It’s rather embarrassing I haven’t posted anything in over a month! Although, it’s a clear reflection that the past month has been non-stop with business. My timeline begins with moving into my apartment with my four wonderful roommates, then enduring two full weeks packed with 9-5 training for new housing grad assistants.  After grad training, I immediately started training my staff and working my GA position in Preston. All the in between is made up of ACE training, move-in, SPA events and Lifetime movie watching. Haha. Needless to say, I have been very distracted with life and not entirely focused on the one thing that brings me peace; writing. Tonight, I am writing to clear my thoughts and break the one month ice of not blogging. 🙂

To start things off, I would like to give a shout out to my amazing new roommates (Kels, Chanda Rae, Supapa, Gilly). Previous living situations caused me to lose hope in co-habitation with girls. Haha… But these girls restored my lost hope. We are all very different. We all have different thoughts, ideas, feelings, personalities and backgrounds, but for some reason we all balance each other out. For reasons I’m unaware, our personalities just sync. Since we ‘ve moved in, I don’t think I have ever laughed so hard for so long in my entire life. We’ve been here less than a month and we have an entire wall covered with the funniest most off the wall quotes spoken by our very beings. Supapa encompasses every bit of diversity you could imagine. I am still trying to translate her personality to English. lol. Chanda Rae is the calm before the storm. When she’s in the room you just feel this overwhelming sense of calm, but beware of her conduct face. She’ll make you feel like you’re in the middle of a storm if you don’t watch out! Then you’ve got Kels, also known as Kelster. This girl’s laugh is one of a kind. You can’t help but want to make her laugh just so you can hear that chuckle. lol. Last but not least, there is Gilly, formerly known as Jillian. Haha. She’s just a cute little doll you want to keep in your pocket. She’s got a heart bigger than her body. I feel like I’ve known them much longer than just a couple months, and I am extremely thankful God has brought them into my life. 🙂

I am anxious for what this academic year will bring. Thus far, this entire year has been a year of firsts, but firsts can sometimes be overwhelming. Graduate school is a first for my family and enduring this next phase in my life is rather nerve-wracking. I am undeniably excited, but I hope my eagerness doesn’t result with my head in the sand. I want to make the absolute most of my experience here at Carolina, but I don’t want to lose my mind in the process. I need challenges with support and disappointments with learned lessons. And I pray that God will be by side through those challenges and learned lessons… He’s gotten me this far. 🙂

Anyways, this post is just me rambling really. It’s late and I’m exhausted, but I miss my blog. 😦 I will be sure to post soon with something more interesting and upbeat! Until then, have a great week and remember to love.

**Note to my best friend, Sarah G, I miss you. I am sorry we haven’t been able to catch up. I know you have been equally as busy. Just know, I haven’t forgotten about you! You’re still in thoughts and prayers always. 🙂 Talk soon. Love you!**

I have had a lot of things racing through my mind lately, and today seemed to be the tipping point. On my lunch break, I went for a short walk to try and clear my mind and my burdensome heart, and this was the result of my walk….

As I was walking, I kept replaying all the things that have had me down lately. I started feeling sorry for myself noticing I was walking with my head down watching my feet move forward- left then right left then right. My shoulders were slumped over, and I know anyone watching me would think I was a pathetic excuse for a bad day.

After about 20 minutes into my walk, I grew tired of being selfish with negative emotions. It wasn’t doing me any good walking around feeling sorry for myself and thinking about all the crappy things about life. So instead, I started to just observe. I pretended like I was invisible- that no one could see me, and I just watched. I completely absorbed the moment and watched as life was happening right in front me. Every anticipated step was a thought of the future, every step I was in was a gift of the present and every step I took was a memory of the past. I only felt truly alive in the gift of the present… so I sat down with hopes of freezing the moment. It felt like that anyway. More or less, I froze my life as I thought fluidly about the life of the people around me.

Sitting there, watching and observing, I realized that people are my source of healing. I feed off the energy of other people. Their personalities, nonverbals, actions, stories, advice and experiences are the food I need to nourish my energy supply. A life without other people is not a life at all. We need each other. We need each other to heal.

