I am an introvert and a people person

This post is kind of random (when are my posts not random?). But I have had this on my mind a lot today and it has come up a lot in discussions with friends. I'm and introvert, but I am also a people person.

To many times in today's society that is extrovert dominated is introversion synopsizes with shyness. People who are shy tend to also be introverts but it is not two fold. Being introvert means that your threshold for socialization is lower than that of extroverts. Is that a bad thing? Not at all it just means that you do not get as much of a thrill from parties or enjoy small talk as much. You tend to enjoy a few close friends and be very loyal to them instead of having lots of friends that you aren't as close with.

So then how can you be a people person and an introvert? It means that you enjoy being and communicating and working with people. I myself personally enjoy spending time helping or talking to people or small groups of people but I seem to be unsure and get really nervous in big groups of people. I like to get to know people. Introverts tend to be really good and reading people there emotions and feeling that kind of thing. For me I love when I can connect and talk to people on any sort of level. I enjoy working in a people environment where we can communicate but those big parties don't seem like fun to me. So I may seem a lot more out going than your stereotypical introvert but I am an introvert and a people person.

Introverts are not shy. Usually they don't talk as much because they do not see the point in small talk and therefore don't like it. I personally hate the stereotype that introverts are shy, its so not true. Being friends with two lovely young women who both are introverts in different ways, I've been able to see that they are in no way shy you just need to get to know them.

 So just remember introverts are not always shy, and being an introvert does not mean you hate talking to people!

"No one knows what the future holds...."

I thinking about what to write a lot has come to mind. This week has in many senses been a transition week for me. This past weekend I graduated from high school and then went on the attend my freshman orientation for college.

So what's so big about having two major milestones in about 48 hours? The fact that it got me thinking about a lot of things, mainly having to do with myself and the future. Within the next few months I am going to spend a lot of time getting ready for the future and meeting new people, as well as saying good bye to adolescences.

My first thought was how am I going to manage it all? What I then began to discover is that, I tend not to push myself as hard as I should. My mother and I were talking more about exercise and staying in shape. Many people do not push themselves hard enough to find their limits or even to realize what they are capable of. I began to think a lot about my little sister. She may be younger than me in age but she has been a role model for me in this. She is always pushing herself to do better in sports or in school. Because of this hard work and dedication she is one of the smartest in her class and one of the best athletes I know. Now not to say that I do not have good qualities but one of the things I need to learn from her is how to push yourself harder and to never settle for anything. College is not going to be an easy thing but I need to push myself to do more and to be a better me in a lot of things one of them is just in general to not be so lazy when it comes to education and to exercise.

I've been thinking a lot about what I want to do with my future. One of the things I realized is I need to start to think about less of where I want to be in ten years and more of who I want to have impacted. A lot of the things available in my major and field of study is to travel to bring care to the less fortunate. Something that I can see myself doing. Now I've always considered myself to be a dreamer. My dreams usually tend to be around a fairytale sort of future especially when I am stressed. I think that it is very important for me to switch from being a dreamer to a doer. There is a lot of things I could be doing to better myself and the world around me if I spent less time dreaming up what could be and more time using the talents I have to make that and so much more possible.

So with this whole new thing of officially becoming an alumni of high school and moving on to the next chapter of live I need to take the time to realize who I am and who I want to be.

For my life right now my goal is to enjoy life but to push myself to work harder in what I do. That means to study harder to train harder and to be a better person. Especially to a few friends these past few weeks I have not been being too amiable to. And to myself because I have been letting myself down.

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first."
-Mark Twain

“Don't wish it were easier. Wish you were better.”  
-Jim Rohn

 

Themes..... Thoughts....?

A friend of mine who has been a blogger for a few years, has been trying to get into the regular blogging habit. In order to do this she has developed three themes that she posts something that fall under that category every week. Now I know that I am a new blogger and have not been regular at all but being that I am trying to develop this into a worth while readable blog. I have thought of maybe doing something like Allison has done.

So with that thought, I have tried to think of things that relate to me. Who I am as a person. What I tend to do with my life. Now I like to call myself an aspiring nurse. I am going to nursing school and have always liked to work with people. I have been a dancer since I could walk, and even though I have never danced competitively dance has inspired me and music always gets me moving. I work in a living history museum and am kind of a history geek. I love making things with my hands, I can knit, crochet, weave,  do hemp and bracelet making, am a novice when it comes to sewing, have dipped into the pool of quilting. I am a very thoughtful person and often like quotes and stories that make you think too much. I am a runner, but not to the extent that I enjoy running so much as I like where it can take me I like the idea of using my own body to travel however small the distance.

