I'm a preschool teacher!

I come from a family of educators. My dad is a college professor in American Jewish studies, and my mom has taught and subbed in elementary school for as long as I can remember. When my sister and I were growing up we had a little playhouse outside we converted into a mini classroom, complete with an old fashioned desk, a chalkboard, and dusty, cobweb covered workbooks. I was always the teacher and Shayna was my student (other than the times she wanted to be the cleaning lady). The schoolhouse was later converted into a chicken coop, which was later donated along with the chickens when I left for college. But some of my fondest memories stem from my aspirations to emulate my parents, to teach, empower, and engage.

Around September of this past year, I was enrolled in a graduate program for developmental positive psychology at Claremont Graduate University. I tried to convince myself this was a good fit, that teaching would be too draining and I wanted to work in research or the clinical practice. After a few emotional days and what I would consider a full breakdown, I decided to reexamine my choices. (For a longer description, see the full post)

I majored in psychology at Pitzer College and managed excellent grades and strong extracurricular activities. My main work experience came from the Autism Center at Claremont McKenna, which led me to the graduate from at CGU. What I discovered while at CGU was that while I loved working with the kids and engaging with behavioral psychology concepts, the research, academics, and statistics were not suited for me at all.

So I took a break, a gap year if you will. I had rented an apartment in Claremont and my lease lasted a year, so I stayed. I decided to try and find my path.

One reason I love my apartment in Claremont is the proximity to Starbucks. There's a small shopping center about 500 feet from my door, which includes the Starbucks I went to on a regular basis in my undergraduate time. What I also found was a daycare/preschool called Kiddie Academy, right next door to my favorite Starbucks, just a stone's throw away.

My mom encouraged me to apply, but I was hesitant. I was convinced teaching would give me burnout, a defeat even more intense than my breakdown from the psychology master's program. But here's the thing about burnout:

It's harder to burnout when what you are doing lights you up.

Seasons of Love

How do you measure a year?

Rent, the stage musical as well as the movie version, has shaped a lot of my beliefs around living and what it means to exist. (Given my liberal arts education, I can of course look back and see the problematic aspects of the storyline, but for the sake of argument, let's set those aside for now.)

One of the most famous songs from the musical, as well as in general as a Broadway tune, is "Seasons of Love" (or you may recognize it by the chorus, "525,600 minutes/525,000 moments so dear/525,600 minutes/How do you measure, measure a year"). Here's the movie version if you want to check that out.

I've been reflecting on that idea a lot lately, especially since I have begun documenting and essentially scrapbooking my life in my journals and planners. And as December 24, 9pm, Eastern Standard time approaches (Rent reference), I thought I'd reflect back on what made up my year of 2018.

Joining the Health Club

New Election Cycle, New Me

You've probably heard of new year's resolutions. You know, the time of the year you are definitely going to lose 20 pounds, go to the gym, wake up early, and cook a three course meal every night? Yeah, that idea. Well, I'm starting some now, on a Tuesday in November.

Finding my Path

Withdrawing from my CGU Master's Program

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out. 

This is a tough post to write. This is the post where I will be talking about my choice to withdraw from my graduate program at Claremont Graduate University, a highly competitive and intense masters track for Positive Developmental Psychology. This is not easy to admit, and yet for some reason I still am writing it. Because there is power and truth in personal vulnerability.

Living for the Future

Graduate School Anxiety and Overall Stress

As you may have heard, I am starting graduate school at Claremont Graduate University in Positive Developmental Psychology. I am pursuing my masters at the moment, with hopes that perhaps I would continue on to get my doctorate. And it's time I admit something: I am scared. I am terrified. I am overwhelmed. I am vulnerable.

Bullet Journaling and Flexibility

How Bullet Journaling helped me go with the flow

Have you heard of bullet journaling? In short, it's a journal/planner/to do list method created by Ryder Carroll (who, fun fact, also has ADHD) to organize your life on paper rather than digitally. I learned about it 3 or so years ago, and before that, I was already obsessed with journaling and list making.

Here is the introductory video from the creator, Ryder Carroll

Here is my blog post on bullet journal basics

Both those links should give you a good starting point into understand what bullet journaling is. However, this post is a little different. I am going to talk today about how bullet journaling helped improve my artistic and organizational skills, while also teaching me some valuable skills about flexibility and perfectionism.

Rivi Graduation FAQ

I've been getting a lot of questions as I near my college graduation, so I figured I'd put together a list of questions and answers to help better illuminate my post graduation feelings and plans.

The Struggles of ADHD Medication (Part 2/2)

About a week ago I wrote part 1 of this post expressing my frustration around the lengthy and difficult monthly process of attaining my much-needed stimulant medication. (And to anyone wondering, yes, I did get my medication. Emotional Labor sold separately).

The second part of this post, what I am writing here, regards the abuse of stimulant medication. 

