Notes From a Cowgirl

In all honesty, I sailed through school until college. I understood things and got great grades with very, very minimal effort. The initial pain came from Intro to Ethics my first semester. I didn’t understand how college could be so different, but it was. I didn’t know how to study because I only studied a little bit in my last two years of high school, and basically none before that. Intro to Ethics taught me to explain my thoughts by using various philosophers’ ethical systems. I hated the class, but realize it did good things for me. We had to read, talk, and write about uncomfortable scenarios three days a week for 14 weeks. When I first started college, I only had a vague idea of what major I wanted. So, I spent two years taking general education and exploratory courses. In my second semester, I took three weeks of biology. It only lasted three weeks because I couldn’t stand feeling dumb and crying because nothing made sense. Now, in my fourth year of college, ...

Right now I feel like an eight year old on a road trip, repeatedly asking, “Are we there yet?” I’m exhausted. I want to reach the destination. It feels like I’ve been on this journey forever. Is there any trail mix left? Oh, wait, I already ate the chocolate out of it. That’s how I feel about this semester. All the fun is gone, and it’s driving me nuts. The past two semesters have drained me. I’m loving life more than ever, but I’m tired. I want the single piece of paper that represents hours upon hours working on countless papers, projects, and assignments. But since I didn’t work as hard as I should have my first few years of college, I still have three semesters after this one. Giving up this close to the end of the semester is easy (I think we’ve all done it). We worked hard, we deserve a break, and we want it now, right? Wrong. Paul wrote encouraging letters from prison. The least I can do is write a feature article on women agricultural producers in the top three ...

My spring semester recently started and I’m pretty excited about it. So far I really like my classes and I’m extra, extra excited for Intro to News Writing. You may or may not already know that I’m transferring to another college this fall (2015) in order to major in Agricultural Communication . Everyone is directly affected by agriculture; all people eat and most wear clothes. The agriculture industry as a whole needs more effective communicators. I don’t know where my degree will take me, but this Intro to News Writing class is bound to pay off. And it’s fun, too! Last week the professor gave everyone in the class one of these awesome notebooks. For an aspiring communicator, this little notebook is a huge deal! Like my classmate said, it's like our own handy dandy notebook.  (Did you get that reference ?) So far, I’ve been amazed at the detailed information we’ve been learning. News writing isn’t just writing things down and publishing them; the...

As you know, I’m a college student. You probably also know that college can be hard work. Finals were last week so this morning I checked to see if my grades had been posted online. Seeing my grades made me realize that my effort really WAS worth it! I had some difficult work this semester but I was persistent and ended up having the highest grades of my college career.  A couple weeks ago, just before finals, I was starting to feel the stress of the end of the semester. I realized that I couldn't do everything at once and had to focus on getting one thing  done at a time. Now that the fall semester is over, I've been having a great time. I've been riding my horses… baking… (Try this delicious recipe for  Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies ! You'll be glad you did!) walking with my dog, Missy… and even taking some fun pictures of frost!    I hope you, too, can find some relaxation at Christmastime!  ...

I can’t accomplish everything today. In fact, most days I can’t do everything that I really should do. We all have busy schedules, some busier than others. But to us, our own schedule usually seems to be the worst. I have homework to do and tests to study for, you know, the usual college routine. In addition to that, I have animals to take care of, errands to run, and one more meal to eat.  I won’t be able to finish everything today but I will be able to finish some things and start several others. Often times, getting started is the hardest part. Starting something that I know will be challenging and take a long time is a struggle of mine. So, start small. I realized that committing to 10 minutes of half-heartedly studying psychology terms is better than no studying at all. Once you start, doing more doesn't hurt as bad as you thought it would. Today I know I can study. I have made time and will continue to make time for it. I know I can do this. ...