Category: positivity

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Three Months

We are three months into the Alabama experience and there are a few things that I have learned since I have been living in Huntsville.

Beer is a serious thing down here

I always thought that Buffalo was a big drinking town, and it certainly is as the last call is still at 4 am, but if you are looking for really excellent craft beers, Northern Alabama is a great place to be. Here in Huntsville, an old school was converted into a complex for several breweries to hone their crafts. Campus no. 805 houses multiple breweries, bars, restaurants, and other businesses on its 13-acre plot of land. Beer aficionados can purchase their beer in the local grocery store and, if they are in the mood for something other than beer, they can also buy wine in the same grocery store. This, again, is a difference from NYS where wine can only be purchased in the liquor store.

Speed limits are merely suggestions and tailgating is an art

A misconception that many Northerners have about the South is that the people are slow moving. Now, I have noticed some people walking slowly and they certainly take their time with the customer service, but once they get behind the wheel of a car holy crap are they ever in a hurry! It’s like they have to rush to get everywhere so that they can then take their time talking. I have never been tailgated as much as I have in the past 3 months of my life. At first, I thought it could be due to my bumper stickers. Perhaps they were mad at my liberal views and so they decided to make me feel uncomfortable, but I quickly realized that had nothing to do with it. They just like to drive fast. If the speed limit is 45 you can be sure that everyone around you will be driving a minimum of 60, if not faster. And nobody uses signals down here either, so you just have to guess if the person behind or in front of you is suddenly going to change lanes. Driving in Alabama is, to say the least, an experience.

Huntsville is a lot like Buffalo

My friends and family in Western New York will certainly think I am lying when I say this, but Buffalo and Huntsville are very similar. The people here LOVE football just as much as WNYers love watching the Bills. Saturdays are game days and you can see people wearing either Roll Tide or Tigers gear, EVERYWHERE. The funny thing about them rooting for the University of Alabama or Auburn is that both of these schools are a day trip away from Huntsville. UofA has a campus in Huntsville, but the campus where they play the games (the main campus) is in Tuscaloosa – 2 hours and 31 minutes away. Auburn is even farther at 3 hours and 44 minutes away, but anywhere you can buy clothes you can buy gear for both of these schools. Alabama A&M, which has a football team and is in Huntsville, only has one off-campus location where their gear is sold and people are not super into rooting for them.

Another way that Huntsville and Buffalo are similar is population-wise. Buffalo has a population of 258,612 (as of 2017), while Huntsville is at 194,585 and growing. Huntsville is laid out similar to Buffalo in that there is a downtown core with housing, the cultural district, the historic district, and an entertainment district and is surrounded by suburbs and rural areas further out. Sound familiar? Huntsville is also becoming more gentrified by the hipsters, which also falls in line with the Buffalo scene.

Huntsville has central industries that revolve around NASA, software, and missile defense. This means that there are many people who work in Huntsville that are not originally from the area. These people generally do not live in the city. In Buffalo, there is a similar theme, but the industries are different in that they revolve more around banking, start-ups, and the medical campus. A cool outcome of living in a city where NASA has a large presence is that our local television company provides the NASA channel for 24-hour viewing. The late-night broadcasting is especially soothing as they show images of earth from the space station with calming background music, providing a great way to relax and unwind before bed.

Severe weather exists in Huntsville, just as it does in Buffalo, but in the form of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. We are actually under a severe weather threat for this evening and I am super excited and scared for it. I know exactly what to do when a blizzard is coming, but preparing for a tornado is very different. Especially when it is forecasted to hit the area between 1 and 3 am. If we have to take shelter, we will be up all night. At least with a snowstorm, you can generally sleep through it and the morning is super annoying if there was not enough accumulation to warrant closed roads, forcing workers to clean off cars and drive to work in a few feet of snow. But at least snow melts. More updates on the severe weather in the Tennessee Valley to come…

Northern Alabama is not at all how I thought it would be

The biggest thing I have learned in the past 3 months is that Northern Alabama is not the stereotypical South that we think about being from the North. When I told people that I was moving to Alabama they had many reactions, but mostly they were fearful for my safety. They were nervous because I am a highly liberal, feminist, opinionated, woman and they assumed that was not going to be okay for the majority of my new neighbours. So far, that has not been my experience. I have been pleasantly surprised by the fact that the people of Huntsville are very much not the old Southerners that we expected them to be. They are a lot like us. They might not be as liberal and they are certainly a lot more into church (there is a church on every corner, for real, and some blocks have a church next to a church next to a church – to say the people are into church is actually an understatement) than Northerners, but they are also into science and art and having a good time. Bars and restaurants and cafes close early, but that is not a big deal to me anymore because I am WAY past the age of staying out until 4 am.

There are occasions when I am driving down University Drive (the main thoroughfare between where I live and downtown) and for a moment I forget that I am in Alabama. Last week I was driving through the country, trying to get the lay of the land near my apartment, and I suddenly came upon a field of cotton. That threw me for a loop. I was expecting to see corn and it was cotton. That was a reminder of where I am and of the history of this place. It made me want to start doing research into the history of Huntsville and Alabama as a whole. I have also learned that there are many mounds in Alabama that were built by my ancestors in the Muscogee (Creek) tribe and I am excited to look further into that. I am very happy that I made an effort to get my library card the first week I was here. My life would not be complete if I could not use the library for research.

Of course, there is a history of the Civil War down here that is quite opposite of what we discussed in Northern schools and this is something that I would also like to explore. There are old homes that were built before the war that are still standing in the old town area of Huntsville and I would like to know more about their history. I am highly interested in race, gender, class, and socioeconomic structures and living in the South will provide me with many ways in which I can further my research in these areas. Huntsville is home to 1 of the 21 HBCUs that is also a land-grant university in Alabama A&M. Alabama is the only State that has 2 HBCU/land-grant universities, Tuskeegee being the other. This is a great opportunity to do research on the history of these types of schools in America and how they contributed to the empowerment of people of color and helped those who had few skills expand their knowledge in order to improve their futures.

Although I had relatives from Alabama, I never truly knew what it was like to live down here. I still don’t. I am still looking for a job and this means that I spend my days working from home for the same company that I worked for in Buffalo and I only interact with locals through customer service. Once I start working with the people here I am certain that my opinions will change and my understanding of the South will broaden. For now, I feel like I have had some good experiences and I hope to have more. Only time will tell if Alabama is truly the place for us and I will be updating you on all the interesting things that happen along the way.

Thanks for reading and DON’T FORGET TO VOTE TOMORROW!!

Peace,

Chantale

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Blogging Community

Hello dear readers –

I have recently joined Bloglovin and wanted to give you the opportunity to follow me over there. My content will not change, but being affiliated with a larger community of bloggers is always good for the circulation stats. As you may know, Hippiegrrl Explains It All got its start on Backwash.com and the community we cultivated on that site was excellent. We were on the forefront of suggestion based blogging (our motto, “The Internet Organized by Personality”, says it all) and now that model is used everywhere. I am hopeful that I will find another community online like Backwash, someday, but until then please Follow my blog with Bloglovin.

As always – thank you for your readership and I’ll see you in the next entry.

Peace, Chantale

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2018 Reading Habits

It’s a new year and this year I am determined to read more books than I did in 2017.

My totals from last year were actually pretty good compared to previous years, but they still felt bleak. I had hoped to read 24 books and only ended up reading 11. This year I am setting my reading challenge total at 12, but I am also going to try to be more mindful of my reading habits in general.

First, I am going to try to keep up with the Read Harder Challenge, through Book Riot (details here!) and set a goal of reading one social science book per month. These lists may overlap at times, but if I keep up with both of them it will mean that I can meet (and even exceed) my goal of 12 books.

Second, I am going to try and be more active on Goodreads this year, not just through my book updates, but through groups and lists and commenting on my friend’s reviews. This will allow me to become more in tune with the various book releases of 2018 and be aware of the good things that people I trust are reading. You should join me there! It is great fun to share your reading habits with fellow bibliophiles.

Next, my youtube habits have been focused on booktubers for quite a while, but I have decided to streamline my viewing in 2018 and try to focus more on specific booktubers that I enjoy. And who knows – if I can really get back into the reading kick, perhaps I will try my hand at my own booktube channel.

Last, but certainly not least, I am going to look into volunteering in a library. Since I obtained my MLS (in May of 2016) I have been pretty much out of the world of library science and I need to get my foot in the door. The local library branches are always looking for volunteers and it would be a great opportunity for me to see what it is really like, from day to day, working in a library setting. This will greatly inform my path in the future. Do I want to continue into a library career or go another direction in academia? Do I want to go into public librarianship or try for a career in a university library? Will volunteering show me a side of libraries that makes me want to run screaming in another direction or will it make me love the library even more? All of these questions can only be answered with experience.

