Month: February 2020

The Power of Shower Thoughts

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Welcome back everyone!

This is admittedly going to be a sillier post, but it’s one I’ve thought about writing for a while. It’s inspired by the “randomshowerthoughts” posts I’ve seen from Tumblr that were popularized a few years ago and often still resurface around my Instagram explore page. I’ve always loved showers because they’re so peaceful- it’s one of the only times in your daily routine where you’re truly alone and unbothered (hopefully).

I honestly have had so many creative ideas pop into my head while in the shower. I used to think showers were portals to letting the creative juices flow out of your subconscious (I was an interesting kid) and I would get into the shower when I needed to think. I feel like it clarifies things- whenever I’m sad or mad I’ll just take my shower for the night and I always come out feeling better and in a more positive mindset. Maybe it’s the hot water, maybe it’s the cleansing of the day from my body- something just clicks.

I think the shower has this calming, creative effect on people because of how peaceful it is. When you’re in the shower, you’re just cleaning yourself off and getting ready for bed (or the day, if you’re a morning showerer). There’s nothing else expected of you in that moment- you’re just doing what every other person does, doing that step of your daily routine. But within that step of serenity and quiet, it leaves opportunity for your mind to wander.

Or maybe my showers are just too hot and the steam and heat is making me crazy. We’ll never know! However, I am truly thankful for my bathroom being such a calming space to me, and one where I can think clearly. People always look at me weirdly when I say that, but I’ll be the first one to admit it. Since I was little, I’ve always come to the bathroom floor to cry when I’m sad, or sit on the toilet when I need to think, or shower when I need to clear my head. This place that is so ingrained in the mundane parts of our life is a calming space because of how mundane it remains, and that’s the beauty of it.

I know this was kind of a dramatic rendition on showering, but what’s new? I’m kind of a dramatic blogger 🙂 I hope you guys enjoyed- feel free to leave your thoughts about the power of shower thoughts. I would love to chat with you guys.

Brooke

Having an “All or Nothing” Mindset: Good or Bad?

BrookeLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

All or nothing, go big or go home- these two common phrases mean the same thing. There are some people who either have to go full out, or would rather do nothing at all when working on something, rather than splitting things up or having a more balanced lifestyle. I’ve worked on doing things in moderation more as I’ve gotten busier and had to adapt my schedule, but I used to be very “all or nothing” in my mindset. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Keep on reading to find out my opinion.

My mom always told me that the “all or nothing” type mindset could be toxic, but I didn’t really believe her until I started high school and I got busier and more overwhelmed in my daily life. I figured as long as I worked hard in long chunks, I could chill and not really do anything the rest of the week/time. When new tasks or responsibilities landed on my plate, I wanted to get everything done immediately and then return to have nothing on my mind. I quickly learned this strategy would not work in high school, and I had to adapt to a more “normal” balanced schedule of working a little bit each day.

I still feel like my “dream” lifestyle would be to get everything done as soon as it comes up so I never have anything on my plate for too long before it gets completed, but I know that’s not realistic with the amount of schoolwork I have and other things I’m involved in. I think this mindset can be toxic since you feel like you have to be working super hard for long stretches of time, which can turn out counterproductive since it easily burns you out.

However, from personal experience I know it can be difficult to shift away from this mindset. I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that life is not all or nothing. There are tons of shades of grey in between, if you will, and it’s all about making the most of your time each day. Don’t feel pressured to dive into things immediately- it’s okay to just dip your toe in at first. I’m sorry for all the cheesy mixed metaphors, but it’s the best way for me to relay what I’m trying to say.

Instead of worrying about going full out on things, start with what you need to get done in the moment/that day. Then, you can spend more time on or pay more attention to detail with a few things after you’ve gotten everything that you needed to done. Just remember to be gentle with yourself and don’t stress yourself out. The all or nothing mindset may work for some people, but it definitely weighs down your mental state over time.

I hope this helped some of you out who have gone through similar things with your mindset. Remember that different things work for different people, and some people may be able to productively utilize this mindset without a problem. Let me know if you have any questions as always 🙂

Brooke

Wanting to Feel Good About Yourself? Read This

BrookeLeave a comment

Welcome back everyone!

So, you want to feel good about yourself. That’s why you clicked on this, right? Well, let me tell you something. I know it may feel like you need some validation right now, in order to feel important and wanted. However, you are amazing on your own, without needing me to tell you so. I know it feels nice to be appreciated and recognized by others, which is why I’m telling you this. But you don’t need me to compliment you, to say nice things, because those aspects of you that I’m complimenting were already there before I said anything about them.

