Surviving & Thriving When The World Turns Upside Down

Surviving & Thriving When The World Turns Upside Down

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Dress: Me Made & Designed  |  Shoes: Thrifted (Old Navy)  |  Hat: Bought in Williamsburg

Dear Lovely reader, as I sat down to write this post, I felt myself hit a wall....I didn't know what to write about. It's so easy to go out and take pictures, but when it comes to writing a post, I often find myself torn.....do I write about fashion & style and explain my outfit or do I write about life? Writing about fashion and style is easy, but I sometimes feel inauthentic by avoiding the important topics. 

Like everyone in the world right now, you probably find yourself in a similar situation as me, stuck at home and all of your plans for the year flying out the window. Now, let me be clear on one thing, I am not complaining about the inordinate hours of time stuck at home, because home is one of my favorite places to be (where are all my Introverts at?). However, I thrive on predictability, plans, and a schedule, but with so much uncertainty in the world & social distancing in effect, life is a bit of a struggle right now, finding the balance between surviving and thriving. 

With extra time at home, I have found myself spending a LOT of time in my thoughts, reflecting on life, becoming more in tune with myself, and thinking about every little things that happens (this is both a good thing and a bad thing!). However, in the midst of sitting down to write today's post, I decided to go for authenticity and remind you that you are not the only one who feels stuck, uninspired, stressed, depressed, anxious, and uncertain during this time. 

We all find ourselves in a season of life that none of us have ever experienced before, much less a time in our world where we are all facing a situation that many of us have never dealt with. The struggle between surviving and thriving is REAL!!! Surviving might look like simply getting through your day, avoiding a panic attack, completing your to do list, actually getting dressed for the day, brushing your hair for the first time in 3 days, or maybe even just keeping a schedule. I think for so many of us right now, if you were to ask us how we are doing we might say "I'm hanging in there" or "I am just trying to survive"! In fact, I know I have giving that response to others and have heard it from many people more than once. In the midst of uncertainty we often resort to a state of survival and simply making it through this season SANE! However, in spite of our survival nature and mindset, I think we often loose so many opportunities to thrive in the midst of unplanned and uncertain season. 

My life really is in a state of "survival" right now, trying to figure out this new normal (you would think after 7 weeks I would have figured it out), but in the midst of it, I often loose sight of the opportunities I have to THRIVE! Any time we face unplanned situations, we are given an opportunity to GROW, and this season is no different! Maybe you are surviving (like me), but are you thriving? Are you making the most of this season to grow as a person and use this precious time to pursue things that will pour into your life? 

At the beginning of this year, if you asked me if there was one thing I could change about my life, I would have probably said "I wish I had more time" and lo and behold, who knew that this year would turn upside down so drastically and that the one thing I always often wished for would be granted. Now, I don't know what situation or season you find yourself in, maybe for you, everything that is going on in the world actually means you have less time....I know we all find ourselves in different places. However, I do think if anything, we have been given the time to re-prioritize our lives, refocus our energies, create new schedules, or work on things we had often put aside. 

In this season, while I have still been putting in time as a teacher (via online learning) I have also found myself with extra time in my schedule to work on projects I had so often put aside due to lack of time. While life might seem like survival many days, I have been trying to develop a mindset of THRIVING! Thriving will most likely look different for all of us, but thriving has the same outcome in all of our lives, thriving means developing a positive outlook in spite of uncertainty and using every opportunity to grow as a person, despite the hard days. 

Thriving might mean pursuing your passions you had long abandoned. Thriving might mean learning more about yourself and getting in touch with your emotions and taking time for self care. Thriving might mean you give yourself the freedom to dream the dreams you once thought were impossible? Thriving might simply look like creating a schedule for your life. Maybe thriving is continuing to build relationships with others around you, or getting outside of your comfort zone to do something new? 

Thriving looks different for us all, but it is vitally IMPORTANT to develop a mindset that allows us to make the most of every opportunity & approach this uncertain and unprecedented time in our lives and world with a renewed outlook and optimism. When we are thriving, we are automatically surviving, but if our only goal is to survive, are we giving ourselves the space to thrive? 

This post is as much a pep talk for myself, as it is an encouragement to you, in reminding you that we are all in this together, and we can all thrive together, in the midst of our automatic survival mode. 

