usually about one minute into the exercise. Ugh, so lame. Fast forward 20 years later and I run 2.5 – 3 miles every other day. How the heck did that happen, you ask? Stress. My job can be really, really stressful. About a year ago I started experimenting with shorts bursts of running on the treadmill. I heard so many of my coworkers talk about “runner’s high” and had to see what all the craze was about. So I would run for two minutes and then walk for ten and repeat. And I felt pretty darn good after. Weeks turned to months and I would gradually run more and more. Sometimes ten minutes straight which felt like a huge accomplishment. It took me about six months to be able to run for 30 straight minutes and now I have worked my way up to 3 whole miles! I keep coming back to it because it makes me feel so amazing afterward. I cannot recommend this enough as a stress reliever. I could have a day from hell, but after a good run, all feels right in the world. So the next time you are stressed/about to have a mental breakdown (which happens to me quite frequently) hop on the treadmill and run for a few minutes. It’s OK if it takes you months to log in miles. Who cares, as long as you feel good. For me, it’s all about feeling good. The Pacer never made me feel good which is probably why I never tried hard. But running on the treadmill in the comfort of my condo building certainly does the trick. I have a few tips for keeping up the running habit. 1) Listen to gangster rap. I am already a very big fan of rap music, partly because of where I grew up and partly because of where I went to high school. I find if I crank up particularly aggressive songs, I am able to run longer than if I were to listen to John Mayer. 2) Motivate yourself with a treat. I always tell myself I can eat candy or ice cream after my run. Lately I have been breaking off a piece of a chocolate rabbit from Easter when I am finished. If I don’t run, I don’t get any of that chocolaty goodness. 3) Think about your relationships. My boyfriend and co-workers seem to be in perpetually good moods — me, not so much. I find if I go for a run before a date or before work I’m more pleasant to be around. If you’d like more tips on my running habits and how I over came feelings of inadequacy in public school PE class, please reach out to me on the contact page.

I am ecstatic to be an addition to this blog with my mom and sister, and am grateful to my mom for this idea of joining our worlds together in one congruent and easy to access place. The three of us live such different lives, and will add such varying content to this platform, and I am eager to see how it turns out. That being said, Hi. My name is Diana and I am a second year Materials Science and Engineering student at Georgia Tech. Finals week is fast approaching, and if you know anything about Tech (or any college for that matter), you know that finals week is an obtrusive, anxiety-ridden, sleep-lacking hell week. Naturally, my first blog series is going to be on managing and coping with stress, anxiety, and confidence. I am two days away from my first two finals, and I would hardly call this period the “Calm Before the Storm”. More like the “Pressure Before the Storm”. It’s the period where your last homework and quiz grades come in, and you frantically calculate the absolute lowest grade you can get on your final to make an A in the class…maybe a B…or at least passing. It’s the period where the overwhelming amount of material you covered in the past semester bears all its weight on your shoulders and forces you to beg the questions, “Did I actually learn all of this? Did we seriously cover that many chapters? Is my professor crazy? Wow, this is a lot.” It’s the period where you wear sweats every day, and have to force yourself to find time to eat, sleep, and do normal human things. This is my 5th semester, and thus my 5th round of finals (4 semesters is probably more accurate; as my mom likes to put it I was “gallivanting around Europe” last summer on study abroad, and finals were hardly present, let alone difficult). I’d like to think that I’ve come to know what to do and what not to do in order to prepare. Here is a small list of things to do in preparation for finals week: 1.     Make a plan and stick to it. Prepare when you will study for what class, and what classes take precedence. 2.     In planning, set easily obtainable goals. Something that you will be able to achieve every day or hour. This will hugely increase your confidence and momentum. 3.     Make sure to take breaks in between studying. A useful tool for this is the “Tomato Timer”. It forces intervals of productivity and breaks, and has a high proven success rate. You can find it here, and read more about it here. 4.     Write, don’t just read. Writing things down will greatly increase your chance of remembrance and accurate recollection. 5.     Sleep. The absolute worst thing you can do before an exam is not sleep the night or week before. Sleeping an extra couple of hours and being in a healthy state of mind is worth way more than the material you could have crammed in that time. I genuinely hope these few words of advice might help anyone in preparation, whether that be for an exam, project, or presentation. I will talk to you next week, with advice for what to do when you are in the middle of hell week and actually taking exams! xoxo