I think the greatest beauty in life is the beauty of human life. We are all brought to this world with the same love and innocence deep within. We grow up in different circumstances, we’re surrounded by different stories and we mature through different experiences, but we all have the same love and breathe of life within us. Watching people go about their day gave me a new appreciation for life- just how fragile and beautiful it really is.

We are all connected somehow in someway. We have all had those moments of “Wow! What a small world..”, but we need to start embracing it. The people that directly impact our lives- mentors, advisers, loved ones, friends, family, etc.- are the ones that give us the most energy. They are the ones we run to when life seems out of our control, but we also need to embrace the people we aren’t particularly close to. Whether they enter our life for five seconds then leave or remain in our lives for years, we need observe each other, appreciate and respect each other, and embrace the idea of genuine kindness toward one another. Why? Because we need each other.

“Studies in psychoanalysis tell us that man is on a constant journey. Through our struggles, we gain the capacity to understand that we are not competing with one another, but we are surviving with one another. This consciousness leads us to mutual understanding, acceptance, and ultimately, respect. Thinking along these lines, we see that we are not nouns but verbs; we, as human beings, are always in a process of change and development. There is continual growth, and like anything that grows, there is nurturing.” –Andrew Luisi

As many of you know, a large part of my involvement as an undergraduate at the University of Tampa was in interfaith initiatives on campus and in the community. My second year as an undergrad, I contacted the Dean of Students looking for ways to better immerse myself on campus and in the community. I was searching for an avenue to find meaning and passion in a point in my life that was rather boring and unproductive. I was thirsty for change and hungry for making a difference. I am not sure if I was looking to find redemption because of my rather selfish acts the year prior, but I knew in my heart I needed to fill a void that was eating at me inside. When she invited me to attend the Faith, Values and Spirituality Resource Team meetings, I was very excited but doubtful that it would be my niche. And a niche was exactly what I was searching for.

To my dismay, the Resource Team was the best thing that could have happened to me. I couldn’t have joined the Resource Team at a better time. The team was exploring options of interfaith programming on campus and ways to better involve our community faith partners with students. Due to my loss of self and questionable faith the year before, I was anxious to find the path I veered off and uncover the new territory necessary to finding me. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to help me rediscover what I lost while working toward something to develop a deeper sense of community and understanding. With the help of the  Interfaith Youth Core, the Resource Team was able to build an overwhelming amount of support from the Tampa Bay community and UT faculty, staff and administration. Eboo Patel, founder of IFYC, made a special visit to campus to talk with students about the interfaith movement and to educate members of the Resource Team about how to catalyze such a movement on campus, but they needed a student leader to take the reigns. I knew in my heart that was going to be my job… I was going to take the reigns of leadership and introduce the student body to this foreign concept of coexisting among faith all while trying to restore my own faith.

The summer going into my senior year was a pivotal point in my development as a leader, but also in the development of my faith and my passion for humanity. I worked endless hours with fellow students and mentors to develop a constitution for our new student organization, Better Together Interfaith Student Group. We were dedicated to interfaith cooperation on campus and in the greater community, and wanted to promote understanding and respect for diverse spiritual and nonspiritual beliefs by means of dialogue, education and advocacy. We wanted to promote awareness and understanding of both similarities and differences between all religions, as well as establish a basis in which students could develop strong diverse friendships through interfaith cooperation.

That summer, I attended the Interfaith Leadership Institute in Washington, D.C. with two of my peers and our Better Together adviser. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into the conference with students and interfaith leaders from all different faith and non-faith backgrounds. I was just this small town girl that only knew of Christianity and Judaism, and my only other faith knowledge came from movies and TV shows. :S Ugh… I felt so uneducated. Despite my “life-in-a-box” syndrome, I learned so much about different faiths, non-faiths, beliefs and perspectives on religion, the world and humanity. To this day, I have never felt more accepted, comfortable and hopeful than I did when I was at the Leadership Institute. The interfaith leaders empowered us to take hold of the movement and educate others about the need to build bridges rather than allow faith to be our divide.