You are powerful, you are beautiful, and you are loved. You are blessed to be here in this moment, reading this, because it has brought you to a space of positivity and self-love. I am proud of you for taking the first steps to truly being kind to yourself, whether you’ve just started this journey or you’ve been on this road for quite a long time. Your life so far has led you up to this point, making the effort to feel good about yourself. Be grateful that you’re here, going in such a positive direction.

More than anything, soak in this moment. Look- it’s already gone.

Brooke

All About My Internship! – My Experience With RaiseMe

BrookeLeave a comment

Welcome back everyone!

I recently finished off being an ambassador intern for RaiseMe, an organization that allows you to input your academic and extracurricular achievements to earn mini-scholarships for college with their partner schools. I did their fall/winter internship term from about October to the middle of January, and I really enjoyed it. If you’re interested in learning more about the program, keep on reading.

I applied for the internship at the beginning of the school year after receiving an email from RaiseMe (I had already been a member and inputting my grades/stuff in there for a while since my school suggests it) that applications were currently open. It was a pretty straightforward application- I don’t remember it exactly, but it had the typical fields of contact information and a few short answer questions about you and your interests.

In a few weeks, I received an email that I had been accepted into the program. There was a conference call to kick it off, and the communications manager of RaiseMe sent all of the interns some files and presentations to look through regarding our responsibilities. It was a fairly small time commitment, with one conference call every month of the internship to come together, contributing to the Slack group, and submitting two articles over the entire internship and two “activities” each month of the internship. Every month, a new email would be sent out with suggestions for article topics and activities, and we would have to submit our article ideas before actually submitting the articles, and submit each activity report by the end of the month.

The articles would be considered for publication on RaiseMe’s blog, which is shared with all RaiseMe users (about 2 million people, last time I checked), and one of my articles got chosen! I posted about it yesterday, but you can check out the article on their blog here. That was definitely the highlight of the internship for me. Again, it was a fairly low-key experience and I probably put about 2-3 hours per month into the work I was doing for RaiseMe. It was fulfilling to communicate with people working for RaiseMe and promote the company, but it wasn’t a super big commitment that I can gush about, just because of its brevity.

Another perk of the internship was we got sent a package of RaiseMe swag! We could distribute it to our schools if we chose to, or keep some for ourselves. There were a bunch of pens, stickers, and some pamphlets/guides about RaiseMe and other college advice. I gave most of it to people at my school, but I kept a bunch of the pens. It was pretty cool to receive the package though- I felt like an Instagram influencer.

If you have any further questions about RaiseMe or their internship program, let me know! They’re probably starting another internship term, so I recommend making an account and keeping an eye out for that if you’re interested. Their website has a helpful college search tool as well, so I recommend using it for your own research.

Brooke

Read My Article on RaiseMe’s Blog

BrookeLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

Today I have exciting news- if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’d know that I was a RaiseMe ambassador doing an informal internship from October until the middle of January. If you want to know more about what RaiseMe is and how I got the internship, you should check out the posts I wrote about it a few months ago in my archives. To explain it briefly, RaiseMe is a website where you can import your grades and activities from high school to earn mini-scholarships towards their partner colleges.

As a part of my internship, I had to submit a minimum of two articles that would be considered for publication on RaiseMe’s blog, with a possible audience/network of about 2 million users. They didn’t notify me formally that one of the articles I submitted would be used, but a few days ago I was surprised with a standard promotion email from RaiseMe…with a link to my article in it!!

This article is actually an article that I posted on my blog as well (with permission, as RaiseMe encouraged their ambassador interns to post their work on other forms of social media), so you should go check it out if you haven’t already. If you want to read it on RaiseMe’s blog, check it out here.

I’m so happy to have my work published by a legit organization, and I hope my advice reaches lots of other teens out there. I will be posting about my internship experience as a whole soon now that it’s over, so look out for that if you’re interested!

Brooke

Where to Buy “Professional” or Business Casual Clothes – For Teens!

BrookeLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

Even as a teen not yet in the workforce, there are still quite a few instances where you’ll need “professional” clothing. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you would know that I am a member of the YMCA’s Youth and Government program. For our training conferences, we could wear casual clothing as long as it was reasonably modest, but for our culminating conference in Sacramento (coming up in about a week!) where we have to wear business casual clothing that fits the “Sac attire” dress code each day of the conference. I had a few outfits that I had been able to pass off as professional enough for one-off events in the past, but for this conference I actually needed to invest in some business attire. If you’re in a similar situation, keep on reading to find out where to go!