What has been the hardest part of Social Distancing for you?

Where do you find yourself, are you surviving or thriving?

- Madison

The Decision That Changed My College Experience Forever

The Decision That Changed My College Experience Forever

Monday, November 13, 2017

Shirt: c/o Four:Eight Shop

Skirt: The Skirtery 

Everyone goes into college with ideas of what it will be like. Sometimes those ideas are lofty and far reaching into great achievements, new friend groups, on campus organizations, and a boat load of fun. However, I was never one of those typical college bound girls....my ideas of what college would be like consisted of classes, studies, projects, surviving without my family, traveling home on the weekend, the uncertainty of new friends, and no real desire to get connected with on campus happenings or Thursday night shenanigans. Nevertheless, college proved to be so much more than I had imagined. Not so much in the way of it being to much to handle, but rather that God had another plan of what he wanted me to accomplish in an unfamiliar place and boy is he the craziest!

If you have been around here for awhile you probably can recall me mentioning that I was an RA (Resident Advisor) while at college. I got the job half way into my second semester and kept it up until my last semester of college (this fall) when I moved home for my student teaching. However, while that might not seem like that big of a deal to you, it was a HUGE deal to me because I never could have foreseen getting a job on campus, and much less being in charge of students who lived on campus.....the whole timeline and occurrence was truly ordained and destines by God to grow me in more ways than I could have known and put me in the midst of the biggest opportunity for witness I had ever experienced!

I still remember the day I received the email which said "We are pleased to offer you a Resident Advisor position beginning immediately!" And while getting the job wasn't all that much of a shock it was the process that was CRAZY! You see I randomly decided that I should apply for an RA position on campus (I think I just took a leap of faith and didn't even know what I was doing) which meant submitting an application and going through two rounds of interviews which included a panel interview with 3 people and a group interview for half a day (that in itself was not a typical Madison thing to do...talking to people I didn't know.....WHAT!). If that didn't push me out of my element enough, the fact that I immediately got one of the vacant mid semester openings a week later did.....oh, and did I mention that my RA placement was in a sorority house (insert wide eyed and shocked face emoji here)!

Here is the background on all of this:

1) I was (and still am) the person who didn't understand the need for sororities. I thought they were a waste of money, changed and conformed girls, sometimes put them in bad situations, and thought the idea of hand signs and chants was bit ridiculous. 

2) The RA positions I was interviewing for were for the next spring, but I was offered a position to start IMMEDIATELY which meant skipping all the training that new RA's typically go through to prepare them for the job and just being thrown into the midst of it! 

Now that you know a few facts, you can see how getting the job and then finding out where my job would be were all HUGE surprises and pure humor on God's part. So after completing my paperwork I started the job, which in itself had a lot of responsibilities, but responsibilities that nonetheless helped me grow:

RA Job Responsibilities:

1) Hold daily office hours.

2) Enforce the university rules and policies and make sure all resident follow them. If they fail to do so you are required to document and/or fine them based on the policies broken. 

3) Attend staff meeting ever week and all staff meetings once a month. 

4) Plan events with your staff team for all of the residents in your area. 

5) Complete rounds on your assigned night(s) with another RA. Rounds consist of walking through ever house in your area (our area had 8 houses....4 of them were sorority houses), both upstairs and downstairs. Rounds during your assigned shift were at 9:00pm and 12:00am. 

6) Respond to any calls on the duty phone while you were on call (this means 2:00 am phone calls about broken toilets).

7) While on call you must report any major policy violations (drugs or alcohol) or unsafe situations to the University Police, wait for them to arrive on scene, and stay close by to write a report. 

8) Handle roommate, suite mate, or resident complaints and disagreements. 

9) Complete safety and maintenance checks every month within your house. 

10) Hold floor meetings two times a semester for residents to go over policies and checkout procedures. 
11) Make fun and creative door decks with your residents name every month
12) Design and make a fun and creative bulletin board for your house every month. 
#11 & #12 were my personal favorite parts of being an RA :) 

Maybe you are still curious about how this decision changed my college experience forever? Here's the thing, getting the job as an RA put me in a place where I was daily outside of my comfort zone. I was no longer just the random college girl who lived two doors down, I was the RA of the house and knew all 25 girls who lived under my roof. I had to daily challenge myself to say hi to my resident, talk to my co-workers, and acknowledge the many faces I now knew.

