And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been

I’ve always liked the idea of making resolutions to start off the new year. It’s a way of turning the page and starting anew. But I don’t think January 1 is the only time of year to make plans and set goals for ourselves. I’m a big fan of starting fresh when you say you’re ready to, whether that’s on January 1 or June 21.

Usually my New Year’s Resolutions are pretty vague and very general and generally unattainable. This year I wanted to be sure to make resolutions I would actually stick to, ones that would actually make me happy and proud of myself. I also made a promise to myself to revisit my resolutions on the first of every month to check in and see how I’m doing with each of them. March 1 is here, and it’s time to sit down and evaluate where I’m at with my resolutions, now two months into 2019.

I told you so you’d see how this whole world was made for you, how it warms when you smile and aches when you hurt. I told you so you could stop being afraid.

I graduated from the University of Iowa with a Journalism & Mass Communication major, English minor, and Fundraising & Philanthropy Communication certificate last month! Commencement was on December 16, 2017, which means I've officially been unemployed for one month today. Yay!

In all honesty, this is such a confusing time in my life. I've never experienced such boredom and relaxation, fear and anxiety, or just overall uncertainty. From one day to the next, I experience such a range of feelings and emotions. One day I'm totally relaxed and enjoying this period of rest and time off, and the next I feel like such a failure for not having found a job yet. Plus a variety of other feelings in between. Through it all, I'm just trying to stay optimistic!

Over the holidays, it was nice to kind of kick back and not worry about not having a job because I was enjoying time at home with my family. But now that I'm back in Iowa City, Ik now I need to stay focused and productive. I spend my Mondays and Wednesdays at my internship for the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature and the other three weekdays browsing jobs online and following up with previous applications I've submitted. I try to give myself a break on the weekends, but I still find my mind wandering and uneasy, my fingers itching for my laptop to look for more jobs to apply. No matter how much I search or how long I look, I still feel like I'm not being productive enough, and nothing will be enough until I actually find a job.

I'm making space for the unknown future to fill up my life with yet-to-come surprises.

Wow, it feels good to be back! As you probably noticed, I haven't written for the blog in quite a while. In fact, it's been about two months since my last post. To be honest, I didn't feel the most inspired and creative this summer. I was working full time and usually wanted to do absolutely nothing when I got home at the end of the day. I know I'm going to have to get over that soon, as I'll be (hopefully) working full time after graduation in a few months, but for now I'm glad to headed back to school soon!

I wrapped up my summer internship at the Greater Des Moines Partnership on Tuesday, August 8 and had a lot of mixed feelings about being done. The experience wasn't necessarily what I thought or hoped it would be, but I still learned a lot and met amazing people and worked on incredible projects while I was there. I'm very grateful for the opportunity I had to work there this summer.

I think one of the main reasons I was a little bummed during the first few weeks of my internship is that I missed nannying! I missed my kiddos and hanging out with them every day and doing fun kid things and just having a fun summer with them. Ok, that bummed me out the whole summer and still does. I just really loved nannying and would honestly do it my whole life! But as Mary Poppins knows so well, kids grow up and don't need their nannies forever. I absolutely loved the three summers I spent with the Niggs and would not trade them for anything at all. I'm incredibly excited that I get to see my good ol' nanny kids before I head to school, so we'll get to catch up on everything just like old times.

Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well.

I'm a working girl! I'm about to jump into my fourth week as the Communications & Marketing intern at the Greater Des Moines Partnership. Three weeks in, I feel like I have a good idea of what my summer in this position will look like, and I definitely think I'm going to learn a lot this summer!

Ever since accepting the position — and especially since starting the internship — I've been thinking about all of the internship experiences I've had in the last few years. My internship experience actually dates back to senior year of high school, when I landed not one but two internships for the year. I thought it would be fun to take a little stroll down internship memory lane and highlight the positions I've had.

My junior year of high school I applied for a program called School-to-Work. School-to-Work allowed seniors to take a term-length careers course and then enter the real world as an intern with an organization related to their career goals for the rest of the year. I was so excited to see my name posted on the instructor's window announcing that I had been selected with less than fifty other students to participate in the program, out of over 100 applicants.

Philanthropy Communication in a Digital World

These are two videos I created with a partner for the Iowa Writers' House in my Philanthropy Communication in a Digital World class.

About the Iowa Writers' House

Iowa Writers' House Workshop Experience

Reflect upon your present blessings—of which every man has many—not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

2016 was...interesting, to say the least. Many people hated 2016; granted, a lot of negative things did happen this year. A large number of influencers and artists passed away, an election divided our country, and violence and hate continued to tear our world apart. I'm not going to try to sugarcoat it: it was a tough year for a lot of people. But I've never been one to focus on the negative. I always try to see the positive, especially in difficult situations, so I'm looking back at the positive highlights of my own 2016.