So I was thinking of doing a tri weekly post sort of what my friend Allison is doing, and what topics have come to mind are subject to change. But for now I was thinking of maybe doing a post to a person who this week has touched my life. I also thought of doing something that inspires me as in like a place, quote, book etc. But when coming up with a third topic I am stuck with no ideas of anything that someone else would want to read about.

The thought of just post random things has crossed my mind and not having a theme so like I said this is subject to chance but I really appreciate what it has done to enrich Allison's blog and thought that maybe it would help me to make writing at least one post a week a lot easier.

Words for Thoughts

 

Its been a long and busy week for me. I have been stressing a lot about a bunch of major test coming up in the next few weeks. Also I have a dance performance in three weeks that I am not really completely ready for so it this point the best way to classify me is a ball of nerves.

With that being said I found this great quote on pinterest that basically just says very eloquently that you can do this and that you are capable something I think is nice to hear at a time like this. So here is it:

Its a nice thought for me to have that I am bravery than I think. This right now seems to touch me in the ways that in these next few months there will be a lot of changes for me leaving for college and starting the next chapter of my life. With that I need to reevaluate where I stand on a lot of things including my priorities, friendships, and focuses. Being stronger helps me to look at this as something I can manage. I am smarter than I think which is nice for these test coming up.

No one tends to love change, however it is a necessary part of life. We all have to go through change whether its physical like a new place to call home, or more of a personal change like a change of mind when dealing with friends who have maybe hurt you in some way.

Any thoughts I would love to hear your comments.

The Glass is Half Full..... (well it really is full)

I know it has been a really long time since I posted. So I apologize... but here's my excuse. School has kept my days, and well half of my nights busy, with homework and dance and running have time has been a hard thing to find. I started this blog a few months ago with the hopes of sharing thoughts, adventures and projects from Lass whose face is always sporting a plethora of freckles.

The title I chose for this post is kind of a story and lesson within itself that I have made my goal to teach myself. "The glass is half full.." Well technically the glass is not half full or half empty, (Sorry my nerd side is coming out) but rather it is completely full, half with air and half with water. What I mean to discuss is not the basic science lesson on states of matter, but to rather look at this in the sense truth in a more metaphorical way. In saying the glass is half empty society would deem you a pessimist, by saying the glass is half full an enthusiast. I want to look at this lesson as a actualist.

"Okay Mary I see what you are saying but where are you going with this?"

In life there are many events and actions can be taken in a lot of different ways and looked at in a lot of different angles.  For me I can think of a lot of examples of this in my personal life. What is important to remember is that God has a plan for all of us. That even if that glass looks half empty or even half full it really is completely full with His plan.  We just cannot see what will make up the "air" yet. We must trust in the Lord that the air is there and that the glass is full. Faith is believing even though you can not see, hear, feel, smell or taste. Faith is believing that the glass is full.

These last few months I have had many situations in which I saw the glass as half empty. When my boyfriend and I broke up, I spent a few days forgetting to even see the glass and a lot more seeing it half empty. With the help of two very good friends and a lot of reminders that it was for the best I was able to see that they were right and that things happen for a reason. HE  has a plan for me, for you and for everyone else. Sometimes we might have grey days where its hard to see the air in the glass but like everything else the sun will rise and the haze disappear.

Its hard for me to look on the sunny side sometimes.

In seeing my schedule for the new season at work this year I was disappointed to see that I had not gotten a new assignment and rather that I was in a building that I had prieviously deem less desirable. What hurt me a bit more is that a lot of my friends had got assignments that I had previously desired. Instead of being happy and excited for them I gave into my emotions and showed a negative side. Something that I am working on trying not to do. It took me all of the ride home to realize that cooking (the assignment I had wanted) has just as many ups and downs to it as the assignment I recieved. With the help of my best friend, I was reminded that I got the job I did because... "Your better with kids Mary," "You are.... You take time with them and play with them you can interact with them better..."

So here's to a lesson that I will be working on... "The glass is half full...." the glass is truly full.

