Is It Always Necessary to Say How You Feel?

I wanted to write a different blog today but had some emotions on my shoulders.  Yesterday, Auburn beat Florida! WAHOO!  The game was amazing because 1. it was Florida 2. they are in the SEC which always makes for a fun game and 3. it was a night game! The only thing not enjoyable about the game were this two guys sitting in front of me bashing Auburn the entire game.  And might I add, they were Auburn students.

I'll start from the beginning (sorry if you have already heard this story): The first kick of the game, Florida receives.  The two guys in front of me begin... "Trotter sucks.  I hope he realizes what he's doing to us.  I can't believe they would let him start this week."  Let me remind you, we are on DEFENSE!!! Trotter is not even on the field.  So I bite my tongue.  We get on offense and Trotter has a few bad plays but everyone makes mistakes.  Let's move on.  Oh no! These two guys insisted on yelling and screaming about everything he did, every play the coaches called, and everything else that could have possibly been good or bad on the field (If we scored, they didn't like how we did it).  By this time maybe 5 minutes has passed in the first quarter.  I am not going to be able to enjoy this game unless I say something to these guys.  I tap the biggest one on the shoulder (because he was making the most comments) and yell with my shaker pointed at his face "Listen, are you a full time athlete and a full time student? I don't think so.  You couldn't do any of that even if you wanted to because you are a fat a**!!" So he yells back and me and his friend gets involved and says "We went to high school with Trotter so we are allowed to talk about him like this." EXCUSE ME! No you are not! He is a human being and is busting his butt at practice and in school and you think you can just put someone down like that? No! All of this happened right in the middle of our first touchdown.  This makes me mad because I can't even enjoy the touchdown because I am shaking with furry! This guy has made me miss the touchdown and I can't believe he is dogging our players and coaches like this.

After a few plays, Trotter throws a completion and I realize I am not going to be able to sit like this for the entire game.  So I politely tap him on the shoulder again and apologize for calling him names and calmly explain how it infuriates me that people put down other people to make themselves feel better.  He says he appreciates my apology and he shouldn't have gotten that worked up.  But for the rest of the game, his friend continued to dog cuss our players and coaches every move they made under his breathe.

Now if Brenden would have been at the game with me this whole situation would have been avoided because he would have never let me get in someone's face like that.  I am so embarrassing.  haha But it happened and I am glad I did it because these players go through a lot of crap.  Whether they are on scholarship or not these players put in long hours, get yelled out by the coaches, get dogged by the media, and still have to go to school and live their lives as normal as possible.  I don't know how they do it.  I hope these players know that a true Auburn fan would never put them down like those two guys and half of the student section does.  A true Auburn man or woman stands up for their family and would never consider them any lower than themselves.

          "...I believe in a sound mind, in a sound body and a spirit that is not afraid, and in clean sports that
          develop these qualities... and because Auburn men and women believe in these things, I BELIEVE IN
          AUBURN AND LOVE IT!" ~Lines from the Auburn Creed, George Petrie

Hard Work Deserves a Reward

I am two semesters away from graduating and I cannot be more excited.  I stayed in Auburn every summer and took classes, I came in with 22 hours from Dual Enrollment classes, and I have managed to passed all my classes with mostly shining colors! And after seven and half years, I am a semester and half away from graduation.  Since all this hard work was put in on the front end, I believe it is time to reward myself.

This semester I am taking nine hours and next semester I am taking eight hours.  This light load is not because I want to make my life any easier.  Lord knows I am busy with millions of other things.  No, the light load is because those are the only classes I have left until I graduate from college.  I put in the work in the beginning and was able to make it less stressful so I could focus on finding a job, enjoying my last year as a college student, and really focus on my upper level classes.

A simple joke this semester has been about my light class load but another joke from the past three years I have been in the Hospitality Management program is, "Oh, you are here to get your MRS degree." While I have met an amazing guy, I do not plan on living my life through his to make sure I can stay afloat.  I am an independent person and I plan on living that way for a while.  I am in Hospitality Management because it is what I am passionate about.  I love serving others and meeting others expectations.  I guess this came about because I always had to have everything my way when I was little.  Now, hopefully, I can give guests exactly what they want and more.

This major is by no means easy.  Yes, it may be more interesting than watching fungus grow in a lab, or punching numbers into a calculator, or listening to children scream all day, but you made your choice to do those things with your life.  I made my career choice in enjoying the finer things in life.  So the next time you call my major an "MRS" degree or an easy way out of college, think to yourself, where would I stay on the business trips I have to go on for my job if it wasn't for that degree, where would you eat, would there be such a thing as vacation? Probably not!

Why Should You Not Be Motivated?

Lately, people have said to me "You are so positive." "You are so motivated." "How do you do everything you do?" Most of the time my response is, "No I'm not. I just know how to time manage my time." When really I should just say, "Yeah, I guess I am." Without motivation from people in my life I would not make it through some of my days.

I like to stay busy. I like having numerous things to do and challenging myself to get all those things done in one day. But without someone saying to me "You can do it." every once in a while I would be really down sometimes. It's a nice reminder to know that there are people around me that want to support me and want to help me through life.

But you have to have a drive within you as well. I feel very blessed in my life. I'm healthy, have great friends and family, I have a part time job, and I could not ask for anything more. I think about the people in this world who aren't as blessed as me. That motivates me to be the best I can be. How could I be miserable when I don't have anything to complain about?

Yes, I have problems. But dwelling on them isn't going to help me. And those extra pushes from those special people in my life that just tell me that one sentence "You can do it." make the world of difference in those situations. I hope you all can find those special people in your life so you are able to make the most out of your life.

God bless,

Kayla