One of my biggest concerns when finding business casual clothes was the cost. Stores that sell this type of clothing are often on the pricier end, and I couldn’t justify spending that much since I won’t be wearing these clothes often- only for Youth and Government and other special occasions.

  • Banana Republic outlet – I found a ton of good pieces here, and they were actually pretty stylish/things I was excited to wear. Everything was around 40-60% off, so I got a really good deal on everything I got. They have petite sizing and a wide range of sizing in general, which is good if you’re younger/smaller.
  • Outlets of other similar stores (J. Crew, etc.) – Same thing as the Banana Republic outlet situation, but I wanted to include that as a separate place since their deals really stood out to me and I had such a good experience. I recommend just going to the nearest outlet mall and peeking into any stores that look like they have businesswear. I found that Banana had the best deals, but you never know.
  • Nordstrom Rack – Their selection differs a lot from time to time, but the last time I went I found a ton of stuff. They usually have a lot of dresses and shirts, but it might be harder to find pants and skirts. Everything I got here was around $20-30, so it’s very reasonably priced- it depends on the brand though, since they have such a variety of labels.
  • Target – You might not expect it, but Target has a bit of everything. Again, it depends on their current stock, but I would pop in just to see. If not clothes, they have a really good selection of flats and heels you could get for reasonable prices.
  • Goodwill / Thrift stores – This is probably the most affordable and hit-or-miss option. If your local Goodwill or thrift stores have decent section of business wear and carry your size, it might be your best bet. That being said, I know thrift shopping often doesn’t work out and it may not have the best selection of these things, so I wouldn’t count on getting all your stuff here.
  • Your family! – If you’re similarly sized to your mom/dad/whoever in your family, ask to borrow their stuff! They’ll probably have at least one thing that’s neutral and you can wear- I borrowed my mom’s cardigan last time I had a Youth and Government event where I needed to dress formally.
  • “Typical” stores – Sometimes stores like Abercrombie or American Eagle will have business-casual blouses or slacks. I recommend checking in these stores just to see- they’ll also often be on sale since their target demographic doesn’t end up buying them as often.

I hope this helps you on your business casual clothing search! Clothes shopping in general can be challenging, so I know it’s a bit of a nuisance. That being said, you’ll feel like a super-important businesswoman (or man) when you find the right outfits for you. Let me know if any of these places have worked for you in the past, or if there’s somewhere else people should look!

Brooke

Irish Coffee – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

I’ve been wanting to post more writing-related content on here, and today I had the idea to look up some poetry prompts and try writing poems based off of them. I Googled “poetry prompts” and went through images, and found a daily prompt challenge for January (I wrote this post on January 25th). I know it’s not January anymore so the challenge won’t be much of use anymore, but I want to give credit where credit is due so I’m including it.

The prompt of the day I wrote this was “Irish Coffee” as you can tell by the title of this post, so without further ado, here’s my attempt at following a poetry prompt.

if you were a drink, you’d be irish coffee and no, not because you’re irish, but it is quite fitting if you ask me. you’d be irish coffee because you like normal coffee, but you drink whiskey even more often. you don’t mind if the sugar and cream clog your arteries further because you only live once and you want to live life your way, right? you’d be irish coffee because i don’t drink irish coffee- i drink normal coffee and i don’t live life the way you want me to.

I hope you enjoyed reading my work. As always, please, please, please let me know what you think! I would also LOVE to ready your work if you’re willing to share, just leave a comment or send me a message 🙂

Brooke

TV Review – Good Trouble

BrookeLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

I recently watched both available seasons of the show Good Trouble on Hulu and I absolutely loved it, so I thought I would talk a little bit about it. I normally don’t find that many things I want to watch on Hulu, but I watched The Fosters while it was popular a couple years ago and my friend told me that the sequel type show was on Hulu. I checked it out and finished it within one weekend (in my defense, I was sick and pretty much bedridden). It was a little cheesy, as all shows of this sort are, but definitely better than I expected for a sequel.

I highly recommend watching The Fosters before you watch Good Trouble, but it’s not completely necessary since there’s a lot of new characters in the show that weren’t in The Fosters. However, it does pick up almost exactly where The Fosters left off, so I would still suggest it. It follows sisters (adopted sisters) Mariana and Callie as they move to Los Angeles for their jobs at a tech startup and clerking for a federal judge, respectively. They move into an apartment in a building called The Coterie and realize it’s a communal living space- they have a bedroom to themselves, but communal bathrooms and kitchen/living space. Craziness ensues as they meet the other residents, and there’s lots of drama.

