You're Not as Cute as You Should Be, But There is a Cream for That

Holy smokes, do yo think I have hardly anything left to say after week one?? Let's find out!

Day 8: Learn to Enjoy Solitude
Mondays are one of my favorite days of the week.  I imagine a few of you gasping or rolling your eyes at me.  But I mean it with all my heart.  Mondays mean only two classes (Differential Equations and Physics II) and that I get to go swimming at noon with my awesome friend Esther.  But this Monday I felt pretty ill, so I went home after Diff Eq and napped and napped and napped until Physics at 3:30.  I am counting this as my time alone, to slow down my day and heal.

On this day, Esther swam TWO MILES.  Up to this point, the farthest we had ever swam was ONE. Maaaaaannnnnnnnn, while I was enjoying my sleepy solitude, Esther was kicking butt and taking names.  But it is good to take care of yourself, even if your competitive and fanatically determined work out buddy is swimming you under the table.  Go Esther!

I will be tickled pink if I swim 1 mile this Friday.

This is my favorite place to be alone on campus.  Anyone know where this is?

Day 9: Downsize Beauty Collection
I have a long way to go.  Does any body else have about 4 years worth of hair products hidden every medicine cabinet in every home they've ever lived in?  Over Christmas break when I was back in Glasgow, I know that I tossed a TON of half empty everything away and tried to give my friends what I didn't want (you're welcome, person who smells like pomegranate lotion).

In my dorm in Grand Forks, the issue really isn't that bad.  Do I have more lipsticks than I need?  The answer is yes, because I literally never wear lipstick so they never get used up.  So why do I have lipstick in the first place? UGGGH,  Revlon marketers are just good at their job, okay? But I haven't accumulated hair products like I did in high school because there just aren't enough hours in the day to dream about your apartment next year, prepare for the exam-of-the-week, and Brazilian Blowout your hair.

Maybe there are.  But I guess I just don't try very hard to make it happen.

Here are beauty facts for your day!

• The "beauty industry" (hair-care, skin care, and makeup products) is a 382 BILLION dollar business!
• Olay is the largest of these, worth $11.8 billion, and over 60 years old!
• Estimated 85% of consumer base is female
• Of the top 50 brands in beauty industry, 41 are over 60 years old (15 of these 41 are over 100 years old!)
• Who of us prefer a brand that Mom trusted?

Making money of manufactured insecurities is GREAT for these businesses! And so is communicating the importance of purple lips.

Revlon: Getting Ellen's money, $8 and a tube of lipstick at a time.

Source:

 Gourndreau, Jenna. "The Top 10 Global Beauty Brands." Forbes. 20 Apr. 2012. Web. 6 Apr. 2016. 

Day 10: Stay Off Email and Social Media until Lunch
Woo! The first complete and total fail of this challenge adventure!

I am just so excited about the cheap and frighteningly white apartment I'm going to have next semester.  So I am on Pinterest before I go to bed and I'm on Pinterest when I wake up. This day was no different.....

And I needed to email a bunch of people about registering for classes....And I needed to use the internet to access the practice Physics tests that I uploaded to my computer.... And then I spent a little more time on Pinterest looking at patchwork curtains... and then I wasn't supposed to be in the internet.  It was 11:45.  Woops!

Day 11: Evaluate Your Commitments
Is this redundant? It feels redundant...

But here is a perfect opportunity to try to remember the "why" to our "busy."  The reason that we rush and run and fall exhausted into bed at night.

Are you doing "busy" because you don't feel good enough? Because you are scraping by and "busy" is the only option? Because you want to buy more things to feel more welcome, successful, and loved?

Or are you busy with fulfillment?  Are you scrambling with happy?  Are your days lined with perspective and sprinkled with contentment?  No ones lives are perfect, and you will not love everything you do.  But if you can arrange you commitments to have a little more time of "doing" and less time for "busy" for the sake of being so, there is a really good chance you feel a good when you fall into bed exhausted at night.  And there is no price on that feeling.