You only live once, that's the motto...

It's been a very very busy November, and it's crazy to think it's almost over!!! School has been at full speed, and I finally have a little bit of a break (and by little bit of a break, I mean I don't have exams until finals in ~3 weeks). So, on this wonderful fall/winter day, I thought I'd blog about my favorite upcoming holiday! No, I'm not talking about Christmas... I'm talking about:

THANKSGIVING! 

Everyone starts getting ready for Christmas earlier and earlier. It used to be that after Thanksgiving, it was acceptable to do that. Now Christmas merchandise is out in stores before Halloween is over. Such a tragedy.

Thanksgiving is seriously my favorite holiday of the year. Pretty much the only major US holiday that has not caved into consumerism. Yes, you have to buy the food, but compare it to Christmas, Valentine's Day, Fourth of July, Halloween, etc. Thanksgiving is one of the only "pure" holidays we have left... hence why it is my favorite!

Traditionally, I have 2 Thanksgiving dinners, one for lunch and one for dinner. Lunch is with my mom's side of the family, and dinner is with my dad's side of the family. There's a HUGE turkey, mashed potatoes, cheesy potatoes, green beans, dressing/stuffing, chicken'n'dumplings, mac'n'cheese, cranberry sauce, turkey gravy, rolls, pies, etc. Just any kind of food that you love, it's there in huge portions. After the lunch one, the women sit and talk and look through old pictures, while the men go downstairs to watch football and fall asleep.

But, while Thanksgiving has all that yummy food, the real reason I love this holiday the most is because we all remember who and what we are thankful for in our lives. It's more of the who than the what, but the fact that we reflect and see what is important to us is the reason that this holiday ranks above all others. At the end of the day, we have to be thankful for all the good that is in our lives. I'm always thankful for my wonderful family and the best friends I could ask for. I'm thankful for my health, my opportunities that have come my way, and every day I'm here on this earth. I know the last one sounds a little bit sappy, but it's so true that you never know when a person's last day is. So why not live every day to the fullest, and be thankful for each and every day?

Which now transitions (quite nicely, I might add) to the title of this blog post. "You only live once, that's the motto..." If you know me, you know I love all music I can dance to. I also have an affinity for hip hop and R&B music. Drake is one of my favorite R&B artists, and his newest album, Take Care, just came out a couple of days ago.

I must say, I LOVE IT. It's funny, though. My favorite song is one that only showed up on the deluxe version, called the The Motto (f. Lil Wayne). The song has a great beat, and the main line I LOVE is that one in the title. You really only do live once, and you better remember that, and use that motivation to make the most of your time on this earth. 

I hope you check out the new album, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving (countdown: 5 days!!!!!!) with loved ones (whomever that means you spend it with). Remember to give thanks for everything that has gotten you to where and who you are today, and plan for the future, because you do only live once.

Back to chemistry, with some serenading from Drake :)

The keys to success lie within you, but do you know where they are?

I always like to include a twitter post that I like... one I saw from a week or two ago, and even though it's from more of a soccer twitter account (@soccerfocus), it contained a motivational quote that really embodies the way I've been thinking the last year or so:

"Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals" ~ Jim Rohn

We grow up trying to find success in the world, and most of the time we think success comes from how much money we make and how we are viewed in society (aka showing off how much money we have). While that seems a bit materialistic, there is a good message behind it that gets lost in translation. (Most of) the people that have a lot of money have worked extremely hard to make that money, so why not be entitled to spend it? (Don't get me wrong, I do hate it when people throw around money when they have it, and I am DEFINITELY not condoning that.) The real problem is that everyone expects success, but not many people make the sacrifices and put in the effort needed to reach that success.
I never knew who Jim Rohn was until today, and since I used his quote, I figured I'd do some research on him (aka use Wikipedia). His story is incredible. He dropped out of college after his first year, and then began working at Sears for a $57 paycheck (granted this was in the 1950s... a little bit different compared to today). A friend brought him to a motivational speaker's talk, a entrepreneur, and apparently that changed everything. He joined this big business at age 25, and was a millionaire by age 31. Not too shabby, in my opinion. Rohn then gave talks for the next 30 or so years around the world, and published a book, Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle. (I haven't read it yet, but after reading How to Win Friends and Influence People this summer, I think it'd be a good read for study breaks) Apparently, Rohn considers 5 components of success:

• Philosophy - how you think
• Attitude - how you feel
• Action - what you do
• Results - measure often to see if you are making progress
• Lifestyle - the kind of life you can make for yourself out of the first 4 pieces

The philosophy and attitude are just as much important as the action part. I always am trying to put a positive spin on things, because it's almost pointless to try to accomplish something if you're not in the state of mind or emotional state you need to be in. Obviously you have to put in some work to get out results, but checking yourself on your progress you want to achieve is a nice tool to keep you on track. Then you get to the lifestyle part, and it's smooth sailing from there.


I know for me, to be successful in the short-term is to get into the PhD program here at UC. For long term, there are so many "types" of success. Obviously we all want to be successful in our jobs, but I also want to be successful in my personal life. That includes someday a family of my own, while still showing love to those friends and family I have right now. There's success in getting my PhD, and there's success in continuing to be healthy.

We all have the tools and opportunity to be successful, but are we too afraid to fail to not even try to be successful? Or is there a point where you just take the risk and block out failure to get to where you need to be? What makes you successful? Is it all a subjective thing, or is there an overall objective definition of success? I do like Jim Rohn's definition from earlier, just helping to show that you have to put in the work to get the success; it doesn't just happen.

One more quote before I go back to chemistry land. It's a quote from one of my high school basketball shirts (my coach was really into them, though one of the quotes was: "Do or do not; there is no try." - Yoda... so take it as you will), but this quote still really speaks to me:

"The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary."

Okay, that's all for today. I know that personally I am ready to be successful and put in the work to get there... I hope you are too. Have a wonderful day blog world, there's so much to be thankful for and be happy about. :)