Christine's Column

College life is often described as a balancing act between academics and work. While those two areas deserve attention, the real challenge — and reward — comes from balancing everything else too: self-care, friendships and simply taking time to breathe. Schoolwork and jobs can quickly consume many hours of the day. Between classes, assignments, client projects and part-time shifts, it sometimes feels like my calendar fills up weeks in advance. Organization helps. I rely on my planner, sticky notes and Google Calendar to stay on top of deadlines and take care of business. But here’s the thing: school and work alone aren’t everything . Those are important parts of my college career, but I believe other areas of life should be prioritized just as much. It’s important to put myself first sometimes too. If I ignore my health, my energy crashes. If I skip out on friends, I burn out. That’s why I see self-care as just as important as academics or paychecks. Going to the gym is more tha...

 As I finish my third week of senior year, I can’t help but think, “Can it go by faster?” I know, I know. Last week I wrote a sappy blog about senior year and “soaking it all up,” and while that is true, I also can’t wait to start my life after college. I have always been the type of person who dislikes school and wanted to throw myself into adulthood at a young age. While not everything about being an adult is glamorous, like taxes and bills, other aspects entice me. First and foremost, I love money. I love money so much that I believe the song “That’s My Lady” by Baby Bash is one of the most romantic love songs ever written, because what could you compare a woman to that is more beautiful than money? Anyway, I work while I am at school so I can fund my shopping habit, and I would be lying if I said I never struggled to manage work with school. My biggest problem is that I prioritize working over schooling, which sometimes spreads me very thin. I work a lot, but I still have t...

My morning view when I open the course                 Well, spring break was boring. I basically spent the whole time relaxing and watching The Real Housewives of Atlanta. I did work, but because I work at a golf course when it rains, we close. I only ended up working at the course half of the days I was scheduled to work due to being called off. Toledo, Ohio didn’t suffer any tornadoes, thankfully, but we did have some bad rainstorms throughout the week causing the course to flood. Luckily, I also work for my aunt’s locally owned business and coincidentally they had a lot of work to do that week and wanted my help. So, I still worked most of the time, just not where I thought I was going to be. Mike, aka, Golf Boss             On the plus side to being called off, I had time to hangout with some of my friends, including my friend Morgan, who I haven’t seen much since high school be...

Twins x2!               As spring break approaches, I get more and more excited about a break from school. Sadly, I am not going on vacation anywhere, but I am working. I work as a bartender and beer cart girl at a golf course in my hometown. Normally the course is not open yet by this time but this year since the weather has been decently nice the course is open!             Many people don’t find their job fun, but I love mine and have fun every shift. I have worked at the golf course for many years – this year will be my seventh season. I started working there when I was 14 years old as a clubhouse assistant. Clubhouse assistants, or ‘juniors’ as we call them, basically just maintain the carts by washing, gassing and parking them and help keep the clubhouse clean and kept. When I turned 18, I was able to start beer carting and then the following year I began bartending as well....

     As college students, I feel we have all heard people say, "Changing your major is common." or "It is not a big deal to switch majors." or anything else along those lines. Perhaps that is true for some, or even majority of people, but I personally felt this was a very stressful and nerve-racking decision to make for myself.      I originally came to Ohio Northern University as a psychology major and I never thought that I would change my major. I always knew I wanted to study psychology and go into that field; both the subconscious and the conscience parts of the brain and how emotions, experiences, and other factors influence human behavior/decision-making has always been very interesting to me. Even throughout high school I took many different psychology and sociology classes, and always imagined myself in that field of work.      By the end of the fall semester my freshman year I found myself very anxious about my future and my career ...