So, what are your reading goals for 2018? Do you want to expand your horizons or stay in the same genre that you have been reading for years? Do you have an aversion to reading that you hope to overcome in 2018? Tell me more about it in the comments!

 

Peace and happy reading!

Chantale (aka hippiegrrl)

 

Booktubers to look out for:

Books and LaLa
Francina Simone
Big Haired Bookworm
Bookish Realm
Katytastic
Little Book Owl
Brandi Janee’s Bookshelf
Kales Korner
aj & books

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A New Way Forward

Since 1997, I have been working in the customer service industry. Twenty years of working in banking, retail, tech support, middle management, and project management have taught me a few things about the dynamics of workers and leaders in the workplace. There have been a few bright spots in my career, but overall I have witnessed a great deal of difficulty when it comes to the daily relations of humans when they are stressed and stifled. Unfortunately, the norm in business still seems to be to let workers know that their worth for the company is merely contingent on their ability to perform. The performance workers are expected to give is rarely clear and often involves pretending to be happy. After all, work performance is just that, right? A performance – an act – a character that one puts on for 8-9 hours per day. Company leaders have a difficult time keeping expectations clear and developing workers in a manner that would help everyone be happier and more productive.

It is difficult to thrive when one is working for an organization led by people that do not value the day to day contributions of individual workers. Workers have many things to contribute to a companies policies, procedures, day to day focus, and bottom line. They are not robots that can only do one task over and over again. They are individuals with varied abilities and creativeness that is rarely, if ever, tapped into. They have intellectual lives that are never stimulated. They have many ideas to contribute to the greater good of the company, but their voices are muted.

The company leaders expect each of the workers to tow the line and never complain. To be happy even when the world might be crumbling around them. To continue to pretend that things are wonderful when they are actually rubbish. And all the while, the company leaders wonder why survey results are low and morale is even lower. They assume that morale is something that comes from within the individual workers and that grumpy people will always be grumpy. But the leaders are wrong. Boosting morale has to come from above.

A little bit of empathy toward the individual that is trying to make ends meet financially and still be happy on a day to day basis can go a long way. Validating the feelings of the workforce by noticing when things are not good and trying to make real, lasting change, if even in small increments, would also be a plus. These things do not cost money, but they certainly cost time. And time, unfortunately, is in short supply when leaders are too busy counting beans to care about the humans bringing the beans to the table on a daily basis.

But complaining is not enough. The only way to make change is to suggest, to those with the power, things that could be improved and how improvements can happen. So here are a few ideas that have been bouncing around in my brain for the past fifteen or so years. Ways that leaders of any organization could and should bear in mind when thinking about improving the day to day life of their employees. In honor of labour day, here are my suggestions to make the workplace a better place for everyone:

 

  1. Listen
    It seems like a pretty easy concept and yet it never seems to happen. When workers tell you, as a company leader, that they are ‘drowning’ or they are ‘stressed out’ or that they ‘need more help’, listen to them. This does not mean that you need to take action, immediately, on every complaint, but you should at least show the worker that you are listening to their concerns and that you are willing to do something about the issues that are causing this level of stress in the workplace.
  2. Do Something
    Take in the critical assessments that you receive from the people ‘on the ground’ in your organization and find solutions. Heck, ask the workers for solutions! Have a referendum and allow the workers to give you ideas of how to fix the most common issues that are popping up in the workplace. The workers know what they need to be happy on a daily basis and if you allow them to tell you what that might be and then take action to make changes, they will see that you are trying to make things better. A little bit of effort can go a long way. This does not mean that you should stop with just the effort, as I said above, do something. So what is the something that you could do today to improve the daily work lives of your workers tomorrow and for years to come?
  3. Value happiness
    Many times, company leaders make it clear to workers (even if they do not intend to) that the happiness of the workforce is not important. That happiness is not something workers should be concerned with. That when they come to work they should work and that it is not the company’s job to make the workers happy. This – my friendly neighbourhood CEO – is NOT THE CASE. Workers are giving you 45+ hours of their week, every week. This amounts to 2,340 hours per year. Over a lifetime of working for one organization, a worker could give anywhere from 70,200 to
    93,600 hours of their lives to the company. If the workers know that the company leaders value the happiness of the workforce, it makes the 45 hours per week investment of time a lot easier. Here are a few very simple things that you can do, that cost little to no money, to keep the workforce happy.

    • Improve the workflow process to lower stress on individual workers
    • Encourage workers when they do well
    • Develop workers so they can move up if they wish to do so
    • Set workers up for success
    • Institute workplace health initiatives that give workers a sense of well being
    • Say thank you to your workers
    • Show an interest in your workers lives outside of work
    • Make the workplace inviting by adding plants and sunlight wherever possible
    • Get people moving – allow workers time during the day to take breaks (other than the standard lunch hour) without guilt
  4. Make policies equal across divisions
    In the event your company has a policy that allows workers the freedom to do something such as work from a remote location or shift time to get out early or come in late, be sure that the policy is written in a manner that is fair for ALL workers in the organization. Do not single out one division within your organization to have the ability to partake in the policy while others are not able to do so. A policy that is instituted for only a portion of the worker population is bound to cause issues within the workplace. If there are reasons why some workers cannot partake in these policies, make changes so that all workers are eligible for the policy prior to releasing it to the general worker population. Releasing a policy before all workers are eligible is a sure way to create low morale in a portion of your worker population. It is better, for everyone concerned, to either have policies that every worker is eligible for or not have those policies at all. In this case, all or nothing is the best motto.
  5. Be sure that expectations are always clear
    There is nothing worse than working for a boss that cannot clearly set expectations for the staff. Workers should be given a certain amount of latitude within their day to day functions, as you would never hire someone that is completely green to do a highly technical task, but they should also be given clear guidelines for what the position entails. If priorities shift, throughout the course of a workers time, be clear about the shifts and why they are occurring. Keep the job description for each worker updated and go over these expectations as they change. Basically, keep your workers in the loop, not in the dark, about changes to the structure and overall direction of the company and their individual contribution expectations.
  6. Institute an employee recognition program
    There has been a lot of improvement, in the past few years, in employee recognition programs and one of the new ways to do this is peer2peer recognition. This article explains the benefits that these types of programs can and do have in the workplace. This is not your grandparents company recognition program!

There are many other ways that company leaders can improve the workplace, but I think this is a good starting point. Now, leaders, please go out and find creative ways to empower your workers and help them be the best versions of themselves. It will pay you back many times over and the humans that are toiling to put those beans on your table daily will thank you for it with even more beans. Seriously – happy workers = productive workers.

Peace,
Chantale (aka hippiegrrl)

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Sociology, Libraries, and Life

In 2009, I made the decision to return to school and obtain a second Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology. This time I would apply myself. I would study and try my best not to procrastinate. I would work as a volunteer and devote myself to causes within the major. I would work on a research project and continue on into a PhD program. My goal, at the time, was to move forward into the world of academia and become a Sociology Professor.

From the moment I stepped into my first Sex and Gender class I was hooked. From there I took classes on social movements, race and class, ethnography, emotions, environmental sociology, power, research methods (qualitative and quantitative), and many other topics within the realm of social science. I had made a pact with myself that since this was a second bachelors degree I would not spend more than 2 years at the school. I had already obtained a BA from the same school and so I was not required to take many of the core classes that I took the first time around. This meant that my course of study was very specific to sociology (with a bit of anthropology thrown in for good measure – could never stay away from Dr. Fish!) and allowed me to be immersed in the subject matter. I began my studies in January of 2009 and I completed the program in May of 2011. This meant that I attended 5 semesters, but I still felt like it was a whirlwind experience.

This time in my life was somewhat tumultuous for several reasons. First, my Papa passed away suddenly in February of 2007. We were extremely grief stricken as a family, but had to keep moving forward for my Nana. In September of 2007, the job that I had worked my way up to over the course of 6 1/2 years was coming to a close as the bank I worked for was being bought out by another local bank. This meant that in February of 2008 I would be out of work. It was difficult, but not impossible as the writer had a full time teaching job and we felt like we were okay. I was given a severance package and immediate unemployment and worked until the very last moment – making me the proverbial “last one out turn off the lights” person at GBSB. It was sad, but freeing. Knowing that I would be losing my job in February, I decided that instead of continuing on in the banking world, I would go to the Small Business Association and get a loan to open a coffeehouse. I started working on that dream in October of 2007 and continued into a small business education program, run by the city of Buffalo, in January of 2008. During the planning stage, I was very optimistic. I had worked in coffeehouses on and off in my 20s and felt like this would be an excellent way to move into my 30s.

