Self Advocacy

This semester--which is my second to last semester of classes at pharmacy school :D --I'm taking an elective called Humanistic Pharmacy. Originally, I signed up for it because it's an easy A elective and I still needed elective credits. It's a little inconvenient because the class meets from 6:30-8:30pm on Wednesday nights. Before each class I think to myself, "man, I don't want to be here on campus until 8:30pm :(." But as soon as I get to class I'm grateful that I'm there because we do a lot of reflecting and thinking and even though it's not a religious class I really feel the spirit a lot in that class. More than learning how to incorporate humanism in pharmacy, I feel like I've been learning a lot on how I can improve as an individual.

One thing that really struck me this week was our discussion about advocacy. Now, in pharmacy school advocacy usually means writing letters to senators, going to capitol hill, meeting legislative officers and advocating for pharmacists to be reimbursed and recognized as healthcare professionals. And that's exactly what my mind when to when my teacher said the word "advocacy." But then she said she was actually talking about SELF Advocacy. She said, "What is it going to take for you to take care of yourself? Why do we have to feel guilty about every moment we spend on ourselves?" And it's true. Even if I do something like spend time with family or de-stress by watching a movie, I still end up feeling stressed and guilty the night before exams and think to myself, "I shouldn't have wasted so much time..." I think I've definitely gotten better at living a balanced life especially since being in pharmacy school--doing fun things while managing school and work--but I've decided to more fully follow the wise words of Tom Haverford: "Treat YO Self!"--well...in moderation of course :D

I think a lot of the time I waste time on facebook or instagram and it's not even that fun or much of a stress relief to me, but I do it because I don't feel like studying. I think I'm going to try to cut down on that kind of wasted time and instead set goals to what I want to treat myself to. Like taking photos, going on picnics with Max, pinterest crafting, or going on a road trip! 

The end of summer is always hard and bittersweet. It's not that I hate school, but at the same time I sometimes hate school :P I miss the carefree days of summer when I could come home from work and watch a movie (or two) after dinner while crafting or just be lazy because I wanted to. Max always laughs at how sad I get when school starts and I get the "back to school blues." It's also the worst because grocery stores no longer carry cherries and all the fruit prices sky rocket and I'm left to eating just apples and bananas instead of all the summer fruits I love so much.And I get all sad for like two weeks and eat lots of Rita's, junk food, and chocolate. But in the end I know why I'm doing what I'm doing and I know it's good for me. So time to stop ranting and get back to work (while still fitting in some guilt-free self advocacy along the way of course) :D

Plus, now that I'm done with my back to school blues it's basically autumn, which is my favorite time of year. I'm so excited for the cool morning air, crunchy leaves, apple picking, and Halloween candy. And Christmas is 109 days! God is so good to us. :)

August 2016. Columbus, OH.

Life & The Lion King

The Lion King is hands down my favorite movie ever. I remember watching it over and over again as a little girl and singing and dancing to all of the fun songs. And last night, Max decided we should watching it for our Sunday movie night! I can't even remember the last time I watched it and so it was even more fun to watch it again! Surprisingly I remembered most of the lyrics and had no problem belting all of the songs at the top of my lungs (which is pretty impressive because I usually can't for the life of me memorize song lyrics).

It was fun to reminisce about our childhood as we watched the movie too. I also thought about all the things I didn't quite understand when I watched the movie as a 6-year old Korean-American girl who was just learning English. Like I remember the first few times I watched the movie I didn't catch onto the fact that the reason why no one liked Pumba was because he had a lot of bad gas. They never say the word fart so it was kind of hard to catch onto just through a song bahaha. And then there's also that part in the song "Can you feel the love tonight" where it says vagabond and I clearly remember just making up a word and singing that part because I didn't know what they were saying :P And Sonhee and I would also always say "halmoni" (the Korean word for grandma) when they would say "in perfect harmony" in that same song as well. Man, we thought we were so funny and clever haha. [The whole English as a second language thing was real guys! #firstgenerationamericanproblems #thestrugglewasreal ;)] And I always thought the Pride lands were barren because Scar was evil and evil made everything die, but now it makes sense that with the coyotes there disrupting the food chain, how it would cause an imbalance in different animal populations. And then there are those little jokes here and there that I never caught onto as well, like "Mufasa? Que, pasa?" bahaha.

I always cried when Mufasa died every time I watched it when I was little, and without fail I teared up watching it last night as well. And then teared up again when Mufasa's spirit comes back to talk to Simba. And then for the first time I realized how many life lessons are taught in that movie. I mean, I always knew it was a good movie and taught good messages but it really hit me watching that part where Simba is talking to Mufasa's cloud spirit.

Mufasa: Simba, you have forgotten me.
Simba: No, how could I?
Mufasa: You have forgotten who you are and so have forgotten me. Look inside yourself Simba. You are more than what you have become. You must take your place in the Circle of life.
Simba: How can I go back? I'm not who I used to be.
Mufasa: Remember who you are. You are my son and the one true king. Remember who you are. Remember. 

I mean come on--can it get anymore churchy/spiritual than that?! The creators of the Lion King have to have been religious. But it's so true. When we forget who we are--that we are children of God, a king--we thereby have forgotten our Father in Heaven. And no matter how many mistakes we have made or how long it has been since we've made those mistakes, we can always go back to our place on the path to eternal life, thanks to our Savior and the atonement.

It's been my New Years Resolution to read the Book of Mormon for 15 minutes every day, and although it hasn't always been a perfect 15 minutes, it's really made a difference in my days. I'm also loving my calling as a Young Women's Leader. I've really tried to make it a goal to magnify my calling this year and giving more time to preparing for my lessons. Preparing lessons has been so great for my personal growth and learning this past year. The best way to learn is really to teach :)

Anyways, back to studying for my TBL quiz tomorrow... >.< oh the joy....