Not only that, but I joined a staff team, surrounded by over 9 people that I didn't know, and for this introvert that was something I never had worked through before. I had to learn to work with new people, get to know them, plan events with them, back them up when they were on call, ask for help when need be, express my opinions, and at the same time be completely different than everyone else around me. I don't think I ever expected to know that many people at college, but after becoming an RA I not only knew people on my staff team, but I got to know other RA's who worked across campus.

I no longer walked to class seeing faces I didn't recognize or know, because I now actually knew people.....by name (I think my mom is still shocked by this). I knew my fellow staff members, my residents, and even my team members residents. I actually hung out with people other than my ONE friend at college because as an RA we would have "staff bonding" days, dinners, all staff events with all the RA's on campus, and random grocery store runs.

With all of that being said, I still today believe that this all happened for ONE reason! God ordained this to do something in me that I never would have allowed him to do otherwise. He ordained it to STRETCH my introvert self beyond my limits, instill the confidence in myself that I really could do hard things, gave me the courage and strength to talk to new people, the wisdom to deal with difficult and hard circumstances, and the boldness to share my faith. I think if anything he allowed me to become an RA to give be a platform to be a positive influence. He took me (Madison), this quiet and old fashioned, high value, strong moral girl and placed her in a Sorority house where I daily had contact with girls who lived much differently than me. He took me (Madison), this quiet and sometimes ridiculously nervous girl and placed me on a staff team of which there was only one person who shared my same faith (until another girl joined us two semesters in) and thus gave me the BIGGEST stage for witness......whether that witness was in sharing my faith with fellow staff members and my boss, praying with a resident, sharing my relationship views with the girls in my house, or even just living a different life in the choices I made and expressing my views on a few occasions. Through being an RA I learned BOLDNESS and I learned how different I was from the world and nearly every other college student on campus, but I also learned that as an Introvert I could still thrive in an environment filled with people.

If my decision to become an RA taught me anything, it taught me about the REAL MADISON. It showed me the courage, strength, and boldness I possessed that I didn't even know I had. It showed me that God can do the unimaginable in your life and grow you exponentially more than you could have ever foreseen. It showed me that by being yourself, people respect that as being a unique part of who you are and that being yourself is the best thing you can ever offer the world (or college for that matter)!

Sure, I was exposed to more "college life" than I had originally expected by becoming an RA (I will forever be able to bust people for smoking marijuana....yes, you read that right), but I also got to do a lot of cool stuff and use my creative skills as part of my job. And sure, there were times that I didn't make the most of the opportunities that I had, but in the midst of it all I know that the opportunities I did take were defining moments in my life that forever changed me and changed my college experience. I could seriously write an entire book on this topic (as you can tell from this long post) but I will end it here, because through it all God taught me to see the open doors of opportunity around me, muster the courage to walk through them, and trust that he would keep them open for more of his crazy plans.

I always believed God has had CRAZY plans for my life and college was just many of those plans rolled up into one that reminded me that when I think I have control over the future, it is never really me, but God who succeeds!