Then, in April of 2008, my Nana passed away. This was very difficult for me. We had only just lost Papa a year earlier and now we were losing Nana too. I was closer to nobody else in the world and they practically raised me alongside my own parents. The loss was great. My mom is a determined woman and although she was grieving for both of her parents, she got us through the funeral and moved us toward getting the house in order. We worked, through the summer of 2008, clearing and cleaning out the house and at the end of the summer it was sold. The Autumn holidays were the most difficult that year because Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas were my Nana’s favourites. Any day that brought her family together to visit, eat, talk, and sometimes yell and scream (as any self respecting Italian or Southern family does) was a good day for her, and the holidays were the absolute best. It felt like time stopped on April 4th and didn’t restart until after the New Year. Although it has been over 8 years, it is still difficult to think of them being gone. There are still mornings that I wake up and forget for a moment that they are not available to talk to. I will think of something to tell one or both of them and then remember they are not there anymore. Time numbs the pain, but it never fully goes away.

During the Autumn of 2008, I decided that I was going to stop pursuing the coffeehouse idea and started looking at schools. I navigated to the website for my Alma mater (Buffalo State College) and searched through several programs until I stumbled on Sociology. Since I had already obtained a degree from the school, the admission process was quick. I was admitted for Spring 2009 and thus began my journey into Sociology. So now, here I sit, 5 years beyond graduation, a Masters degree in Library Science also in my bag of tricks (obtained in a slightly longer time frame, but still useful) and a job at a software company.

So, what’s next? Where can I go with a BA in Music, a BA in Sociology, and an MS in Library and Information Science? Academia? That’s the goal, but we will see what happens. The writer completed a PhD in the last 5 years as well, and he is currently searching for a full time professor gig. We are hopeful that our degrees will allow us to move somewhere new and start a new chapter in our lives. My dream, now (and it could change at any moment) is to start off as a reference and/or research librarian in a University and then move into a PhD program. This is all contingent on our physical location in the next 5 years.

At the end of it all, I really just want to write. Helping others understand Sociological concepts and constructs would also be awesome, but if I have to do that through a library rather than a classroom I will be content. As long as my future profession involves reading and writing I will be happy. Oh – and the ability to work from the neighbourhood coffeehouse sometimes would definitely be a bonus. Writing and research – mobile employment – that is the way to go.

Peace,

Chantale (aka hippiegrrl)

 

What dreams did you have, as a teen or 20-something, that you still need to achieve? Tell me about it in the comments! And please share with your friends. We love opinions and constructive criticism!

 

Appropriate links:

How to Craft a New Career from aarp.org
Six Steps To Reinvent Your Career After A Major Life Change from forbes.com
Best Graduate Schools 2017 from US News & World Report

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Priorities

It is a new year and, as so many others do during the month of January, I am assessing my life and habits and looking toward making changes. These changes will not come in the form of resolutions. We all know what happens when we make those. No, instead, I will be making long term changes over the course of the full year. To start off my assessment, I made a list of things that I used to love doing and have, for one reason or another, stopped partaking in.

 

  1. Beading
  2. Tap Dancing
  3. Yoga
  4. Cooking from scratch
  5. Coding
  6. Blogging
  7. Writing for Sociology
  8. Swimming
  9. Learning about and developing content
  10. Singing in public
  11. Reading at the caffe

 

Most of the activities on this list have been pushed aside to make time for work and school. Although it was important to focus on other things, I believe that I can now reincorporate these activities back into my life in a meaningful way. I did not believe I had time to make necklaces or sing in a local choir because I had to focus on my future. Well, the future is now and if I continue putting things I enjoy on the back burner the future future will be bleak. So – in order to make sure that I start doing all of these activities again, in 2016 and beyond, my priorities need to be assessed and shifted. In order to do this, I must look at a typical day and see what changes can be made to incorporate things that make me happy back into weekly existence.

 

My typical day (Monday-Friday):

  • 6:45 am: Hit the snooze
  • 6:51 am: Hit the snooze
  • 6:57 am: Hit the snooze
  • 7 am: Out of bed and into shower
  • 7:45 am: Prepare food/drink for breakfast and lunch
  • 8 am: Leave for work
  • 8:30 am: Arrive at work
  • 8:30 am – 5:30 pm: Workday
  • 5:30 – 7 pm: Extended workday
  • 7 pm: Leave for home
  • 7:15 pm: Arrive at home (in perfect weather and traffic conditions)
  • 7:15 – 8 pm: Make/warm up dinner
  • 8 pm: Eat dinner
  • 9 pm: Watch television
  • 11:30 pm: Go to bed
  • 12:00 am: Fall asleep

 

The first change that I am going to make to my schedule is to only work until 5:30 pm each day. Any later than that is bad for me, both mentally and physically, not to mention it hurts my pocketbook since I am giving extra time to a company that isn’t paying for that extra service. Being a salaried employee means that when I work 45 or 50 hours a week I make less per hour than I do when I work a normal 40 hour week. There is nothing that important that I need to stay late. By making this one change, I will get back 1.5 hours per day (7.5 hours per week) of my life to relax and enjoy my dinner. Eating so late was having a horrible effect on my sleeping patterns, so I’m hoping that by having dinner by 6 or 6:30 pm each weeknight, I will be able to sleep more soundly when I hit the pillow.

 

The next change that I will make is to choose an activity from the list above and do that in the time that I’ve gotten back from not working late. What I mean by this is that if I finish eating dinner by 7:30, I will have 2 hours for an activity and 2 hours for television. This will give my dinner time to digest while I’m doing something more active before I sit down to relax for the evening. This 2-hour span of time will also be useful when the semester begins because I can use it to do my schoolwork. In the meantime, if I can get back into beading, dancing, singing or any of the other items on the list when the semester begins I can move those activities to the weekend and use the 2 hours in the evenings to study. This will make my semester more enjoyable because I won’t be spending my whole weekend reading and writing for school.

 

The third change (and this is the big one) that I am going to make in 2016 is shifting my food habits. Rather than going on a diet where I am restricting myself from eating based on calories, I’m going to start replacing foods that I know are not as healthy with alternatives. In order to assist me in this quest, I have purchased 2 books about the Whole30 plan. Once I have completed my readings and research, I will make a plan so that this can really work. It is not a diet, it is a way of life. Shifting my food choices should help me to have more energy which, in turn, will help me to get back into shape. The weight loss is not the main goal, it is a happy outcome. In order to truly facilitate this shift, the writer and I have agreed to begin by not getting take out for dinner during the week. We are going to start off with a 30-day plan to cook meals each night for dinner and bring lunches every day. This will exclude going out for dinner on the writer’s birthday and potentially 1 or 2 Sunday brunch meals, but overall we will try to cook for all 3 meals, 7 days a week, for 30 days.

 

With a 9-hour workday, an earlier dinner schedule, and a wind-down activity prior to television viewing time, I believe that I will start falling asleep faster when I go to bed and eventually I won’t have to hit the snooze so many times in the morning. Once the food shifts and the benefits of cooking at home (and this also fulfills my ‘cooking from scratch’ activity) kick in, I should gain a renewed sense of self that I have been without for quite some time. It is not just about the weight. It is really about the feeling of being healthy. It has been a while since I have felt truly good about myself, overall, and I want to get back to that place. Once I do that, I’ll be able to conquer all the items on my list and start doing the things I love once again.

 

Peace, Chantale

 

What are you doing to change yourself in 2016?  Are you a resolution maker or do you scoff at that? Tell me more about it in the comment thread and if you enjoy this post, please pass it along!

A few links:
whole30.com
whole30 shopping list
nom nom paleo
well fed resources
tips for sleeping well

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Trying New Things aka Letting Go of the Past to Create a Better Future

Throughout my life I have been skeptical of pretty much everything.  I have been highly attracted to the mystical and spiritual side of life, but I have never fully bought into any of it. Each time I go to the bookstore, I end up in one of three sections; Sociology, Cultural Studies, or New Age/Spirituality. Self improvement has been something that I have been longing to jump into, but never had the guts to fully commit to. That is, until now.

This week I downloaded a new book on audible by Jen Sincero titled You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life. I figured I would listen for a few chapters, put it on hold for a future date, and complete it next year sometime when I was bored and just wanted to finish something. This was NOT the case. I was sucked in. Every trip in the car was an opportunity to listen to a chapter. I sat in the parking lot at home and at work a number of times just to get to the end of a section. I listened intently to all she had to say and things started to line up.