To start, I am not attacking anyone who illegally purchases Adderall or Ritalin to cram for a test. Coffee is a stimulant, and a regular part of American daily life. I'm writing this post at Starbucks with a mocha by my side. My argument is not against using stimulants or against the choice students make to do whatever it takes to get the A. 

Yes, I take ADHD medication. No, you can't have any. (Part 1/2)

One of the most ironic issues with taking medication for ADHD is that I forget to pick up my ADHD medication because of my aforementioned ADHD. With my other medications, such as my anti-depressants, I am able to have them delivered to my mailbox with little to no hassle. However, because my Concerta and Ritalin are controlled substances, AKA they're intense uppers for the Neurotypical individual, I have to jump through hoops to get my daily meds.

I have to remember to email the doctor to prescribe the medication. Following which I have to remember to go to the pharmacy when it is open and make sure my prescriptions are called into the right location. And sometimes the pharmacy won't have the medication in stock, because it is a controlled substance, or I will forget to check a certain box on the psychiatrist's site and the whole process starts over again.

I will admit I have never been outright asked for my medication. I know it happens, especially around finals week, but I make a point to surround myself with people who aren't into that. That being said, two events/encounters in the past week have led to my frustration with this culture around ADHD and college and the implicit suspicion that I am actually normal.

A Good Day

This morning, I woke up with a pounding headache and the vague recollection of terrible nightmares. Last night, I wrote an open and honest post about the difficulties of settling back into college. The act of writing the post was therapeutic in a way, and I went to sleep feeling better than I had felt in days.

Despite my pounding headache, general tired and sick feeling, and nightmares I couldn't quite remember over the night, I made the decision that today would be a good day. I was done having bad days. I've had quite enough of those, and I'm going to start this week on the right foot.

Free Printable Watercolor Binder/Notebook Covers!

Happy new school year! Is that a thing? We should make it a thing. Whatever, I love the new academic year. The new school year is filled with new opportunities and pretty sketch notes and new planners. (As you can tell, I'm not exactly a party girl).

How Fidget Spinners Give a Bad Name to the Fidget Toy Game

I love fidgets. I love fidget toys and I own an excessive collection I have picked up from Groupon, Amazon, and elsewhere. And you know what? I hate fidget spinners and everything they stand for.

Study time feat. my fidget cube

Note Taking Tutorial

This is my step by step tutorial for how I take my pretty, artistic, and eye-catching notes. Check out my last post to see what tools I use to take my notes.

Hopefully I can inspire some of you and maybe even motivate academic success.



Before You Begin

Get all your supplies ready. I like to arrive to class a few minutes early so I can be all set as soon as class starts. Here is my post on my favorite note taking supplies.

The notes are from my forensic psychology class, which I color coded red-orange. Each of my classes have their own designated zebra midliner color.

I like this color coding system because it is simple enough to not confuse me, but organized enough to benefit my brain.

My Note Taking Tools

Studying for my PSYC165 midterm

I have gotten comments from classmates that I take really good notes. I have neat handwriting and I'm artistic. I am creating a tutorial to show you how I take notes, and hopefully inspire some of you with my work.

Next post will be a step by step tutorial-- stay tuned!

From strength to strength,

Rivi

Tools

1. Highlighter/Marker:

Zebra Highlighter Mildliner, 5 Color Set (WKT7-5C)
Zebra NC5 Highlighter Mildliner, 5 Color Set (WKT7-5C-NC)

Mental Illness 101 (Free Printable Resources)

Every year at the Claremont Colleges in February, a student group called Splash hosts an event called Claremont Splash. It started at MIT and has since expanded to Stanford and schools across the nation.

From their website: Splash is a once-a-year (FREE!!!) event where high school students come to the Claremont Colleges and Claremont Colleges students teach classes on literally (yes literally) anything (math, poetry, long boarding, socks….) 

I was the volunteer graphic designer for a couple years-- I designed the table tents, posters, and flyers.

The Miracle Morning: 5 reasons to try the early rising habit

For the past few months, I have been implementing the miracle morning into my routine. I fell off the wagon a bit the past couple weeks, so I have recently been aiming to focus only on waking up early, and then incorporate the miracle morning life savers later on, once my morning habit is set. You can read more about the miracle morning and the Life SAVERS habits in Hal Elrod's book, The Miracle Morning.

Essentialism

This past summer, I read a book titled "Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less". In it, the author explains how to live and engage with the world by focusing on the values and commitments you deem essential. Today, I am reminded once again of the importance of this lifestyle.



Early on in the book, the author suggests an list making exercise. If you could only do one thing, for the next year, what would it be?

I made my list in August. Here it is:
1. Travel the world
2. Creative Writing
3. Get straight As and focus on my academic work
4. Engage with my community through service
5. Spend time with my family and my Marin community