2012... The year the world was supposed to end

For me twenty-twelve was a busy year. I did many fun things enjoyed new adventures made some new friends along the way. Some things I did this past year is get a job, see some of europe, start my senior year, go to empire girls state and much more.

The spring was filled with lots of time in school and getting ready for my AP exams. But during that time I did get to go and be my cousin Emily's confermation sponcer. That was a new experience for me as I had never been a sponcer. I was confirmed in 2009 with the name Cecila. After Saint Cecila the patron saint of music. It was fun to get to spend some quality time with my father and see members of his familt that I had not seen in a long time.

In the late spring I obtained a summer job at my second home, the Genesee Country Village & Museum. For me that was an adventure in and of itself I had been a volunteer there for the last five years, spending more than 1000 hours there. The job gave me the oppurtunity to learn more and to take what I had started in 2007 to a whole new level. With this job I got to talk to a lot of awesome visitors and learn a lot more about the lives of people past as well as I got to get to know on a friend level a lot of the other interpreters who I  had used as role models. Over the summer I have worked in as an interpreter in three buildings, Foster Tufts House, Thompson's Inn, and George Eastmans Boyhood Home. I could go on forever about all that I learned and experienced there and the reasons why I cannot wait until next season but that might bore you to death.

For one week in June I got to spend a week at Brockport College for Empire Girls State. This experiences was trully life changing. There we set up a mock New York State governement and pasted legeslation some of which might end up in the NYS senate. Besides how much it opened up my eyes to the government and what we as citzens should be doing. I also learned a lot more about our militay what they do and why we need to respect and honor them and what represents them more. Ever been at a sports game and people are talking during the national athem or at school and people aren't respectful during the pledge? Those things now seem to annoy me a lot more than they ever did. My house mother is in the US Army as well as her husband an many of the other consolers or house mothers were in the military. During one of the talks given by the Albright Couty house mother was about how she was walking in NYC and saw this old women so she offered to help the old women of about 90 across the road. When the lady said no let me help you she walked with her to the other corner. Getting there the lady said I want to thank you for everything you've done for me,  and showed the housemother her tatoo from Auschwitz. That story will stick with me forever on how much our military really does do and what we need to do as a US citizen because of what they have fought for. I got to spend and amazing week with girls from all over New York state. One of my room mates was from Manotock and another from Waterloo. We had girls from Brooklyn to Niagra. That was one of the best weeks I ever had and I would olve to go back and do it all over again.

Also over the Summer I got to spend almost two weeks in France and Spain. I got to see the Effiel Tower up close. One of the coolest exeriences for me was to swim in the Medditerrean. The water was so blue that we were out so far (on a boat) that it was 20 feet deep and you could clearly see the bottom. Also on that trip I saw a statum from the same era as the Colosseum that was still fully in tack and used. I loved seeing all of the old beauties of Europe and would go back again if I could.

This fall I spent most of my timing running or in school. Our senior girls won a fun Halloween 5K. Durining that race we had to run over haybales which was a lot of fun. I love my cross country family and can't believe that were all seniors and that this is the last year together.

Before Chritmas I partook in my favorite of the Museum event Yuletide in the Country. I was in two scenes one as a dance in the Town Hall where we were late to Robert's 12th night ball. And the other as Mary MacKay celebrating Hogmanay with her family. I loved all the Celticness of that scene. The bagpipes can never get old and I enjoyed the Haggis we had there. Though as you probably will learn I have a wee bit of Ireland in me blood that keeps me a bonnie lass loving the celtic ways,

Why Freckles?

In starting a blog you need a good name. Something that fits you and has some connection or meaning. Seems simple right? Well for me its difficult because no one thing seems to sums me up. There are many things that make up me, running dancing, crafting, learning, reenacting. I run all three seasons for school. I dance year round between tap, ballet, jazz, modern, pointe, and african at the dance studio, and civil war dancing with the Flint Hill Dance Group. When not doing that I knit, sew, study or what have you. I can't wait to start on the path of becoming a nurse next year.  Picking a title to sum me up in a few words was a challenge.  Then I remembered my first night prayers at Camp Stella Maris. Freckles! As the song goes, a face without freckles is like the sky without the stars, don't waste a second not loving who you are those little imperfections make you beautiful.... So with my face full of freckles, I will find the beauty in my madness :)