*You're Gonna Hear Me Roar*

That's right... today's inspiration for a post comes from my life and hearing a Katy Perry song on my Pandora station on my way home from Zumba last night (I may or may not have been listening to the Katy Perry Station, but that is besides the point).

Recently I have been feeling really down and out about life.  Sure married life is FANTASTIC and I am so thankful every day that M and I are finally married.  But the rest of life has really been getting me down.  I have been so frustrated with not being able to find a career oriented job that I was starting to feel like I was just not good enough.  I felt like I wasted all my time in school and like the best I was going to amount to was a bartender.  Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with being a bartender.  For some people it is an amazing career, and let's face it, the money isn't bad either.

As much as the money bartending isn't always terrible, it is not something that I want to make a career of.  Sure I am good at it... I have plenty of regulars and I get the good shifts... but it still isn't something that I want to do forever.  I have been applying for jobs like CRAZY for MONTHS now and more often than not I get a response that sounds something like this, "While your qualifications are impressive we have decided to go with a candidate that better suits our needs.  We wish you all the best on your job search."  Sometimes they also include these little gems, "We encourage you to keep checking back and to apply for other positions with us in the future."  So basically I wasn't good enough for the one job, but they want me to keep applying to them.. for what? So they can send me more rejection letters... I think not.

Anyways, I digress.  So early last month I had an interview at a law firm.  And not just any law firm, but a fairly prestigious law firm.  I was so excited and I felt like the interview went FANTASTIC.  Then began the waiting game to see if they were going to call me back.  Well once a month went by I had pretty much given up on the idea of them calling me back and was convinced that the interview did not go as well as I had originally thought.  Fast forward to yesterday... I picked up a shift at work because well with all the terrible weather we have been having business has been BAD and I mean really bad.  We were closed a few days because of the snow, closed early a few times because of the snow, and of course had barely any customers again because of the snow.  I figured I should pick up all the shifts possible to attempt to make up some of my lost income.  But while I was at work I got a phone call from a number I kind of recognized but couldn't figure out why.  Obviously I couldn't answer because I was at work, but the person left a voice mail.  Intrigued I decided that I would go into the liquor closet and listen to it because well I just wanted to know who it was.

Imagine my surprise when it was someone from the law firm I had interviewed at calling to ask me to come in for a second interview!  I nearly screamed in the closet I was so happy.  Now I know that having a second interview in NO MEANS guarantees me a job... but just when I had given up hope on everything this opportunity has come my way.  It made me realize that I can't give up because once I give up I will be stuck bartending for the rest of my life... and I don't want that.

So why does Katy Perry's song "Roar" apply to this?  Well it applies because I am no longer going to lie down and do nothing about my situation.  I am going to keep fighting to get a new job and to get out of the restaurant industry once and for all.  I am going to have confidence in myself.  I am going to work to improve my self-confidence every day.  I am going to make the most out of what I have going for me now and I am going to continue to strive to make myself a better person.  I am NOT giving up.  You ARE going to hear me roar!

*ROAR*

As always, today I am thankful for the opportunity to go on a 2nd interview with this law firm.  This opportunity has reminded me of my self-worth and has reminded me not to let myself get down because I am not where I thought I would be at this stage in my life.  I am thankful for the motivation it has given me to be a better me and to work towards my goals.  I am not going to be frustrated anymore... I am going to strive to be the best that I can be and to find a job that gets me where I need to go.

"To be womanly always; to be discouraged never"

A couple of nights ago I attended an executive board meeting for the Philadelphia Area Alumnae Chi Omega chapter.  As always it is great to see some of the new sisters that I have met as an officer on the e-board, and this time I really enjoyed our meeting as for an icebreaker we each picked our favorite part of the Chi Omega Symphony and explained why it is our favorite part.  I guess before I tell you my FAVORITE part of the symphony, I should let you read the symphony because it truly is beautiful.

The Chi Omega Symphony

To live constantly above snobbery of word or deed; to place scholarship before social obligations and character before appearances; to be in the best sense, democratic rather than "exclusive", and lovable rather than "popular"; to work earnestly, to speak kindly, to act sincerely, to choose thoughtfully that course which occasion and conscience demand; to be womanly always; to be discouraged never; in a word to be loyal under any and all circumstances to my Fraternity and her highest teachings and to have her welfare ever at heart that she may be a symphony of high purpose and helpfulness in which there is no discordant note.

- Ethel Switzer Howard Xi, 1904 

As the title of my post suggests... my favorite line is probably "To be womanly always; to be discouraged never."  This is something that I personally struggle with at times as when things do not go as I have planned I do tend to get a little bit discouraged and feel like nothing is going to go my way.  That is when I have to take the time to think back to the symphony and to realize that being discouraged isn't going to get me anywhere and that I need to stop feeling sorry for myself and do something about my life.  It also reminds us that as sisters of Chi Omega we should be womanly and do things with class and poise instead of freaking out and mishandling things.  It makes me remember that I should always take a step back and look at things before I lash out or maybe say or do something that I will later regret.  This line of the symphony definitely reminds me of a lot and is something I really do try to keep in mind in my every day life.

As much as I do try to keep the symphony in the back of my mind when going about my daily life, in all honesty I have been feeling a bit discouraged lately and haven't been doing the best job of keeping it in mind. All it took to help get me back on the right track was to be at this e-board meeting and to listen to my sisters who I met through the alum chapter talk about how the symphony has helped them through various stages in their lives and about what it means to them.  It made me think about how if I go back to the basics of the symphony and apply it to my life that I can do anything with my life.

Speaking of, you all should check out my Chi Omega sister Danielle's blog The November Project, for some more inspiration and ideas to make your November Extraordinary!  Pats to Danielle and her friend Holly for coming up with such an amazing idea!  Looking forward to following their Extraordinary month and to trying to make my November Extraordinary as well!

PS, Special thanks to Harper and Danielle for coming up with the Symphony Ice breaker!