Category: College

My Bullet Journal

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I was a procrastination queen for years. No matter what I did, I would put everything off until the last minute. I’d do it eventually and it would be completed on time and done well, but it would take forever. Why was I like this? I don’t know. Maybe because I don’t like being forced to do things or because I’d rather read a book than finish that 10 page paper. The answer still remains unclear. But then my sister introduced me to this thing called “the bullet journal” a few months back. At first I thought it was kind of dumb. Why not get a planner? Why not put it in your phone? Why not do literally anything but this journal? It will take forever to set up and that will just trigger my procrastination. But Layne used her big sister powers and pressured me to make one until I caved.

I owe Layne an apology. Just a second:

Layne, I’m sorry. You were right. Yes, write that one down for the history books. I admit that you were completely right about the bullet journal. It is amazing.

Bullet journal 3

Okay I’m back. OH MY GOD. I am obsessed. I have never been so organized and prepared in my life. For those that don’t know what the bullet journal is, it’s an organization system designed so you can track any and all of your latest projects and events. Basically, the bullet journal consists of four major components: Index, the Future Log (or the Year in Review), the Monthly Log, and the Daily Log. These four components come together so you can maintain every single aspect of your life all in one journal and not in multiple planners or notebooks. You can see more about it in this video that the creator of the bullet journal made here.

I have kept up with mine and I can’t stop. Every morning I sit down for breakfast and plan my day using the bullet journal. I have trackers for assignments, bills and other miscellaneous goals. The best part about this system is I have complete control over how I organize it. I can use whatever notebook, designs and concepts I want. I can make it as decorative or as simple as I want it to be.

Bullet Journal2

Yes, I’ll admit it. It does take some time to set up, but I’m proud of it and I want to keep up with it! I get my tasks done with less stress and I have been accomplishing my goals at a steady rate instead of the night before. My favorite parts of my bullet journal are my trackers and future log. The trackers provide a lot of structure and give a sense of accomplishment when I finish a project. The future log allows me to put all of my future dates in one place so I don’t double book myself.

If you’re nervous about starting a bullet journal because you don’t know where to start, there’s also a whole community of people who bullet journal where you can share ideas so you literally can’t run out of ideas! All you have to do is type in “bullet journal” to your google search, pinterest, facebook, instagram or pretty much any other social media site out there. I’ve made a Pinterest board that is slowly growing full of Bullet Journal pins if you want to check it out: https://www.pinterest.com/mybrightcorner/bullet-journal/. There’s also a website that the founder created to help beginners start their journals and seasoned journalers keep themselves in check with it.

So if you see me in person and we get onto the subject of bullet journals? I will fawn over mine like a grandma does to their grandchild at Christmas. And I’m just not sorry about it. 🙂

Basically what I’m saying is y’all need a bullet journal in your lives. What do you use to plan out your lives? Are you bullet journal obsessed like me or do you have another approach? Let me know in the comments!

 

Until Next Time,

Dana Qualy

To the Undeclared Majors

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If you don’t have a major, you’ve probably heard the following from relatives, friends, professors:

“When are you going to pick a major?”
“If you don’t pick one soon, you’ll be in school even longer and have to pay more money.”
“You should think about what will give you the best career in the long run.”
“Be realistic.”

If you’re like me, you were cringing while reading that. Those kinds of remarks are so annoying. Here’s what I have to say to that:

Thank you for your advice. I’m sure you mean well. Now please get your nose out of my business.

I was an undecided major for my first year of college and I remember adults not leaving me alone about it until I finally did have a major and I understood why. They had my best interests at heart and because I’m young, they feel the need to bestow their advice upon me so I don’t make mistakes. But what they didn’t know is that I knew all of those comments because I would say them to myself pretty much every day of the week. I didn’t need another person (stranger or not) telling me.

Making a choice about a major isn’t easy and we all know that, at some point, a decision is going to have to be made. Want to hear how I made mine?

A sweatshirt.

Yes. You read that right. I was in my second semester of my freshman year and I wanted to sport some college pride. So I went into the university shop and grabbed a cheap, generic grey sweatshirt and headed back to my dorm. It wasn’t until that I realized that not only did it say UWSP, it also said College of Fine Arts and Communication.

The problem with that was that I was not a part of the College of Fine Arts and Communication or any college for that matter. So I interviewed for the BA Drama major in the Department of Theatre and Dance a month later, and for whatever reason, the professors picked me. Mind you, I had been thinking about interviewing for the program for a long time, but that accidental purchase is what pushed me to go through with it and try for a major that I love. Maybe that’s fate or maybe that makes me completely crazy. Maybe both.