Why have I not been committed to making my life truly, madly, and deeply better? Well, one reason is that I have been lazy but another is that I didn’t really believe in myself or the universe. There are days when I think that just driving in to work is a futile activity, but I do it anyway because I have to. This is a self limiting belief. Yes, I have to go to work to make money to pay bills to live, but I don’t have to do it where I am, now, forever. I can put positive vibes out into the universe, be grateful for what I have, raise my frequency, and know that what I truly want is out there waiting for me to grab it.

Now you might say, “Seriously? You? The most sarcastic and self loathing person in my life is going to change?” Yes. I am. Self limiting beliefs are just that. Self Limiting and Beliefs. They stop us from moving forward in life and they restrict what we think we can and should do. They do not give us hope or make us grateful. They keep us down and on the couch, wishing we could move forward but somehow stuck. Well, I refuse to be stuck any longer.

I feel that this blog has already been a step in the right direction. The pieces I have written have been positive in nature and detailed little things I have been working on to move forward. Having listened to this book (and I will be listening several more times to get the concepts really ingrained and do the exercises to strengthen my resolve) I know that I can manifest that which I want and by being open to the universe and all it has to offer, I am giving myself the ability to receive good things in return. By meditating and sending out good vibes, the way that I want my life to be will be. It is that simple and, at the same time, that difficult.  The difficulty comes from the change in self limiting thoughts and behaviours. These are ingrained in us from years of learning from other people exactly who, how, and what we should be. Those other people, however, are not us. They are not inside our brains or living our lives. They have their own lives to live.  The first step in any self improvement journey is to shake off the negativity and get right with yourself. Move away from the self limiting beliefs of others and make your own new, different, and more positive beliefs. Turn your frown upside down in a bigger, more cosmic sense. Move ahead with conviction and determination, remaining grateful, and life will open up.

I hope you will join me on this new journey and that I can post more often on the events and new experiences that come my way based on my new determination. As I continue to manifest my destiny (which already exists out there in the universe) I will make a conscious effort to keep you, my readers, involved and up to date with my journey. I am sure there will be some bumps in the road, but I have been here before. Quitting smoking was one of the most difficult and most rewarding things I did for myself. It took guts and determination and this past August I hit the 6 year mark.

If I can take my new self improvement ideas and marry them with my old, ingrained level of determination, which I displayed in my ability to stay smoke free for 6 years, I can do ANYTHING! Stick with me and you will see. We can be awesome. We just have to choose to be and then keep at it.

Peace and Happy Manifesting,

Chantale aka hippiegrrl

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What Is Success?

Throughout my life I have had many different understandings of what success should look like. I have been able to see success through the lens of how other people achieve things, but never really see that in myself.

When I was a teenager, I thought success was connected to fame. I wanted to sing and dance on Broadway and I thought that if I could just get on any stage, in any role, I would be successful. I did not have to be the lead, just in the show. Success was something that would only come with practice and sweat. Working my ass off was the only way to get there and I felt somewhat lazy when I started putting on weight and trailing off on my practice regimen. Through my college career my focus shifted away from Broadway shows and on to Opera (not by my personal choice, but by the choice of my voice professor who would have “none of that belting in my rehearsal space!”) This shift made me start to see success as something else entirely. Something less tangible. I did not want to be a Diva, so I scraped the whole performance thing and moved on.

After graduating with my music degree my goal was to move out on my own. Success, it seemed, was living in my own apartment and working a full time job that could afford me the ability to go out to eat and still pay the bills. This definition of success seems to have been the one that has stuck with me the longest as I still have this idea in my head that I need to be able to consistently support myself, and anyone else that lives with me, with the basic necessities. This is a much lower bar compared to my teenage idea of success, but it works.

Next month I will be 40 years old, as you already know since I like to mention it often. With entry into this new decade I feel that I am long overdue for a refresh of my idea of success. Armed with 2 bachelors degree, in music and sociology, and a pending masters degree in library science, I am ready to look toward a future that I had not imagined when I was in my 20’s. Writing has always been something I love to do and something that often gets sidelined for whatever other task is necessary in the moment. The only time I really was able to concentrate on writing was when I was doing research in my Sociology program. Being able to observe, read, research, and write was something I loved doing and this is what I believe success looks like for my future. Whether that is within the walls of a library at an academic institution or in a small writing group at the local literary organization, I need to find a place to be able to do these 4 mentioned things and I will feel successful. If I can get paid to do them as well, that will be a bonus.

The lesson learned from this reassessment of success is that it does not have to be tied up with jobs or money. It can be personal success. Setting goals and achieving them. Doing things that make me happy and still being able to pay the bills. Living somewhere that I have only ever dreamed of living and being able to make it. These are the things that truly make up my new definition of success. The writer and I are moving toward it now in a new and different way and within the next 5 to 10 years I can see it happening. As long as we both work hard and push ourselves to new levels, we will be successful in a way that makes us content and that is the best definition of success anyone can hope for.

Peace, Chantale

What is your idea of success? Share with me in the comments!

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Looking Inward

This is the year of 40. Although it does not happen until nearly the end, it is colouring all my decisions. It sounds like a sad occasion, but it is not. 40 has given me a clarity I did not realize I could have. My experiences leading up to this milestone birthday are helping me make key decisions for life going forward.

So what have I learned? Here are some of the highlights.

1. I have the ability to shape my future to my liking, without the voices in my head that say otherwise.
2. I can overcome negativity, rise above it, and be a better human.
3. I can live anywhere in the country (or world) and be happy. My location on the planet does not determine my mental state.
4. My talents can be combined to make a kick ass career, if I just apply myself to the future.
5. I do not need to have children to feel fulfilled.
6. My life will mean something only if I make a difference for others while I am here on this rock.
7. The life I thought I was supposed to live should never hold me back from the possibilities of the future.

A key concept that I have decided to pursue in order to make the future bright involves modifying my state of mind. Here is my plan to gain clarity and move forward. This can be useful for so many of us and I wish that I had been presented with it at a young age. It is not about being selfish, but mindful.

First, block off a minimum of 15 minutes, uninterrupted. Be sure to have paper and a pen or pencil, whichever you prefer. Find a comfortable spot to sit where you can reflect and write. Once you are settled begin by writing down your top dream in life. What did you want to do when you were growing up? It can be the most impossible dream ever, but you should still write it down. When you are considering this dream, do not veer off into blame or negativity. Do not think of the reasons why you did not fully pursue the dream, just simply consider it.

Now think about where you are currently. What is your situation? Do you have bills and a family? Do you have a job you love or a job you hate? Are you in a slump? Write this down.

Next, think about what you would do to change your current situation to make it happy for you. This is difficult, but during this portion of the exercise do not think of others. Only focus on you. In a world where you are on your own, with no obligations or restrictions, what would you do? Would you pursue your previous dream or would you create a whole new dream? Would you move to a new city or would you stay where you are? If no other human beings were involved in your decision making, what would you do? Write this down.

Last, think in practical terms. If you were to pursue this new (or old) dream, what would you need to do to make it happen? Would you need to take classes? Would you need to travel? Would you need to get better organized or would you simply have to just get started? Write down the steps you need to take to make this dream a reality. Again, do this without consideration for others.

Now, I realize this might seem like a self centered exercise and, in fact, it totally is, but that is the point. If you do not take the time to sit and think about your own goals and dreams, you will never seek to achieve beyond your current state. You will continue to live in the past, hold grudges, grip tight to the things you have that you think make you who you are, and never leave your comfort zone. This exercise does not have to result in a full life change, but it simply gives you clarity and, perhaps, a plan to move forward. Having self awareness and self reliance are important parts of being a functioning human. Being able to move forward with positivity is the goal. Whether you stay where you are in life or move on, as long as you gain an inner peace, this exercise was successful. Releasing the past is key to moving forward.

I hope this is as useful to you as it has been for me. I find that doing this exercise every couple months can help me to refocus my goals. I may not get to my ultimate dream, but I will get closer than I would if I chose to never consider my own needs and wants. It also gives me the clarity to make my five year plans and move forward toward those larger life goals. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Peace,
Chantale

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Happiness

This week, at the office, we had a gentleman from the Wellness Institute of Greater Buffalo come in to do a seminar on happiness in the workplace and the home. It was slightly dry, at times, but still motivational. The thing that struck me the most was that the answer to almost any question about happiness is positivity. If you want to be happy, act happy. If you want to be happy, don’t hold grudges. If you want to be happy, be nice to others. And my personal favourite, if you want to be happy, surround yourself with positive people.

positiveThis is all well and good, in theory, but once you sit down and really think about how to put this into action, that is where the fun begins. What if you have negative family members? What if you have friends that hold grudges longer than life itself? How do you extricate yourself from situations where you are surrounded by negativity?