- Madison

Dear Younger Me,

Dear Younger Me,

Monday, November 6, 2017

Dear Younger Me,
            You have NO CLUE the crazy path and journey life is about to take you on, so hold tight and get ready for the unimaginable, the unexpected and the sheer hilarity of God's plan for your life! So you just graduated high school, closing one chapter of your life and turning the page to another with untold stories waiting to be explored. So much has already happened in your life and yet so much hasn't happened.....you have no absolutely no clue what the future ahead hold, but just know without God the future is going to be impossible.
             You have dealt with you fare share of trials and test of faith, but nothing thus far can measure up to the journey and utter tests of faith that God will give you in the next four years. College is a whole other world, so remember when you had your own views of what it would be like (based on books and movies, etc.) its about 85% accurate. Sure, you already have the college work load conquered for the most part since you have been taking college classes for the last two years, but juggling a full college load, being away from your family, having no connections and being in a new place is probably something you haven't quite wrapped your head around yet, but just remember "paperclip promises" and trust that God will be with you every step of the way, and you will learn to rely upon him more than you ever have thus far.
              Throughout the next few years you will learn what it means to take sheer leaps of faith....blindly leaping into the unknown, the only thing that keeping you from completely freaking out is the knowledge that God will not let you fall, and with that you will learn that when you take leaps of faith you really can fly! You will learn that nothing happens by accident, because God really does place people in your path for a reason, whether it is to share your faith with them, be a positive influence, or simply be the friend they need (and they become the friend you need also). No neighbor, roommate, coworker, random college students, Bible study member, or professor comes into your life by accident.....they were all ordained centuries ago by God to be there and you were placed on this path in life for such a time as this!
               Attending a college void of any common acquaintances or friends is a leap of faith in itself, but you know that, so just know that God took that into consideration and placed a new bossum friend two doors down the hall from you and both of you will help the other survive college:) However, even with a dear friend to rely upon, at times you will feel alone. Maybe even the most alone you have ever felt in your life, but just know that when you feel alone God shows up and is fully present in your life.....so much so that even though you are alone (and might go an entire week without any real conversations with people) you will always have God to talk to and he will fill you with strength, comfort, and restoration to rely and grow in him for that season.
               Remember when you think that you will never really get to know that many people at college, well think again! Because God will not only place a dear close friend in your life but you will spontaneously apply for a job on campus to be a Resident Advisor, get the job immediately, and join a staff team of strangers who in a few short months turn out to be amazing people you never expected or would have met if you hadn't taken a risk. In that group of coworkers you will meet your small group leader, be invited to a Bible study that helps you grow in God, share your faith, impart different views of life to people from a variety of backgrounds, be a positive influence in the lives of others, talk about God with your boss, give someone a Bible, pray with a resident, be the first to welcome a new member of your staff team with a smiling face, shock people by doing things they didn't expect, and all the while stay true to who you are
               Throughout this journey called "college" you will develop and find yourself....you will find the "true Madison" the girl who can easily laugh and make fun of herself because she knows in here small corner of the world there are not many (if any) girls like her and she is okay with that! You will discover that your differences and "oddities" make you who you are and you will accept that the Madison you see in the mirror every day is exactly the person she was meant to be...with all of her differences, quirks, odd laughs, old soul, party of one, and so much more!
                In some cases, while college might seem every bit as it should, or every bit not what you imagined, in some instances it could let you down. Sure, you aren't going to college to find a new group of friends or get super involved on campus, and while you did meet a number of people you never would have imagined you would meet, you still won't meet "the one" (or at least so far as I know none of the gentlemen you ran across in college have arisen as part of God's plan for your future). Okay, okay, so I know you are not going to college because you are desperate for a boyfriend or husband, but I know you :) and I know that deep within your mind you have thought that "maybe, just maybe I might meet someone at college?" But just know that probably won't happen. Sure, you will come across your fare share of handsome faces, dapper styles, and inspirational + sold out Jesus followers, but none of them will be anything more than that. You will learn that your future (by this I mean a guy) is really in God's hands and you will learn to let go of doubt and thoughts of missed opportunities knowing that the right opportunity hasn't yet presented itself.....but if anything you have simply added more things to your LONG list and know that the future wives of those amazing guys are very lucky:)
                With all this being said, I will close by saying that you will become a dedicated and studious student who tries her best in every class, and because of that your professors will take notice. You will be praised for your dedication, even though you never did it to gain praise or attention. Your professors will see your bright future and because of their strong belief in you, you will be even more determined to do great things.
               The future that awaits you is crazy! If you were to watch the movie trailer to the next few years I'm sure you would be left speechless, laughing, and not believing that you (Madison) would be able to do half the things that you will do.......and that's just it! Your future will be a testament to God's faithfulness and plan for your life and your faith in him will be what sustains you, what carries you through hard time, what comforts you when you feel alone, what allows you to persevere through a test, what gives you the courage to be BOLD and share your faith, to be different than everyone around you, and to daily take leaps of faith into unknown waters knowing God will give you the ability to walk on the waters of a world you never saw yourself succeeding and growing so much in!
             Younger me, you future awaits and with it a sea of endless possibilities and opportunities that will leave you speechless, chuckling, and smiling up at God!!!

xoxoxo
Sincerely,
Older Me
Madison M.
     