So to all the undeclared major out there, here’s my advice to you:

“When are you going to pick a major?”

When you please. If you find a general field of study that you enjoy, then apply for that general major. You can always narrow your scope later.

“If you don’t pick one soon you’ll be in school even longer and have to pay more money.”

Okay, I can’t argue with that. If you wait until your fourth year of college to pick a major and you have credits all over the spectrum, you will be there longer than you intended. Again, try to find a general field of study you enjoy and take as many credits as you can in that field. Most likely, you’ll choose a major from that field of study and all those credits you’ve taken will apply to your major so you can graduate on time.

“Think about what will give you the best career in the long run.”

The best career for you. Do you love it? Good! While it’s not always necessary, it’s probably a good idea to have your major correlate with your future career.

“Be realistic.”

Yes. Be realistic about what’s right for you. Not your mom. Not your mentors. Not your grandparents. You. If you love it enough, you will have the drive to make it work and succeed. It doesn’t matter how crazy it sounds to other people. If it’s what you want, then go for it!

 

Until Next Time,

 

Dana Qualy

Wanna be a College Blogger?

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College kids are weird. I can vouch for this because I’m a college kid and I’m super weird. Mind you, they’re incredible and can do incredible things, but they are SO WEIRD. Why? It’s the first time they’re on their own and get to do whatever they want: watch TV all day, drink until their livers hate them, stay up for 76 hours straight, and other random stuff. I’ve seen college kids build entire companies and I’ve also seen college kids break into the football field at two in the morning so they could have a light saber battle the week before finals. It varies.

College students also become a lot more vocal once they set foot on campus. For the first 18 years of their lives, they only know their town’s opinions and interpretations of the outside world. College is the start of cultural expansion for many and are no longer shielded from media content and activist programs. It’s the first time they really begin to formulate opinions and have an open dialogue with other curious minds.

They share opinions in tons of different ways. As a weird college student, I have found my favorite method of sharing opinions is face to face. When that option isn’t available, my second favorite option is through my blog, and I’m not alone in that respect. The blogging sphere is continuously increasing and filling with more student bloggers every day. As a college blogger for the last few months, I’ve learned a lot. I have a small, semi-regular audience and my blogger voice is developing (well, I hope so. What do you think?). I’ve made lots of mistakes along the way as well: irregular posts, too large of a website, etc. Tons of people are gaining an interest in the blogging world. If starting a blog is something you’re interested in doing, here are five tips to help you out:

 

Figure out how serious you are about blogging.

I definitely recommend doing a mini trial run. Start by typing a couple of posts and if you like what you’re doing, then go ahead and put in the work to make a website. If you don’t, then nothing is lost! If you’re not having fun, don’t do it! There’s no point torturing yourself. Go do something you enjoy (like reading My Bright Corner).

 

If you’re serious, invest in a domain

So you do like writing articles? Perfect! Welcome to the community! If you’d like to keep your articles all in one place and have a fully functioning website, you should invest in a domain and find a content management system. There are lots of different options but my personal favorite is WordPress.

 

Plan Ahead

Let’s be real: you’re a busy college student. You have stuff to do. Be realistic about how often you’ll be able to post and make sure you incorporate writing time into your weekly schedule. If you don’t, you won’t write and you’ll website will fizzle out.

I am the world’s biggest procrastinator. I have set a goal for myself to write three blog posts a month and if I don’t set a goal date, I will wait until the end of month to post anything. By planning ahead, I can stay on track for writing my blog posts and not feel stressed out later.

 

Rough Drafts are a Beautiful Thing

If I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again: I LOVE ROUGH DRAFTS. A blog post isn’t a last minute paper for that gen. Ed. class you barely attend. This is your work that you enjoy doing in your free time. You should want to try to make it look as nice as you can and a rough draft or two can help with that.

 

Create a Blog that Works for YOU and KEEP GOING.

The most popular types of blogs may not be what you want to write about. Don’t feel pressured to create a blog with popular content because that’s what everyone else is doing. Create a blog with content that you love and you like writing about.

Also, you may feel a lot of anxiety when you go to share your work for a variety of reasons: fear of negative response, that it’s not your best, etc. If it’s out of your control, don’t stress. You’re a new blogger and you’re learning. The most important thing is that you’re happy doing what you’re doing. Whether one person reads it or a million, a blog that makes YOU, the writer, happy is what should be at the top of your priority list.

 

So welcome new bloggers! Happy typing!

 

Until Next Time,
Dana