My first thought was to just be a happier person, internally. Radiate positivity and others will be happy because of their proximity to you. At one of my old jobs, we used to make a joke about how all you really needed was a positive mental attitude (PMA) and you could get through anything. Unfortunately, that idea was born out of the fact that we had a boss that was so awful that she was making us all unwell with her tyranny. When a group is under stress, they often bond together over the stress, and try to rise above it. Now, all those that worked for her (except one remaining hanger on) have gone on to better things and rose above what she believed any of us could do in our lives. We have exceeded our own expectations by blowing her negativity out of the water and showing her that we had more capacity than she imagined. In this case, the PMA worked in our favour. PMA, along with the act of leaving the job and separating from the negative force that was the crazy boss, worked. What was the lesson learned? If you are working for someone that is negative, get out! Start looking for somewhere else to work immediately. Start pushing yourself toward that career where there are people that see you as a human and know you have worth. Bottom line: move on! This is easy to accomplish in the workplace, however, when you are thinking about family and friends, this gets a bit more murky.

Surrounding yourself with positive people ultimately implies that you must either make negative people into positive people (which is nearly impossible) or shut the negative people out. In these seminars, the facilitators always say the same things about surrounding yourself with positivity, but they never really get to the way to go about it. How does one simply walk away from a family member? How many years do you try to make someone close to you more positive before you simply give up the fight? When there is a toxic person in your life, sometimes you need to just detach from them. This sounds harsh, and especially so if that person is a family member, but it is true. There are times when you just have to let go of the family/blood connection and move on. Otherwise, it is impossible to be a healthy and happy person yourself.

Health and wellness are inextricably attached to happiness. Our brain chemistry effects the way we feel in very profound and sometimes hidden ways. If you hold on to negative thoughts, feelings, and relationships, they can ultimately make you sick in one way or another. This is why we must strive to first be positive in our day to day lives. If that rubs off on others and they become more positive in the process, great! If not, at some point, the ties must be severed. Sometimes, just sitting down and telling someone how you really feel about their negative attitude and that you will stop talking to them if they don’t try to be more positive can also do the trick. Sometimes it cannot. We can try our best to spread sunshine (no matter how hokey that sounds, and it does sound super hokey) everywhere we go and hope that a little bit of it rubs off on others.

One final note: when I talk about having a PMA and spreading happiness, this isn’t the kind of nice attitude that is fake. Having worked in the banking industry for almost 10 years, one of the main lessons I learned was that nice is not always what it seems to be. When you are in an industry that has a main goal of increasing sales over time, at all costs, you will run into many fake/nice people in your travels. Many sales people feel that being nice is something they have to portray in order to pull you in and, to a certain extent, they are correct. However, if after the customer (or ‘mark’, if you prefer) walks out the door, that same salesperson can often turn into a raging asshole. I’ve seen this happen more often than not and it isn’t real positivity. It is pure salesperson bullshit wrapped up in a fake PMA. This is unhealthy for the person pursuing this way of being, as well as those that work for her/him. Fake is not what you should go for if you want to improve your life. Genuine happiness comes from genuine positivity. It is as simple as that. Look on the bright side because there is a bright side, not because you think you have to see one. Look for the true positivity in your day to day life and you will be much happier and healthier for it.

Peace and happiness, always,
Chantale

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Being Bohemian

While walking through our favourite neighbourhood in Toronto, the writer and I strike up a conversation about bohemianism. I contend that he could “never be truly bohemian. Never just get up one morning, pack two bags, and leave.” By which he responds – “I could if there was a list and a plan” (presumably written before bed the night before this fictional exodus.) Precisely. True bohemianism is hard work for those of us tied to things. It is difficult just due to the virtual connections we have established throughout the last decade. Purchasing cell phones and beginning email relationships with family members has complicated the ideal of the road. To travel with two suitcases, sans electronic equipment, is absurd. To be untethered from technology seems impossible, even though it was the norm ten or fifteen years ago. It would certainly be liberating to unplug, but also scary as it denotes a trip into the unknown. Joblessness, low funds, and repossession may be the only facilitators of this life that used to be something to aspire to. With age comes containment and debt ties us to an address.

 

So how would one do it? Disconnect from the grid and the money system and be a drifter. Can drifters be married to one another? Or to non-drifters? Can drifters have computers or would the typewriter come back into fashion? What about phone communication? The world has been accelerated in such a way that it seems nearly impossible to not be “online”. But, being offline, if only for a short time, may be a soothing change. Being unreachable, except by home phone or letter would be refreshing. However – being a “true” bohemian is about doing what one wants to do regardless of societal norms. It isn’t about running from debt or unplugging, but just being.

 

If this is the case – to just be is the goal – how is this achieved? What of those that are perceived as bohemian, but have an address? Those that are professors, but still have the mindset of a free spirit? How is bohemianism rationalized within society and, more closely, in the realm of education. Without bohemianism we would have no art or music teachers. Without the free spirit streak we would lose poetry and prose and have to learn how to be content without the arts in our lives. After a few generations, this would be normalized, but in the interim it would be a sad state of affairs. Living through the removal of the arts in the public school system, I can see this trend beginning. Creating little beings that are only trained to work for others and never even know about the life of the mind. Training children to simply strive for money and not worry about the “frivolous” things such as art, dance, music and such. Bleak future.

 

But this is not how it has to be. We can keep the bohemian ethic alive in our public life. Being bohemian isn’t about how you dress or act. Being bohemian is a state of mind. Do you care about the future of art, literature, and culture? Do you want to live in a world that is full and rich, where people are able to be free from the chains that bind them and move forward with love and trust? How can we keep this feeling alive? How, in the midst of gentrification in the name of neighbourhood improvement, can we continue to save our culture from sameness?

 

In Buffalo, we have a bohemian atmosphere that continues to surface and thrive, despite the push toward yuppie values. The bohemian ethic thrives in neighbourhoods that tend to be lower income and once those neighbourhoods gentrify, the bohemians move elsewhere. We need to find a a way to retain the bohemian element within a gentrified land. Buffalo is changing rapidly, and if we don’t find a way to retain the bohemian mindset, it could go the way of disco. A fad of hippie idealism that dissipates with the wrecking ball. Hoping that this will not happen is not enough. We need to push forward and continue to keep the bohemian community alive through art, music, culture, and coffee. This is the only way to hang on to the diversity and spirit that comes with the bohemian ethic. Otherwise, Buffalo will be a sanitized yuppie heaven without style and tradition. Keep Buffalo weird!

 

Peace,
Chantale

If you enjoyed this article, please pass it along! Sharing is super bohemian.

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Things I Learned at the Caffe

The scent of coffee lures you in, while the camaraderie you experience from the patrons makes you want to return and, perhaps, become a regular. In all public spaces, there are annoyances to be had, but in the caffe these annoyances become quirks. In this environment, all people are equal, and we co-exist in a space where improvement is inevitable. Here are a few things that I have learned, over the years of hanging out at one particular establishment in the hip area of Buffalo, NY. You know it, right?

The customer is never right
This is adverse to everything we know as customer service employees, and yet, caffe workers can get away with it for some reason. Being rude is an essential part of the job description and you rarely get in trouble for talking down to customers.

If you want to have a private conversation, go somewhere else
If you are looking for a place to discuss important matters and you don’t want the opinions of complete strangers, this is not the place to be. However, it is always possible to get new insight from the regulars. If you need to discuss private matters, this may not be the place, but if you are just discussing the events of the day, where input is welcome, feel free!

Exes can coexist in a space without fighting
There is no ownership of the caffe by any individual customer. If you go there with your significant other and then you break up, you can still go without it being weird or awkward. It is the only small space in the city that you can coexist without there being a fight. Vortex of caffeine ends animosity.

Always bring a book, even if you are not going to read
A book can be a wonderful distraction. This does not mean that you should choose a book you would not be reading in actual life, but you may not actually get through any of it. You may end up reading the same chapter three times and still not comprehend the material, but it can certainly give you a way to ignore that particular person you were hoping not to (but expecting to) see.

When using a computer, the person next to you WILL look at your screen
This is simple logistics. The tables are in very close proximity to each other. Very European. So, if you are thinking you will have privacy, you are mistaken. You can do whatever you like, but just know someone is always watching.