My longing for passion and meaning was no more. I found my niche. I uncovered this interest and eagerness that I know I will carry with me for the remainder of my life. My senior year was filled with joys, hopeful moments, learning curves, disappointments and struggles as I built our  interfaith organization and introduced it to the student body. I will be the first to admit that there were more disappointments than successes to celebrate, but each disappointment was ingrained with a learning lesson. Those learning lessons truly molded me as a leader and as an interfaith activist.

Unfortunately, graduation ended my efforts with UT’s Better Together Interfaith organization, but it has not ended the movement on campus and in my heart. Although my interfaith efforts at UT are currently on pause until I can return as a professional, my interfaith efforts in my life are on-going. Through my initiatives as an interfaith leader, I have learned so much about myself and my faith. Granted, I still have much to learn, but I am comforted knowing my faith journey is my own. And as far as I’m concerned, I will always be on a faith journey… learning, living, loving and developing that relationship with my God, but I will forever be an advocate for respect and understanding.

Like Andrew said, through our struggles, we gain the capacity to understand that we are not competing with one another, but we are surviving with one another. We are all on our own personal faith journey discovering what it is we believe. What one person believes is no better than what someone else believes. This is not a competition of what to believe. We are merely surviving together. We are discovering what it is that makes us happy, what makes us love, what makes us serve and what makes us fall to our knees in rejoice. When you find someone that identifies with you hold onto them, but for the love of humanity, don’t shut the door to your heart in another believer’s face. Open your heart to them, learn about what makes them happy and befriend them. We are blind in our own faith until we know what’s it’s like to see in another. If we continue to look at faith as a matter of right and wrong, we will never complete the journey to finding ourselves and we will never achieve peace…. yes, world peace.

This post is dedicated to my parents. 🙂

For those still getting to know me as a blogger and as a friend, I must share one VERY IMPORTANT thing with you. I am whole-heartedly in love with chocolate. I love all shapes, sizes and flavors of chocolate. My most favorite chocolates are dark chocolate truffles and mint dark chocolates (just in case you happen into a Godiva store and want to get me a treat. JK). Another important thing I need to share with you is that Courtney Carol Tipton, me :P, will own and operate her own chocolate factory one day. Point being, I like to make a lot of chocolate references and analogies…this post being one. So bear with me. Haha.

Imagine a box of chocolates laying before you waiting to be opened and tempting your every move. This box filled with an assortment of delectable chocolates is just staring at you. It almost seems like it’s whispering to you to indulge yourself.

Now, imagine that each chocolate within the box represents different kinds of days in your life. We go for the chocolate of our choice unsure what it’s going to be like once we bite into it. Once we’re one bite in, we make the decision whether we like it or don’t like it. For me, that’s how life is sometimes. We are all faced with a box of life, and within this box we are presented with the days of our life. (I am obviously figuratively speaking because if I was literally speaking…that would be one enormous box. Haha.) We never know what the day is going to be like until we bite into it. Sometimes we find our days to be quite nutty while other days are rather smooth. Some days are just sweet while others are bitter. We have colorful days, fruity days, interesting days and the list could go on…But that is the best part about seeing life as a box of chocolates (thank you Forrest Gump for the wonderful analogy), we “never know what we’re going to get”. We just have to be prepared to take the day on one bite at a time, no matter how delicious or disgusting. 🙂

To my parents, I know that you have tread rough waters lately with issues at home, but never lose sight in the beauty of your box of chocolates. 🙂 I know that is super cheesy, but you know…that’s just me. I love you both very much, and wish more than anything that I could be there to take some of your burdens off your shoulders. You have been through so much this past year, and I just wish I could come across that perfect chocolate in your box to make your day! 🙂 With love, your baby girl.

Transition is never easy because transition means change. By nature, I have never been open to change. I am only human and we as humans, more often than not, are creatures of habit. Fortunately, college has “changed” my mindset on change and transition. I credit college for humbling me and forcing me outside my comfort zone. Although I still resist change at times, I am open to new things, new people, new places and new adventures. My point in all of this is that today I took a leap outside my comfort zone.

