Advice for odd times

Advice for Odd Times

WORDS BY Ray Padilla

PHOTOS BY Kamryn Rowe

For Esquire’s 85th anniversary issue, it gathered celebrities like Joe Biden, Clint Eastwood and Margaret Atwood and told their stories of advice called “Sane advice for crazy times.” It’s an interesting year. Everything is chaotic and yet people are still making progress and advancements. There’s peace and there’s disruption. The world has not ended — but no one can tell if we’re getting closer to that day. It’s an odd time. To help, we gathered some well-known people around campus to help share some lessons.

MADISON NEWINGHAM ON INVOLVEMENT

President of the College Democrats

Photo taken by Sami Scozzaro

Get involved on campus, whether it be a club related to your degree or merely your interests. It is helpful to befriend professors and student leaders for advice in your field or references in your career search.

That said, do not stick with something you do not enjoy. I wasted too much time with organizations that were inefficient and made me unhappy and unfulfilled. I started to selectively narrow down where and with whom I spent my time to ensure it was beneficial to my interests and happiness. I tried being involved in too many things and later tried being involved in nothing, and in both instances, I felt anxious and depressed because I felt as though I was not experiencing the things I was doing. Find a few things you love with people you love, but do not overwhelm yourself.

I was not particularly shy at any point; however, I know what it is like to feel intimidated and the desire to back out of challenges. I eventually decided the only way for me to overcome these barriers was to simply force myself to commit to events and public speaking.

Rather than worrying too much and giving myself too much time to prepare, which only stressed me out further, I prepared just enough to “wing it” insofar as I was able to speak naturally and knowledgably. I hate to call this procrastination, but you have to decide when something is good enough so that you can move on to something else going on in your day, even if that is just “you-time.”

If you are a busy-body, you need to slow down and find even an hour of the day for yourself. If you are not involved on campus, you should find one thing in which you can meet more people and have fun while networking. Doing so now will help alleviate the stress of the inevitable networking you will have to do in your career.

RACHEL WALKER ON THINKING FOR YOURSELF

President of the College Republicans

Don’t let people dictate how you think. The ability to think for yourself and fight for your own convictions is a powerful thing. In today’s society, individuals are often cast to have certain beliefs if they have a certain appearance. This is a dangerous trap we often find ourselves in. For example, people never expect me to have conservative values and then when they do find this out, I feel the need to justify my opinions. Attending a left-leaning university has not always made it popular for me to go against the trend and express my beliefs. I find this even more empowering. I only hope others who face this issue can have the same strength to think for themselves, no matter what their beliefs may be. I have found strength in my differences, and it has made me a stronger person. In these odd times, I have learned to never assume anything about anyone because you never know what a person has been through. As a female, I encourage other women to find their own convictions and stick with them. There is no better feeling than being your own leader and not waiting for someone else to show the way. Find something to be passionate about and use this passion to inspire others. Have a civil discussion with someone who has different opinions than you, and you might have more things in common than you think.

WILLIAM PERRINE ON KEEPING A POSITIVE ATTITUDE

Most rated professor on RateMyProfessors for Kent State

We are all trying to make sense of our lives and the world we live in — whatever world that may be. I give a lecture to my graduating seniors every semester called “William’s Advice.” It’s a 75 minute journey through some of my personal observations and reflections from my own experiences. Here are just two of the things I feel are important for keeping a positive attitude in daily life.

“TRUE success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” I’ve failed at a lot of things in my life but never let it dampened my passion for life and what is next. Looking for potential and seeing what’s next is what gets me out of bed every day. How you approach your day can determine your success for that day. The success of that day will define your success for that week, month and year. You determine your own success: It could be getting to the Rec, applying for a job or internship, studying or just getting laundry done. Look at all the little successes you have each day and you might be surprised how much you are accomplishing.

“No matter how bad things may seem, don’t forget how fortunate you are.” We all have bad days and things may seem hopeless sometimes. Seem is the key word here; very often we perceive things as much worse than they actually are. This negative perception changes how we look at other parts of our life and before you know it, you are anxious and wondering how things got so bad. In all likelihood your life is perfectly fine, you just need to focus more on the good parts of your life and deal with the not so good parts. You’re receiving a world class education, have a roof over your head, food to eat, clothes to wear, friends and family. No one’s life is perfect, but if you are reading this you are probably doing OK!

AJ LEU ON BEING YOURSELF

Academic Diversity Outreach Coordinator

Be unapologetically yourself, without hesitation and without regret. This may seem overly simple and a little cliché, but I find that this is so much easier said than done. Throughout my life, I have unfortunately found myself making decisions about my self-expression based on my fear of what other people would think of me. As a female, I questioned whether I could wear a shirt and tie to work when I first got into my profession. I have questioned whether I should get a tattoo in a visible place because I wasn’t sure if it was going to affect my ability to hold a good job. I have talked to so many people who want to wear their hair naturally, or wear braids or dreads, but they are worried to do so because it may make them “unemployable.” It’s time to make a decision. Are you willing to censor yourself and invalidate the authenticity of your identity and self-expression just to please someone else? Are you going to be happy in that job if you aren’t able to be your full, authentic self? If someone doesn’t want to hire me because of my clothes, my hair or any other way I express myself, then I don’t think I would be happy working there. So wear what makes you comfortable, rock those braids, get that tattoo, gauge your ears, dye your hair pink, and do whatever else it takes for you to be unapologetically true to yourself. As long as you are good at what you do and you care about your job, I have no doubt that you will find a place that values the work that you do and values your freedom of self-expression.