By Trina, August 27th, 2009
Many of us have lived a life with minimal risk. It is in this riskless lifestyle where we create comfort zones allowing us to continue on in a steady state of happiness. Others of us have shattered our comfort zones by taking major risks, such as moving to Colorado or traveling abroad, as soon as we were able.
My life up to my twenties was mostly lived in my comfort zone: Iowa. I was born and raised in Ida Grove, IA (Northwestern Iowa). Although it was small with only 2,350 people and one stoplight, Ida Grove was a truly blissful place to grow up. I was among life-long family friends, close to a majority of both sides of my family, able to roam the streets on my bike at all hours and felt very safe—the only crimes I can remember were drug related and rare. My parents were happily married and both had steady, full-time employment. Life was grand.
By Trina, July 29th, 2009
There are certain situations and events that have a significant amount of permanence attached to them. Since leaving the comforts of Iowa and emancipating from my parents, I’ve come across said situations/events and found myself getting a serious case of cold feet. The very thought of passing these milestones terrifies me in a peculiar way. Maybe I have some crazy ideas that they will tie me down a bit more than I want to be, or they will attach me to one particular place (I haven’t a clue yet where I want to put down roots). Whatever the cause of my phobia, I’m going to divulge my ridiculous commitment issues, and I ask you to comment if you share any of these feelings (help me feel less nuts).
By Trina, July 29th, 2009
This Saturday will mark my 25th year of life on Earth. Unlike many other birthdays, this one is a major milestone year for me. My life isn’t exactly planned out, but there are things I would like to do by the time I reach 25, 30, 40, 50, 65, etc. This year the annual event has caused me to do a deeper than normal self reflection, and I’ve been brutally hard on myself.
By Trina, July 29th, 2009
I have always and will always love stories of sweeping, epic romance. As a child I was captivated by such stories mainly in the form of movies (from the Little Mermaid to the Thorn Birds). The over-arching theme was always attractive couples with a spark that never died. I dedicate a good portion of my free time to examining that everlasting spark by watching romantic comedies and fantasizing about romances. In fact, last Saturday night was an intensive night of research in the form of watching Bridget Jones’s Diary and Notting Hill (a dual-themed night: rom coms and London…pretty wild night). If my hours of study have taught me anything, it is that relationships are rarely “perfect” or “fairytale” but rather bipolar in nature. Love’s manic highs and crushing lows have given me a reality check on romance and caused me to hurt my brain thinking about it.
By Trina, July 28th, 2009
This post is one I wrote for Leading Associates in April 2009. I’m proud of the posts I wrote for LA, and I wanted to include them here at Trina Left Iowa.
I’m an emotional person, and I have accepted that. Perhaps I got it from my grandmother, who announces, “Here come the waterworks,” when [...]
By Trina, July 28th, 2009
During our training session, we were told to understand and memorize (for testing purposes) the difference between stereotypes and generalizations. A long debate ensued about the difference between the two words, and we got so busy debating the semantics that we almost missed the purpose of the discussion. The reason for having this discussion was to make us better aware of diversity and the problems that stereotypes/generalizations pose in today’s work place. For this entry, I would like to refer to them as the same thing and discuss stereotypes/generalizations about young millennials.
While on a family vacation I was quite surprised to find that everyone in my family had a strong opinion about hiring young people, except my niece who mainly says “cookie” and “dog”. All of my family members (parents in their sixties; brother and sister-in-law in their thirties) are in management positions, and together they threw out almost every stereotype about young millennials. I have highlighted a few of the main ones
By Trina, July 28th, 2009
During our development program, we had a C-level executive come to discuss leadership with our class. He made it clear that when it comes to success, the failures we endure are just as important as the wins, and failing is essential to being a great leader. He told us that if we hadn’t experienced a big failure in our lives, one would be coming soon. He was right on.
A fear of failure spans every generation. Not too surprisingly, many have said that millennials do not know what do with failure. For many of us this is completely true, because we haven’t had much experience with it. Most of our parents saw to it that we were on teams whose mottos were “everybody wins” which is precisely why I have a box full of “participant” ribbons (I just wanted to be on the team…). We have seen mainly positive or neutral feedback thus far. It is when we get out in the corporate arena that the potential for failure begins to mount.
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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on this blog are all mine.
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