—To start 2016, I started this blog! It's been so much fun to do, and I have some great projects in the works for the new year.

—My nephew and godson turned one, and I got to spend another incredible year watching him grow and learn. He also said my name for the first time this year (both as "Rah-Rah" and as "Sarah")!

—I got to go on two amazing trips to New York City. The first was in April with Ed on Campus during which we visited a number of magazines and got to visit with editors. The second was in July for Her Conference, which featured great speakers and workshops. During this trip I also bonded with three Her Campus Iowa girls, and they are now some of my best friends.

She was blindly following whatever impulse moved her, as if she had placed herself in alien hands for direction, and freed her soul of responsibility.

It is a time to refresh! There are many reasons to let go and relax a little bit right now, which always helps me to feel refreshed. While I'm not the biggest fan of change, as you know, endings and beginnings can be good and exciting. I've got three exciting and refreshing changes happening right now, so I wanted to share a little bit about them with you.

The semester is over

Another semester at the University of Iowa has come to an end. It's hard to believe that I've finished five semesters at Iowa and only have two left. Having only two semesters left technically makes me a senior, and I've got many mixed emotions about that.

This semester went by so fast, and it may have been my busiest semester yet. While I took fewer semester hours, I also had an internship this semester. Logging on and working during those set hours during the week meant there was less time during the day to do homework, which meant I was doing more of it at night. Overall, my internship was an amazing experience, and I'm so happy that I did it. It's hard to find internships to do during school, so being able to do it remotely worked out perfectly. I didn't post much of my work throughout the semester, so if you want to check out everything I wrote for Her Campus (nationals) during the semester, you can check out my author page.

You only grow by coming to the end of something and by beginning something else.

Sunday I moved back to Iowa City, and that day marked a day of a lot of things. It marked beginnings and endings alike.

It marked the end of a great summer.

This summer was such a great one. I spent every day with awesome kiddos. It was my third summer nannying for the Nigg family, so at this point, it didn't even really feel like work. It felt like hanging out with friends or even siblings. And we did some fun stuff! We went to movies and Living History Farms, swimming and hiking, and just hung out. This was most likely my last summer with the Niggs, and it was a great last one to have with them.

I also went on an amazing trip to NYC this summer in case you didn't know! It was full of fun sightseeing, an amazing conference, and quality time with new friends. I couldn't have asked for a better trip. Fingers crossed I can attend the conference next summer!

Home wasn't a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, whenever you were together.

I've always loved being at home. I love hanging out with my family and just being together.

Coming to school last year was really hard. I remember the day I moved in, and honestly, it was probably one of the worst days of my life. To me moving away to school meant that I was leaving home for good, that I would never live at home again. To some this probably sounds amazing, but to me, it was devastating.

After a few days, especially once classes started, I got into a schedule and started to feel better. But I still longed to be at home and with my family.

I still get homesick sometimes. This week, even, I've been missing home a little more than usual.

After almost two years of school under my belt, I've come up with a few things that help me when I'm missing home a little extra.

Call home
Whenever I'm feeling homesick, I make a phonemail home. I usually talk to my mom a lot throughout the week, but when I'm missing home, I give her an extra call. And she always knows just what to say. After talking things through with Mom, I always seem to feel a little better.

Do something familiar
I find that when I'm missing home, doing something that reminds me of home helps. Whether it's watching one of my family's favorite shows on Netflix or reading one of my favorite books, doing something that brings back those homey feelings helps me work my way out of my funk.

Stay busy
Like I said before, once I got into a schedule with classes and student orgs, I didn't really have time to dwell on my feelings of homesickness. By getting involved, you also open yourself up to meet more people and make more friends. Plus, getting involved helps you to get excited about something, so that excitement helps take the focus off of sad feelings.

Go forth and do well. But, more importantly, go forth and do good.

I've always loved the idea of doing good things, and I try really hard in my daily life to actually do good things.

In high school I was a part of an organization called RAK, which stands for Random Acts of Kindness and Rachel's Ambassador Klub. We did various service activities and volunteer projects. Being involved in RAK really triggered my interest in service and volunteering and just plain old kindness. It became one of my biggest passions and my number one goal to be kind.

I started thinking about ways I could incorporate this newfound passion into my future. I knew there would always be opportunities to be kind and volunteer my time, but I wanted to make a career out of it. I wanted to be kind full-time and promote the idea of being kind to everyone I could.