I attended a wonderful church this morning, Riverbend Community Church in Lexington, South Carolina with two of my friends from my graduate program. Now, you’re probably wondering why I said that today was a leap outside my comfort zone, so let me explain. I wasn’t raised in a family that went to church. Granted, I was raised Christian, but I didn’t grow up in a church community. In high school, I explored my faith and would attend church with friends every so often, but I never got that feeling of belonging. Plus, it was difficult not getting to share those experiences with my family. Furthermore, when I moved to Tampa, I had a difficult transition with friends and involvement in a toxic relationship. I always say that first year in college was my “all time low”, but those moments of weakness teach us more about ourselves than our moments of strength. I learned a lot about myself that year, including a lot about my faith. The following years as an undergrad, I took up an interfaith initiative at my university and attended a First Presbyterian church downtown. I usually went to church solo because that was most comfortable for me. I didn’t get too invovled in the First Presbyterian church other than attending Sunday worship services, and I was very non-social with members of the church community.

When I moved to Columbia this summer, I made a promise to myself to explore different church communities in town and to socialize with its members. Today, I did just that! Not only did I go to church with friends, but I socialized with members of the church. I met so many wonderful people. Like I said, the church itself was wonderful. It’s a non-denominational evangelical church committed to leadership in the church, a better sense of community through interpersonal relationships and outreach locally, regionally and globally. I truly felt a connection with the people, the church and with God. The message really spoke to me and the music gave me a deeper sense of connection. I am thankful for my experience today with Riverbend, and am appreciative of the kind and welcoming people of the community. I will most definitely be returning.

Anyways, I don’t mean to go on and on about my experiences. I just hope that for my readers you are able to experience that same kind of awakening. I hope that you maintain hope in finding your church home, or place that you can build a stronger relationship with your God. My advice to my readers, follow your heart. Your heart translates what is being said in your soul, and your soul is a direct connection with God. So just listen and follow. **And for crying our loud, don’t be afraid to socialize. People want to get to know you, they want to be resourceful to you and most importantly, they want to support you!**

“If you desire intimacy with God, go to Him in prayer. He is waiting. He will rejoice, and He will treat you with tenderness and compassion.” (Isa 40:11)

Happy Friday beautiful readers. 🙂

This summer has been a summer of remarkable memories. College graduation being the kick-off. I am the first of my family to graduate from a four-year college, and walking across that stage on graduation knowing my parents were there watching me receive my diploma was the proudest moment of my life. Through the sea of people at graduation, I could practically see the smile radiating on my parents’ faces. I could feel in my heart that they were so proud. My favorite moment of the entire ceremony was looking up to find my parents in the crowd as I first walked onto the green to take my seat. I am almost positive I saw my dad crying…but he would never admit that.

Saying goodbye to mentors, advisers, professors and friends was hard, but I knew it was the beginning of a new journey. My loving boyfriend helped me pack up my car with all my crap, which was not an easy task. For those that don’t know me, I drive a Mitsubishi Eclipse… therefore, packing all my stuff up in my car wasn’t an easy task, especially since I have so much of it. Haha Regardless, we got everything stuffed into my car and surprisingly had enough room to fit us, too. Our trip home was draining, but comforting knowing we were together. After a long nights drive, we  had finally reached the Nati. The one city in Ohio that will always hold special memories.

To explain, the city of Cincinnati will always hold a special place in my heart. I fell in love with the man of my dreams sitting on a rooftop in Cincinnati. Hand in hand, with our legs dangling off the edge, I looked into his eyes and knew at that moment he was the one. The feelings racing through my mind and heart on that rooftop can only be described as true love…and I promise, no skyline will ever compare to the Cincy skyline that night. It was a skyline that painted a picture of love, hope and a future with a man I would dedicate my everything.

Sorry to get off track, I always feel the need to explain why Cincinnati means so much to me. 🙂 I stayed in the city with my boyfriend for a few days before venturing back to my stomping grounds, Lancaster, Ohio. My parents hosted a wonderful graduation party for me that next weekend with great food, loving family and close friends. It meant so much to me that everyone came out to celebrate my accomplishment. The most memorable part of the party was when my parents met Benjamin’s parents for the first time. (We are going on two years of being together, so our parents meeting each other was a really big deal for us.) Overall, the party was wonderful.