The show moves quickly and there’s tons of relationships and little storylines here and there woven throughout the main conflicts. The thing I was most pleased about was the continuity from The Fosters- pretty much all of the family members and original characters ended up coming into the show at one point to visit Callie and Mariana and there were actual plots surrounding these events. They weren’t just meaningless cameos to somehow tie the show back to its roots; they actually continued old storylines. I thought that was a really nice touch since sequels often don’t bring back the characters and plotlines- I know I was disappointed with The Originals after The Vampire Diaries, so much so that I never even finished it.

I don’t want to say too much else about the actual plot because I don’t want to spoil anything, but I will say that Callie’s character probably annoyed me the most throughout the episodes that I watched. She kind of annoyed me in The Fosters too so that’s not the biggest surprise- I have a lot of respect for her because of her passion for law, but she still makes self-destructive decisions and in some case just can’t make decisions.

Another element of the show I didn’t expect to enjoy so much was the portrayal of Callie and Mariana’s respective workplaces. I’m not sure how accurate a depiction of those jobs they are, but they definitely opened my eyes and I liked the little focus on the workplace- especially in Callie’s case, since I’m interested in law. Mariana’s storyline with her job really opened my eyes to more of the mistreatment of women in STEM (something I mentioned in another recent post of mine- you should go check it out!!). I felt that was a super important thing to include.

Overall, I really enjoyed the parts of the show that I watched. The show is currently still airing its second season, which I didn’t realize at the time of watching; I forgot that Hulu gets episodes pretty quickly as they air on actual TV. That being said, I guess this review only covers my impression of one and a half season then? Either way, I will definitely be watching the rest when I get a chance, but I’ll probably wait for the rest of the season to be done so I can binge-watch it all at once.

I hope you guys enjoyed this. I’m not the best at reviewing things, so please feel free to give me pointers or suggestions of things to review so I can get more practice in. Let me know what you think if you end up watching Good Trouble 🙂

Brooke

My 1st Time Performing in A School Rally

BrookeLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

It’s been a while since I posted some good ol’ ~high school lifestyle~ content besides the academic/educational stuff, so I figured I would talk about something exciting that happened recently: my first (and most likely last) performance in a school rally! Normally, only the varsity cheer team performs at rallies and I’m on JV, but for this last rally of the cheer season, all cheerleaders got to be in it. I will not be including pictures from the rally just for privacy and identification purposes of my school, but I’ll be walking through my whole experience.

I was only in the dance section of the routine, not the stunts, so it honestly wasn’t as stressful as I worried it would be. I personally don’t like performing in front of our school- usually at games we don’t have that big of a crowd, but pretty much everyone attends rallies, so it’s kind of intense. I was nervous, but I knew my part and it was short enough that I wasn’t too stressed about forgetting the dance. We’d had about 12 hours of practice put into forming the rally routine, so I think everyone was ready to perform it and have the buildup to performing be over with.

The past couple weeks had honestly been really dramatic with practice. We had cheer everyday after school between the rally practices and basketball games. Lots of people got taken out of the rally routine for missing a practice, and lots of others (including me) only got to be put in one or two sections of the routine. It was a bittersweet feeling knowing I only got to be in one part, but also happy that I got put in at all.

The rally was on Monday, so there was a runthrough Sunday afternoon in the gym. I wasn’t the happiest about having to drive to school on a Sunday, but it didn’t take too long and it felt good to have a dress rehearsal-type situation. Actually rally days are a lot more hectic- I had to miss my entire fourth period (the class period before the rally) to come to the gym early and practice again, and we got to wear our cheer uniforms all day (rally tradition). Normally, the only thing the JV and freshman cheer teams do at rallies is sit together in the front and lead our class in a chant with a cheer and some stunts. There was definitely a lot riding on this routine since our coaches were super proud of the choreography and expecting us to hit it.

I’m happy to say it went well, and I’m glad I got to be in a rally routine at least once. If you’re new to blog, I’ve talked multiple times about my love-hate relationship with high school cheer and how I’m pretty much positive this will be my last season doing it, so I’ll never get the full varsity experience and therefore won’t perform in anymore rallies. I mean, I’ll never say never since there’s lots of other things you could perform in a rally for, but as far as cheer, it was a good first and last performance. I’m not going to lie- I won’t miss freezing my butt off in the uniform all day at school.

I know this was a short post and I didn’t get to go super into detail about anything, but I wanted to throw it out there since I was proud of myself for having a cool experience. Let me know if you guys have any questions- what are rallies at your school like?

Brooke