I am a young professional in the area of Fraternity & Sorority Life. I have a passion for helping students define what it means to be their best self and for supporting, encouraging, advising, mentoring, challenging, and leading them as they strive to become that person. I value integrity, respect, independence, resilience, achievement, happiness, and spirituality. I strive to live my life in a way that is congruent with these values but I sometimes fail because I’m human. I enjoy a great underdog story. I laugh a lot and I value being able to do that in every aspect of my life. One of my favorite phrases is “I’m not going to lose sleep over that.” Because, well most things aren’t worth losing sleep. Find your sphere of influence and do what you can but you gotta trust, respect, and come to a great appreciation of His process. Life happens; deal with it and always trust that He is there for you leading you home. I would probably describe myself best as an extraverted loner. Strange, but true. 

I know that everyone is not going to agree with me. I mean, I guess that’s okay. However, whatever side of the coin you choose to support I would like for you to be able to articulate the reasons behind your opinion.

I often tell my students that if you can verbalize a well thought and well researched argument as to why you should or should not be allowed to do something then more often than not I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt. I need to understand and fully believe that they have thought about their actions and have taken into account a variety of viewpoints.

My AP Government teacher, Mr. Shepard (best teacher EVER) always told us to be ‘healthy skeptics’. Don’t automatically believe what you are told by your parents, your peers, your teachers, and especially the media.

Listen to what is said, absorb what you read and then do your own research. Figure out how you actually feel about a topic and how the outcome of any given debate will affect you. Unfortunately, we don’t experience a large amount of unbiased media so whether you get your information from FOXNews or the Daily Show you gotta do yourself a favor and take the time to become an informed proponent or opponent. Don’t just spout off what is popular—invest in developing your personal beliefs.

I often stumble onto the uninformed supporter phenomenon aka ‘blind advocate syndrome’ when it comes to people’s political beliefs. Many of us just internalize what our parents believe or we are one issue voters. I’m not sure that this is the best way to cast your vote during the upcoming election season. Be a Republican, be a Democrat, be Independent—just know and understand why you are assigning that label to yourself and your beliefs.

Now, just because you can state your case doesn’t mean we are going to agree but at least I’ll respect you ;).

I urge you to take in as many perspectives as you can before you say that you “believe” in something or someone. Practice the heart of healthy skepticism.

When was the last time you said “Thank You.”

Gratitude is becoming a feeling of the past. Our sense of relative deprivation continues to cloud our perception of what we have; instead we sit around and complain about what we don’t have, when in reality, most of us have quite a bit to be thankful for at this moment in our lives.

My pastor, Pete Wilson, delivered his last installment of the Better Days series at Crosspoint Community Church. Here are 3 nuggets about gratitude:

1. Gratitude is never invisible or silent.
2. Gratitude begins where you sense of entitlement ends.
3. Grateful people find a blessing or create a blessing in almost any situation.

Are you more of a complainer or do you lean towards giving thanks?

Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner I’m going to suggest that you start engaging in some gratitude exercises.

• Start a gratitude jar. Take a Mason Jar and a pile of colorful paper. Every day write something you are grateful for on one of the sheets of paper and place it in the jar. You could put, “The grace of God.” or “Lady Antebellum’s new album” Whatever you are feeling thankful for on that day is eligible for the jar. 
• Write a thank you note to someone who has done something nice for you. Maybe a friend hosted you at his/her home for a weekend getaway or maybe your roommate unexpectedly did your laundry. Send this person a cute little note and tell them how much you appreciate them and their kind gesture. 
• Take the #betterdayschallenge with Crosspoint Community Church and Tweet 3 things you are grateful for—1. “Moves Like Jagger” for getting me through traffic 2. my car for getting me where I need to go 3. Scoring tickets to The Civil Wars at Ryman in January—see, it is just that easy.