Self-Reflection

Today in class we talked extensively about our self-concept and how it's important to truy know ourselves in order to be effective Peer Mentors. Quite a lot recently, probably partially due to being a member of this class, I have been trying to observe myself from other's perspective and engaging in meta-cognition (thanks to Heath for clarifying the term for me.) I have become increasingly aware of my values, motivations, and situational factors that influence me. This semester with as busy as I am (full-time student, working as a Cyclone Aide, volunteering for Office of Admissions as a STAR, planning a conference, being Vice-President of Maple and coordinating this fitness program for all of the residence halls, and Hixson Peer Mentor training.) I have come to terms with who is important to me and what I want from life. I have had limited time to engage in social interactions with friends, and I have noticed I have taken the time to make time for those people who are important to me, and people whom I consider to be more of a negative influence I have put minimal effort towards seeing. I will also try to make time to see some of my other friend's more and get to know some people better, as I've formed a lot of new relationships this semester.
There are other things I am looking to change as well. Lately I have been trying to exercise more and eat healthier, as a part of the physical awareness we discussed in class today. Although I am by no means unhealthy or anything, I do need to take care of myself some more, so I have been out running more often and have cut drastically down on soft drinks/junk food, and have been replacing those with more fruits and vegetables. I'm not 100% there yet, but just in the past couple of weeks I have made significant progress. I also figure as being a member of Health/Wellness Committee for IRHA, I should set a positive example for residents. I will carry this on to my role as a Peer Mentor as well.
I have also come to more of a conclusion of what I want to do later on in life. I love working with people and meeting new people all of the time. I like to teach people new things and help them out whenever I can. Pretty much all of my involvement outside of the classroom has had to do with teaching/helping people. I am really highly considering applying to the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies program here at ISU to major in Higher Education. I honestly would love just teaching/helping people for the rest of my life and I like university settings as well. I obviously still have a while to decide but that is the direction I think I'll be heading in. Perhaps my role as a Peer Mentor will reaffirm that decision or allow me to consider going in other directions. Only time can tell.
I am really loving this class. I believe Matt mentioned in his blog how this class was his favorite class...I can honestly say it was my favorite class as well too. Not only do we learn a lot about each other, we also learn a lot about ourselves. I have never really been in a setting where people have been so open about themselves and I feel very comfortable in this group sharing just about anything. I highly look forward to facilitating class discussion next week...I give presentations and stuff all of the time, but it's been a long time since I've really facilitated a discussion. I really do look forward to working with everybody for the next year and hope we can help to make the next class of Hixson Scholars successful!


PS: I apologize for another excessively long post...as I said, I've been engaging in lots of introspection lately and I pretty much have just been typing it all out to bring it more to my conscience mind. If anybody thinks my thoughts are too jumbled or confusing just tell me. I should really stop typing now and study for my two tests later...today, since it's past midnight now that I'm finally finishing. Hope everybody has a nice week!