That Monday, my mom and I were off to Hawaii. I wrote a more detailed version of our vacation below with pictures to illustrate our good times. The mother-daughter trip was more than I could have asked for. Last summer, my mom and I traveled to Italy together. This year, keeping with the summer travel tradition, we went to Hawaii. What I love most about my travels with my mom is seeing her so happy showing me around and spending that valuable time together. It’s just that quality mother-daughter time that I know she misses with me being away.

The weekend we returned from Hawaii was a bit chaotic with me packing everything back up and saying my goodbyes, but it was a beautiful ending to my time at home. I spent that Saturday afternoon with my boyfriend at Dawes Arboretum walking around, talking and soaking in the calming effects of nature. That evening, we went to Confluence Park with our best friends Kyle and Sarah for an amazing dinner on the confluence of the Olentangy and Scioto Rivers. Dinner was followed by the Funny Bone, which you could imagine had us laughing our asses off.

Unfortunately, I had to say goodbye to Ohio yet again because this girl was headed South. Since I have been here in Cola, I have had an amazing time. South Carolina is definitely a new culture shock, but I love the people and most importantly the food. Haha. I have been working at the university, meeting new friends, networking, adventuring and taking time to myself. It’s been great. My boyfriend came down to visit for the week as well as our two best friends. We all took a weekend adventure to Charleston, which was so much fun. We walked all around downtown Charleston, checked out some delicious restaurants, shopped at the market and spent some quality time on the beach. 🙂 I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend.

Now, I sit here sipping on a fabulous glass of wine while I  bore you with the details of my summer. For that, I apologize. I am just so unbelievably fortunate for the people in my life that bring me bundles of happiness. And yes, I just said bundles. I love the new people I am meeting (shout out to Lauren Adams, Tim Davis, Ashley Ellis, Joseph Santangelo and Kayla Lisenby). I am so excited for my new roommates to get here (shout out to Supaphen Niroula, Kelsey Jarrett and Chanda Postel). This new beginning is off to a great start and I can’t wait for the months to come.

Ya gotta love summer! 🙂

Court’s opinion of expectations.

Dictionary.com defines the following:

Expectation- the act or state of expecting.

Expecting- anticipating the occurrence or coming of.

Reality- the state or quality of being real.

Expectations drive us. We have expectations of ourselves, of loved ones, of friends, of strangers and of our environments. We live expectations everyday. They play on our morals and give us a framework for our values. Expectation is the power of government, the communication of parenthood, the standard for relationships and the survival of youth. We do what is expected of us and assume what is expected of others. It’s a societal norm to live up to expectations… but what happens when we don’t live up to those expectations?

I have struggled with the nature of expectations for a very long time. My expectations for myself and the expectations of others have dictated my actions over the years and have influenced me in more ways than one.  I have always used expectations to guide me in making the “right” decisions, and when I don’t make the “right” decisions I feel an overwhelming sense of disappointment. Disappointment only induced by the pressure of meeting and/or exceeding expectations. Granted, expectations help us set standards for ourselves, but what is the difference between personal expectations and expectations of others?

Personally, I think expectations of yourself are a must. You can’t challenge yourself if you don’t have expectations to achieve your goals. You cannot achieve your goals if you don’t have expectations to be motivated and ambitious. But there is a fine line between having expectations of yourself and having expectations of others-especially unrealistic expectations. When someone doesn’t live up to your expectations of them, you are instantly disappointed. Disappointment leads to uneasy emotions, and those uneasy emotions are toxic. My issue with the vicious cycle of expectations is, who is to blame for the disappointment? Time and time again we blame the people who “disappointed” us, but aren’t we the ones who disappointed ourselves? Whether others know of our expectations or not, we are the ones that put the expectations in place. Therefore, if someone doesn’t meet our expectations of them and we feel an overwhelming sense of disappointment…. it is our own damn fault.

The point of my post is to bring a new perspective to expectations. We have all dealt with our own personal experiences with expectations and disappointments, but maybe it’s time we re-evaluate how we react to expectations. They always say, life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. By no means am I saying don’t have expectations of others, but don’t react with disappointment when they don’t meet your expectations. After all, the expectations were YOURS in the first place- not theirs. Don’t take it personally. The only expectations you need to worry about are the expectations you have of yourself. Those are the expectations that mean the most and have the biggest impact.