Anyone can be a barista, but not everyone can be a barista
Pulling espresso is an art. It takes patience to learn the correct, Italian, method. This does not mean that that one cannot learn, but not everyone has the capacity to care. Some baristas are rude, but as long as they pull a great shot it makes no difference. No amount of niceness, though, can make a bad shot, better. Therefore, the quality of the beverage trumps the poor attitude. A great shot of espresso can make you forget any snide remark that comes from the other side of the counter.

Culture is created, and revolutionized, in the caffe
History is filled with caffe culture. In the Paris of the 1920’s, art, writing, philosophy, music, sociology, dance, and intellectualism came together in the caffe’s. The great ideas of the 20th century were hashed out over shots of espresso or cups of java. The caffe provides a third space (or place), as discussed by Ray Oldenburg in The Great Good Place. This concept revolves around community building and allows for the idea that most people have a first place (home) and second place (work), which leads to the need for a third place (community space) to gather and socialize.

Prior to the internet (and wi-fi) this third space was somewhere that the majority of individuals went to share ideas and build community. This community building has declined with the advent of small computers/tablets and the ability to be in a crowded room, alone. However, there is still potential for community building, provided by these spaces, and they are invaluable parts of our neighbourhoods. Without caffe’s, there would be nowhere to gather, therefore erasing the ability to share ideas and create new concepts and expand intellectualism. The classroom is a start, but without a social space to open up the discussion, many current day concepts would fall to the wayside.

Life is worthless without time spent at the caffe
This may not be the case for everyone, but it certainly is for me. Even though you could most likely do the same activities at home, for a lot less money, nothing replaces the ability to sit in a crowded room and be alone. The level of inspiration that comes from being in public is irreplaceable. This can certainly be accomplished in other places, but nothing can replace the sights, sounds, and scents of the caffe. If you have not experienced a caffe or caffe-like setting, please do. I think you will like it. If not, at least you will have a little buzz for your effort. Take the caffeine and carry on.

Peace and Java,
Chantale

Agree? Disagree? Something I missed? Comment below to let me know YOUR thoughts!

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You Can’t Get Off, So Pitch In!

A few months back, the CEO of the Nestle corporation announced that it is his belief that “access to water is not a human right”. On the surface this is sad and awful, but if you think about it, obvious for him to believe. After all, how can you run a company that makes a bulk of its profits from bottled water sales and NOT believe this? How else would you make money? If you believe that clean water is a basic human right, how can you make money off of this commodity? This, in no way, excuses the idea, but it gives it reference. In order to live in a world that allows him to make money off of a basic core of life, he has to rationalize his views on the topic.

This got me to thinking about developed and non-developed land masses. It has become politically incorrect to say “third world”, and for good reason as we in the “first world” should not be putting ourselves above those in less developed areas of the globe. We should be looking at everyone, everywhere, as human beings in a collective planet. The things we do here, in the over-developed world, effect everyone. When we pollute our air, we pollute all the air. When we pollute our water, we pollute all the water. Our actions cause a ripple effect and we cannot easily reign it in. Our actions have become ever increasingly nonchalant and negligent.

I like to say over-developed, rather than simply developed, because that is what we have become. Industrialization has made us over-developed to the point that we have done harm to our planet. We can no longer continue living the way we have been or we will doom the planet for eternity. There is a certain level of development that is good for an area and anything beyond that starts to degrade the environment. We blew past that exit years ago and have continued to speed down the highway at an alarming speed. Never looking back.

Then there are those that say it doesn’t matter if we continue on the way we have all these years. Some even say that global warming is not real. Those people are idiots. Sorry to be so blunt, but it is true. Global warming is a big deal and until we collectively make efforts to reduce our carbon footprints, we will continue to kill the earth. Those that say it is too late are not idiots, as they could be correct, but they also push in the direction of futility. If it is too late, I guess it doesn’t matter. To them, it does not matter. To the rest of us, it kinda does.

And then there are the religious, end of times, folks. They think this is all pre-determined and that global warming is something that we have to endure to get to the apocalypse. They are excited by the possibility of the end of the world and do not see anything wrong with the manner in which we have been treating the earth. Here is the problem with that line of thinking. Yes, it serves the purpose of the apocalyptic, but what will happen at these so-called gates of heaven? When St. Peter asks if they were good stewards of the earth, what will they answer? “Well, I did not think that was important because we needed the end of the earth in order to get to the gates.” St. Peter will answer with something like this, “um, no, the big one said that you should take care of the earth for it was given to your care, so, you’re out” or something to that effect. There may be pre-determination, but there is also free will, and if you are making free will choices to be bad to the environment, it is likely that the big one will not be happy.

So, where do you stand in all of this? Are you like the dude that sits in the cubicle across from me, that throws his pop cans in the garbage all day long? Each time a can drops, my heart dies a bit, which I have voiced to him, to no avail. Or, do you recycle every single item that can be recycled? Are you the person that breaks down the keurig cups to recycle, reuse, and compost the materials within? Or, are you more middle of the road with your recycling? Do you return your bottles and cans for deposit, but not always recycle those that have no monetary value attached? Whatever type of recycler you are, now is the time to up your game. Unless you have made an effort to reuse, reduce, or recycle every single bit of material in your life, you can do more. After all, every day should be earth day because without it, we are screwed! Here are a few suggestions to get you started on your path to helping our planet heal.

50 ways to help the planet.
Protect the Wildlife.
Make a Recycled Craft.
Need to recycle something? Find a local site to recycle.
Start an office recycling program (this one is for me!)
Green your morning (and afternoon and evening) coffee
Educate yourself on how much it means to recycle
Keep up on things with EcoGeek and Treehugger

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Find Your Calling

For 24 years, I have worked in customer service, in one capacity or another. With that many years under my belt, I can say that I have become pretty damn good at it. I am excellent at smiling through the bullshit of unreasonable requests. I am a master of making the people on the other side of the counter or telephone feel at ease. Sometimes I genuinely feel happy after assisting a customer with an issue, but most of the time I feel like my soul is draining from my body. This is what the customer service industry will do to you. Especially when customer service is not where you were meant to be, but you ended up.

That last thought makes me think of other things I am damn good at.

1. Singing: I am a mezzo soprano and I have a beautiful voice. Normally I wouldn’t be blunt or egotistical about it, but I am really very good at it. I can sing circles around other mezzos, but I do not enjoy competition or rejection. I mean, nobody truly loves those parts of performance, but if they are committed to being stars, or at the very least working singers, they will push through the crappy stuff. I didn’t want to push through the crap. I just wanted to sing and get paid for it. Instead, I gave it up to do other things that were less heart wrenching.

2. Writing: This one is a bit more difficult for me to admit. I have been told, by many people, even those not in my immediate circle, that I am an excellent writer. I suppose that is for you, the reader, to judge. However, I enjoy writing and even though it is also a very cut-throat profession, it does not require putting your entire body and soul on the line the way that performance does. It requires you putting yourself out there, through words, but there is a bit of shield involved that makes it more appealing.

3. Computers: This is most likely due to the generation I was brought up in. Most people my age have an affinity for all things tech. My interest began at an early age (6 or so) when my aunt took me to a computer class for beginners, to help her figure out her new computer, and it was all over. I was hooked. Learning to write programs, in basic, at age 8 and ingesting every computer language I could, after that. I continue to learn to this day and try to be on the edge of the new.

4. Debating: I was never on a team. In fact, I don’t believe my high school even had a debate team, although I was too busy with drama club, band, and chorus to notice. It didn’t matter though, because my mother’s family gave me an education in debate. Every holiday was a championship and I honed my skills with some of the best opponents I will ever face. This skill was very helpful my second time around in college and has also done me well on Facebook, as most of you reading this probably already know. I love being informed on as many topics as I can and using that knowledge to prove my point.

5. Research: My second bachelors degree not only helped me become a better writer, but it gave me a chance to flex my research muscles. Having done very little research in my first bachelors program (that consisted of singing, drinking massive amounts of coffee, working part time jobs, and singing some more) the Sociology program was an eye opener. It made me feel like I had not been to college the first time around, but more of a conservatory atmosphere within a SUNY school. Not as competitive as an actual conservatory, but with very little academic reading and writing. In Sociology I found that my love of the library grew and learning about new populations through participant observation gave me great insight into the world of research and the potential within. It made me rethink my future and make new decisions based on this new knowledge. And that is what college is for, right? To broaden your horizons and help you grow as a human and an intellectual.

So what do all these things add up to? At 38, they still add up to customer service. Tech support. But I am finding my calling. You have to live through a lot of crap to find your true goals. Now I have set those goals toward becoming a research librarian. This will encompass my love of research, academia, social science, and customer service. In the end, I will still be serving a population of patrons, but those patrons will be (fingers crossed) interested in learning. They will have a fire for whatever subject they are requesting documentation on. And the best part, they will not be ordering food and complaining about their order. They will not be calling me on the phone to help them fix a computer issue. They will not be asking to speak to my manager because they didn’t get their way. They will be genuinely interested in working with me to find the answers, and if they are not, I will make them interested. A good research librarian can do that and still be providing good customer service.

The most important thing that you learn, at some point in your life, is this: find what you love and do it. Don’t worry about those around you that might not believe in you. Or those that might be concerned about you taking a different path than others have. Although they most likely have your best interests at heart, they cannot always see beyond the known to the unknown. You cannot let anyone hold you back. You must move towards your dreams, not towards others dreams for you (or themselves.) This is the only way to exist in a space where you can be happy and content. If you are living for others, you will never find the peace you deserve.

Have you found your calling? How long did it take for you to figure it out? Are you still searching? Let me know in the comments!

Peace,
Chantale

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Quick post: Oregon

Within this world of coffee and eggs, the people sitting next to me are, in years, younger, but in attitude quite a bit older than me. They had their sandwiches, no coffee, and discussed where their next stop would be. First the Verizon store, then groceries, then the beer merchant. Oy. Yuppies in training. It isn’t the places, but the manner in which they speak about them. They had a tone of affluence that makes my stomach turn.

I am looking forward to finishing school and getting away from the east coast. I hope that the Pacific Northwest will find us in a place where there are not yuppies in training. Hippies in training would be a better community. Down to earth, laid back folks that could care less about the day to day consumer, corporate crap and look at the long term. What will my decisions today lead to in the future, not just for me, but for future generations on this earth? How does the social construction of gender effect the ways in which we see each other as humans? How can we make things better and move ahead? These are the kinds of things I would like to think about. Not just what time is that movie starting? Or when will we be able to go grocery shopping? Rather, how much food will we grow in our garden this year to offset trips to the market? Higher ideals.

Peace,
Chantale

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Finally

Five years. That is how long it has been since GBSB officially closed its doors. Even though First Niagara took over the GBSB customers, the culture and time of GBSB was over. Since February 2008, many things have changed in my life. Looking back now, I can see that I have been stuck in a haze that I have been unable to overcome until now.

After the announcement, in September 2007, that GBSB was to be taken over, I immediately began seeing an advisor in the small business center at Buffalo State College. I felt that receiving the severance package from GBSB and starting my unemployment, would give me the opportunity to start planning a business that I had always dreamed of opening.

Let me pause here for a moment to say that you can have more than one dream in your life. I started out believing that I wanted to be a famous broadway actress. That was my goal. To sing and dance and be known worldwide. When that dream did not come to fruition, mostly because of my own laziness in pursuing opportunities, I had to modify my thinking. My next big dream was to own a successful business and even though I haven’t reached that goal yet, I still hope to one day. Everything I do going forward is leading to that eventuality, I just have to open up to other possibilities along the way and make things happen. Understanding that I may not do it here or now, but someday I can if I keep moving forward.

After the business did not take off, my funding was not secured and a death in the family caused me to rethink my goals, I decided to return to school. This return found me in the Sociology department at Buffalo State. Back to my alma mater, back to my home, back to my comfort zone. The program was challenging, but I excelled in it and was able to do quite a bit of undergrad research. It was a wonderful experience and it gave me a chance to see what the college experience really should be. Focusing on my studies was gratifying and I feel that I was able to learn things that I never would have learned on my own. My feminist sensibility was already ingrained in me before I started the program, but after taking classes in gender, power, class, and so on, I was able to put words to my feelings and better articulate my arguments. It was truly a wonderful two years that I will never regret.

An important part of this experience was that it led me to research. After finishing my second bachelors, in 2010, I returned to work full time (in a bank) but continued to have the research bug. I wanted to continue on in a masters program that could include research, but Sociology was not quite the perfect fit, so I decided to apply to the MLS program instead. Having one semester under my belt, at this point, has given me a sense of what this new program is about and where it can lead. I truly feel that everything in my past has led me to this point. Becoming a reference and research librarian encompasses all the other things I have done in my life. Music, Sociology, customer service, tech services, management, database maintenance, web development, etc. can all be pulled in.

My liberal idealism is a great springboard for the open mindedness that a librarian needs to have. No questions asked, helpful no matter what, assisting customers without judgement. These are the cornerstones of the library profession. You can never let your own personal ideals or morals get in the way of what a patron requests. Information is important and the organization and dissemination of it is critical. People are always saying that libraries are going to be useless in the future and that the library profession is not a good one to get in to, but they are wrong. Librarians are going to be even more necessary in the future. We are the ones that can find and organize the information. Without librarians, the world of information would be completely unorganized and impossible to navigate.

My journey will take a couple more years in the masters program before allowing me to work in the industry, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can feel that I am on the right path and I am excited to see where I can go with this degree. It looks like things are going to improve now. I do not want to say this for certain as I know how quickly things can change, but I am trying my best to be positive. After working in a book store, as a tutor, in a bank as a teller, and a prep manager at a deli, I have finally reached a job option that is similar to my job was five years ago. All of my experiences over these past five years have brought me to this. Without going through everything I did, losing family members, losing jobs, living in the same apartment for eleven years, and generally bouncing around, I would have never been able to appreciate this new opportunity.

Coupled with my MLS degree, my new employment will be even more interesting. My understanding of database management and information systems will help me to be successful here and elsewhere, in the future. The writer and I may have had to work hard at a lot of random jobs to get here, but things are definitely looking up. 2013 is going to be a welcomed good year for us and hopefully the following years will only get better. A professor and a librarian. That is the future and we just have to keep chipping away at it until we can make it happen. Finally.

Peace and happy learning!
Chantale

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De-cluttering

In an attempt to simplify my life, I have decided to better organize my surroundings. This begins at home, with my apartment.

The writer and I have quite a bit of stuff from 11 years of living in the same place. When we moved back to Buffalo, from Rochester, we had few items that we brought along, but over the years our few items have grown into a mountain of stuff. This stuff can become stifling and this is where we are now. Stifled. Unable to be creative or productive in our space. Crushed under the weight of stuff. The Chi cannot circle freely through the space for the many hard corners and edges created by the stuff. This year, it ends. We will stop buying new stuff and start getting rid of old stuff.  We can do it!

In order to organize the current stuff, a purchase was necessary…

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My hope was that this would be an easy assembly and quick to get up.  I am a pretty handy grrl, so putting it together was a snap.  It took me less than an hour to assemble and just over an hour to de-clutter the area of need.  Here are my process pics.

imageParts out of box and ready to be assembled.  My trusty toolbox sits on the floor, ready to go!

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On the way there.

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Done!

Once completed, I needed to ready the area of de-clutter.  This was the REAL time consuming portion of this session.

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Before

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After!

Although there is still a lot of “stuff” at least everything has a place on this new shelf.  This is what I am hoping to do with my whole living space.  Make a place for each thing and the things that end up without a place, leave the space.  My Chi is so cluttered, at this point, that I have trouble concentrating when I’m at home.  I am hopeful that my Feng Shui journey will help me be more calm and focused, moving through 2013 and into the future.  With just a little bit of organizing and de-cluttering each day I can free the flow of Chi in my surrounding space and help myself be more healthy and happy in the process.  Feng Shui is something that is useful within an individual life to prepare for better days, but it is not a magic bullet.  Using it to become more organized is a great way to start being more mindful and work toward personal peace.

Peace and Positivity,
Chantale

Sharing rocks! Please click on the social media apps below and bring your friends…

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Positivity

It is the last day of 2012. The year has had great ups and downs for the writer and me, but we have persevered. Now that we are at the end, it is good to look back, reflect on the previous experiences, and move on. The moving on part is the thing that I most look forward to. Taking stock of the previous year is hard work, but moving forward is the ultimate reward. So, in light of this, I am looking forward to 2013. I do not make resolutions at New Years, mostly because I never live up to them and then just feel bad about it, but more so because I feel that resolutions are something people feel required to do.

Resolutions loom over us at the end of December and people love to inquire about each others decisions. Goals, objectives, verifiable results, these things are more in my wheelhouse. Considering that I am not always great at completing my goals (unless they are school related) I will be using this journal as a means to check on myself.

My initial goal for 2013 is to become more aware of my surroundings and change my living situation to better provide stability and positivity. The way in which I will attempt to accomplish this is through Feng Shui. I have to credit HGTV with giving me this idea as I was watching an episode of “love it or list it” and got totally drawn in to the Feng Shui design elements. Redirecting energy to improve the Chi of both myself and the writer will allow us to have better days ahead. I do not believe it to be a magic bullet (as it is not meant to be) but it is a good start toward more intentionally positive living. Negativity out, positivity in.