//Thoughts & Realizations// A Higher Calling

//Thoughts & Realizations// A Higher Calling

Friday, March 18, 2016

Instagram has become a place for discovering new things and Tapestry Magazine is one of them. Somehow I stumbled upon their Instagram  page one day (I believe it was via their Creative Curator's Instagram which is a must see also) and was completely captivated by the beauty and the message of their vision! Tapestry Magazine is not simply a style and lifestyle magazine but it is a creative endeavor filled to the brim with real life stories of growth and lessons from our Heavenly Father. It is an invitation to discover who you are in the light of Christ. Needless to say not only are the images of this masterpiece stunning and beautiful, but the words within the pages are powerful as well! On that note, I thought I would share some of my thoughts that I took away the other day from reading one of the articles. 

________________________________________________________________________

I have always been moved and inspired by the charge and mindset of a "Higher Calling" because after all our lives as a whole are all about living out a higher calling, in the since that this world is not our home for we are meant for a place far more incredible and breathtaking than we could ever comprehend. The "Higher Calling" is a charge and call to something More.....something GREATER.....something bigger than ourselves.....something ABOVE the world! A call to something we could never do on our own, but only accomplish through the mighty power of God and his work in our lives. The Higher Calling is not just the promise that when we leave this earth we will than enter our true home, a glorious heavenly kingdom to worship day and night with our Heavenly Father; but also that our "Higher Calling" is our destiny and calling from God upon our lives here on earth.....what we are meant to do and the people we are meant to be. 

Romans 12:2 

"Therefore do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Than you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will."

We are called to a life of "non-conformity" where we don't go with the flow! We are the people called to walk to the right when everyone else is walking to the left....to stand out in a crowd and not blend in. I loved what Jessi Cross, the founder of Tapestry Magazine said, when she mentioned the idea of a Higher Calling by relating it to the life of Moses, a man who went up a mountain to experience God fully in his bright and radiant GLORY! Essentially the higher calling is the idea of climbing up the mountain.....of taking the road less traveled and moving beyond yourself  to truly experience God for all that he is rather than contenting yourself to a life of the steady unchanging norm as you make camp at the bottom of the mountain and don't bother to venture up the peak. For Jesus tells us in 1 John 2:15 "Do not love the world or anything in the world." 

The world is the camp at the bottom of the mountain and God....our Higher Calling is at the point of the peak cutting through the clouds to Heaven. Therefore what will you choose? Will you allow yourself to get caught up in the flow of the world, slowly loosing yourself in its pressures and lifestyle or will you hike up the mountain to experience God for all that he is and take hold of all that he has planned for your life, 

Jessi Cross said: "When we assume the posture of the higher call we become like Moses, a man who would refuse to move unless the Lord moved before Him, who wanted more than a shadow of the Lord, a ma who dared to see His face and a man who didn't think much about his own name-- he just wanted to make 'His' name known." 

2 Corinthians 4:17

"For monetary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison." 

That is our Higher Calling....to Know HIM and Be Know! To suffer and live as Christ so that his glory may be revealed in and through us as we are be called higher towards our eternal glory! 

When I think of the topic and vision of a Higher Calling I can't help but be reminded of C.S. Lewis's The Weight of Glory which is packed to the brim with words that inspire a desire for something more within our souls and a realization that this world is truly NOT our home, for we long for a place further away and far more splendorous than our worldly earth. 

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” 
― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

 We are aliens and this world is not our home! Don't be swayed by the world or Satan's schemes to turn you onto another path. Embrace your Higher Calling and climb the mountain as your eyes are fixed confidently on the author and perfecter of your life and your higher glory! For just as C.S. Lewis states: 

“The sense that in this universe we are treated as strangers, the longing to be acknowledged, to meet with some response, to bridge some chasm that yawns between us and reality, is part of our inconsolable secret. And surely, from this point of view, the promise of glory, in the sense described, becomes highly relevant to our deep desire. For glory means good report with God, acceptance by God, response, acknowledgment, and welcome into the heart of things. The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last.” 
― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

-Madison

Have you hard of Tapestry Magazine?

Are you familiar with The Weight of Glory? 

What are your thoughts on a Higher Calling?