Nicole Franklink Guest Blog Post =) and Giveaway :)

THE BEGINNING

So, here you are! At the place where dreams are born, friendships are made, weight is gained and you learn more about yourself than in the classes you pay for. I’m here to offer mild suggestions to make the transitions through life easier and perhaps a little funnier. I have some experience with being new to campus. I was not prepared for college mentally or emotionally. I wasn’t ready to leave home, nor was I ready to grow up. As you will learn the more you live the more things will come that you are not ready for. You have to learn to live and just adapt to change.

My first message is for those of you that want to make your mark on campus and in the world. I can only encourage you to be yourself. Life itself is so unpredictable and change comes so unexpectedly that there is no need to change your-self to conform to some social norm. Many people spend their first years trying to pretend to be something they aren’t. Buying the latest clothes and shoes does not make you the “big man on campus.” You’ll look like the biggest loser on campus because you can’t afford your books, or you’ve run out of money on your meal plan and you can’t eat. Don’t spend your time trying to impress people. Chances are if they don’t like you for who you really are, they don’t need to be in your life anyway. You don’t have to fit in to a specific “crowd” in order to make college life successful. When it comes down to it, college life is about the experience, not how cool you were so don’t be afraid to be different. Learn how to try new things; like join a Registered Student Organization, get involved within clubs for your major, go out and make friends, stay in and keep the friends you have. There is no need for you to try and be everyone’s best friend because we all know that not everyone is going to like us, and we have to be mature enough to accept that and keep it moving forward.

Go to class! You might as well; you’re going to pay for it anyway! While you’re in class learn something, find a major that suits you so that you can actually be awake in class. Learn how to live outside of the box, and if you have to… build your own box. Someone is eventually going to come along knocking asking to borrow a cup of sugar, so while you’re at it get to work on yourself. How can you improve someone else’s life without taking a step back and realizing and correcting your own faults?

SO… the lesson for today is don’t be afraid to be yourself, for when we are no longer concerned with other people’s thoughts about us, we have reached a new level of maturity. Besides if you change into someone else then who’s to say the people you’re trying to impress are going to like the new you anyway? Too much change and you’ve lost the one person that appreciated and honestly liked you for you…(YOU)

Author Bio:

Miss Nicole L. Franklin was born on April 17th 1987 to a mother that has inspired her to be her best from that day on. She was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She attended Morgan Park High School in Chicago, Illinois and graduated with a high school diploma in 2004. She was the recipient of the 2004 Chicago Park District’s Junior Citizen of the year award. Nicole received her B.A. in English Education in 2009 from Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. She was involved in five extracurricular activities including the Black Student Union, the Competitive Cheerleading team, and Jumpstart an AmeriCorps program. She is currently a ninth grade teacher at a Chicago Public High School and a graduate student at the University of Southern California. Nicole has been volunteering and coaching cheerleading with the Chi-Town cheerleaders for over ten years. She has been dreaming of stories and writing them for over twenty years. She strives to bring a voice to people that endure everyday ordinary situations but need a release in wondering if they did, or are doing the right thing. She has one general message... Do whatever it takes, to follow your dreams.

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Thank you so much for stopping by my blog, Nicole!