The clutter that exists in our home has greatly effected our life. I have truly believed this for a while, but have not had the motivation to change until now. Today is my last day of living with the clutter and just trying to move around our stuff. Tomorrow is a new day and I will allow new energy to enter and fill our home.

My hope is that by modifying the living space, based on Feng Shui concepts, I will also be able to modify my behaviours. As I mentioned in my previous post, I would like to do more yoga, but my living space does not currently accommodate a practice. I would also like to add a meditation practice to my daily existence, but in the current environment, it is impossible for me to relax.

As I move through the Feng Shui process I will be updating my readers on the progress. There is sure to be pitfalls and fall backs to my old cluttering ways, but you cannot improve without some set backs. I am ready to go! 2013, here I come!

Peace and positivity,
Chantale

Sharing rocks! Please click on the social media apps below and bring your friends…

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Welcome

Hello and welcome to the new space for Hippiegrrl Explains It All! This space will hold the archives of my backwash.com column as well as new writing. Please return often to see what is new! Hope to see you back here soon.

Peace,
Chantale aka hippiegrrl

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New Year New You

I never attempt to make resolutions. I feel they are a waste of time. Something to dwell on that usually disappoints in the end. Instead, I prefer to make goals. I suppose goals are resolutions cloaked in the costume of positivity, but they always seem more attainable. Resolutions have the pressure of one year, while goals have a forward motion. They can be completed within the new year or they can be ongoing, in perpetuity.

When I graduated from my first bachelors program at buffalo state, in 1997, I made my first, hand written, goal list. A five year plan. Before that, I had myriad lists dealing with everything from simple daily tasks to my ultimate goals. They were usually in my head and sometimes committed to a piece of paper in my journal. Always hand written and erasable, they were fluid. A business idea here and a song idea there. Ever changing and evolving. These lists were little reminders to keep breathing. To keep pushing forward. Without the little daily lists I may have just stayed in bed every morning and not bothered to try anything.

The first official, hand written, proper list had pieces of furniture on it. All the things I needed and wanted for my very first apartment. This sounds odd for me to consider as my first true goal list, but I really believe it was. It was written by my friend, over coffee, as we discussed the things we were going to bring from our homes and the things we would need to buy. It was three pages long and listed so many items that we would have never been able to fit everything into an apartment the size of which we could actually afford to pay the rent on, monthly.

I was reminded of this list while cleaning out boxes in my “office” on the weekend. I found it in a box with mementos from my longest running career and old wall hangings from my room in my parents house. It was stuffed in a folder next to pages of writing for an old ‘zine that I attempted to write and distribute on campus. Cackling from the depths of the box, it mocked me. Look at me! I am your first list! I am the one that got away! I am the reason you are still in Buffalo! I was your way out and you stuffed me in a folder to be stuffed in a box to be found 15 years later to create a lamenting! Why have you forsaken me so? If only you would have made it work. If only you would have packed up your room, bought a few items from me and moved in with your friend’ you might be further along now.

This is an interesting thing to think about. If you could go back in time and take a different path, would you? If you did, what would change? In the case of this list, I would have moved in with my friend, who was the reason I met my husband. So the writer would still be in the picture. I would have learned a earlier about feminism and sociology. I would have worked at a coffeehouse, instead of a bank. I would have most likely went back to school earlier and by now I would be at the end of my phd road, rather than the beginning. All these things could have been or it could have been the opposite. I could have not been able to afford rent and moved back in with my parents. Having been defeated, I would have probably still applied at teletech and worked there for two years, restarting the same history, but two years later, putting me two more years behind on that phd. So it could go either way. The best thing to do is to be thankful for what I have and move forward. Make a plan to become a sociology professor and go for it. Make it work anyway that I can. Scrimp and save, beg and borrow, and get to the end point.

So this brings me back to my goal list. For 2012 and beyond, here are the things I would like to accomplish, moving forward.

– get a new job
– start a masters program, leading to a phd
– move to north buffalo, temporarily, to save money

That is enough for now. This list should grow over the next few months and years to encompass my future. We shall see how it goes. Positivity is the key!

Peace,
Chantale aka hippiegrrl

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Keep Your Mouth Shut and Work On

A series of revelations have come to me over the past few weeks. I used to think that looking at a job as being “beneath me” was something that I should never do. That I could never be too good for anything. While this is most certainly true for most things in life, it is not necessarily true about work. Having been told that I should feel “lucky to have a job”, I felt more degraded than humbled. An additional straw was added when I was asked a direct question and before I could answer was told “no smart remarks, just answer the question”. Alright then.

With that, I have finally decided that I AM too good for a specific job. I am WAY too good for this job. I have realized that I AM above it. Being overqualified for a position is fine in the short run, but when you have been doing that same job for over a year, it starts to get old. When people start to get tired of your smartass remarks and tell you so, it might be time to move on.

The archive that I posted today was about coffee and how much we love it. Also – it deals with fair trade and good business practices. Due to my interest in these types of things and my overwhelming need to not be a corporate slob, I have decided that I will do whatever it takes to get out of my current situation. If that means that I have to give up my cellphone, I will. If that means that I have to sell cd’s, dvd’s, books, clothes, electronics, etc. to make a little bit to afford my rent, I will. If I have to take my beads out and turn my hobby into a part time job, I will. Anything to get off the corporate treadmill that is slowly sucking the life out of me.

Up until today everything was okay. It was not fantastic, but it was okay. As of today, it is no longer okay and I am going to actively do something about it. Although I was trying to stick it out, I see there is just no longer any point in doing that. There is no point in trying to make things work when the individuals around you make it super difficult to stay positive and be yourself.

In the end that is all I want to be – true to myself. True to my values, thoughts, feelings, aspirations and understanding of the world around me. Free to be who I am without being told to tone it down or modify my behaviour. Out from under the thumb of corporate culture. Away from this world of misery for a paycheck.

Peace and happy job hunting!
Chantale

appropriate links:
looking for a job?
monster
career builder
indeed
snag a job
mashable jobs
simply hired

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Positivity aka Ways to Piss People Off

There have been days, over the past few months, that I want to crawl up into a ball and forget that I have a job. I do not want to get out of bed in the morning. I do not want to take a shower, get in my car and drive to that place, punch in and start my day. I just want to go to school or the caffe or the library. I do not want to have to deal with the never-ending stream of issues that come with being in the customer service field. I have no choice, so I continue to get out of bed, take a shower, drive my car to that place, punch in and start my day.

This week I have decided that since I have no choice in the matter I might as well attempt to make the best of it, while I have to. Until something better comes along, this is what is. So rather than wallowing in self pity or feeling so badly that I cry all the way home from work, I am going to start looking on the bright side.

WHAT? If you know me personally that is probably the word that is screaming in your head right now. Why would I want to look on the bright side? Well – for my sanity I suppose. If I do not start being a positive person nothing will change. I am hoping that the opposite of that last statement is also true. If I start being a positive person everything will change.

This is all fine and good. I can be a positive person in my little corner of the world. I can schluff off all the crap that comes my way on a daily basis. I can pretend that the ways that people speak to me is not a big deal. I can ignore the pettiness and the insecurity of others and chalk it up to the field I am in. The problem, you see, does not lie within the walls of my workplace. The problem lies with the people I know outside of those four walls.

Since I have started this new, positive, outlook I have had several questions from people close to me. Questions such as, “what is up with you?” or “why are you acting so weird?”. C’mon people! I am trying to be positive here. Work with me!

Living in Buffalo, it is nearly impossible to stay on the bright side. There are always people, at every turn, that want to drag you back down into the doldrums of life in the downer city. If you are positive they are almost always upset with you. Believe me, I have a hard time staying positive. It is nearly impossible when things continue to get worse, but I think that if we just except our fate and be negative all the time nothing will ever change. So this is my plea to everyone. Please try to be positive. And if you cannot be positive yourself, please at least let others who are trying to be, be. I realize that I used to be (and will fall off the wagon many times to return to) negative as well, but this is a new leaf. New leaves are difficult and cumbersome, but in the end they are the best way to move forward.

So, why not join me in turning over this new leaf? There are a few great blogs that I have been reading to get me into the swing of things. Check them out! They may make you become a positive person as well. And do not worry – my cynical sarcasm is still intact, the positivity is only work related. Have a great day and happy protesting!!

Peacefully,
Chantale aka hippiegrrl

Links of note:
cordelia calls it quits
the happiness project
project happiness
brazen careerist