No, this isn't about my reflecting on my 2007 punk rock/emo phase... Although it never got to THAT extreme of a point lol. I did only exclusively wear clothes from Zumiez and Hot Topic though. ðŸ˜ðŸ˜…
So my first month of being a 27 year old has come to a close. At the beginning of the month, while on my trip, I was listening to a podcast from Jay Shetty on his "On Purpose" podcast. I guess at the time of the episode airing, he was also celebrating a birthday. Also, by the way, if you don't know who Jay Shetty is, he's a pretty inspiring person. He's basically a modern-day monk, and I believe he used to BE a monk. All of his podcast episodes help give perspective on things and find gratitude in everything we do.
Anyway, on his birthday episode, he talked about this exercise that he does every birthday. He reflects on his previous year and writes out a lesson he learned each month. The purpose is to have perspective on where you were and have clarity in where you are going. It's funny, before listening to this episode, I was already talking with friends during my visit home about what my overall theme was of being 26. Then I listened to this episode on the plane ride back, and woah, synchronicity??
I decided to write out a lesson I learned from each month of the past year and see how it ties into the theme I already gave for the year. To my amazement, I had a clear picture of my previous year and where I am heading. I now want to be more proactive with documenting my year, so I decided to write down a lesson learned at the end of every month. I want to ensure that I'm on top of what's going on in my life, but also keep the practice of reflection consistent.
So, with all that, here's my lesson learned from September of 2021. This month I learned that it's important to own your aesthetic and let it shine through in any environment you're in. Just because you're in a professional environment doesn't mean you have to succumb to that energy completely. You can still be professional while allowing your individualism to poke through the cracks. People like working with other humans, not robots. It's important to keep the human connection piece alive when working with others.
When I was in my first job last week, I feel that I was perhaps quieting the real "me," to ensure I came off prepared, professional, and polished. I believe that it partially had to do with it being my FIRST job and I wanted to give a good first impression. However, reflecting on it now, I think I came off a bit too robotic and didn't let people see the REAL me. Moving forward, I'm going to work on being more conscious of letting my personality shine through while also maintaining the utmost professionalism.
After speaking with one of my mentors, it's absolutely possible to do both those things: have personality AND be professional. After all, I want people to want to work with ME for ME, you know? So I'm gonna let the pink, fluffy, squishy Hello Kitty side of me flourish when working on set.
So why don't you try and write down what you learned from the previous month? 😘😘
Here's the link to Jay's Podcast episode: