Thoughts on turning 29

I am turning 29 in a couple weeks, and have been thinking a lot about what that means. Around New Years Eve I was talking to a friend about making resolutions, and I told her how my resolution for 2016 is narrowed down to just one word - Stability. Stability in all things - where I live, how much money I have, my career, my relationship, friendships, even how I spend my days. I feel like I am at a turning point where its time to move from a place of trial and error to one of calmness and confidence in the place I am in. Getting real deep in this post folks, hah.

After a decade of moving around the country, working a bajillion different jobs, and going through multiple attempts to "figure it out" career-wise, this makes sense. To sum it all up, my twenties included attending three different colleges, living in four different states, and moving into 10 new apartments/dorms. I worked in six different restaurants as a bartender, busser, waitress, and manager. I got married to my best friend. I worked at a ski shop, a boutique, Panera Bread, and a Norwegian sweater company. I was an intern for a fashion design company in Times Square, a temp in a hospital billing office, a seamstress for a small screen printing company, and the owner of a vintage clothing company. Quite the smorgasbord of things, not much different from a lot of other twenty-somethings. But man am I ready for, yep you guessed it, stability.

Looking back I am so happy I got the chance to do all the things I did, and know I learned something different from each one that I will bring forward into my career and life now. Of course I know trial and error will continue to have their place, and make life interesting. But I have a great feeling about my birthday, and hope my experiences throughout my twenties have set me up for the next stage of my life - a more stable, but still happy and full of learning, stage. Thanks for listening to my ramblings, and here's to 29! : )

(photo taken by my husband on a snowy night walk around the neighborhood)

8 Life Lessons I Learned While Waitressing

Photo of the waitstaff during the sixties at a hotel we were at for a wedding this weekend

Last weekend marked my last night serving at the restaurant I've been working at since we moved here two and a half years ago. After nearly ten years spent in and out of restaurants wherever I've lived, I really feel I learned so many valuable skills and life lessons from each position I held. And let me tell you, there have been a lot of them. I have managed, assistant-managed, supervised, bussed, served, and bartended. The one position I managed to avoid was hosting, because that just seemed like too much of a pain in the butt. But through each of these positions I learned something different that I carry with me today as I jump into the wild ride of building my business full time. I wanted to write them down while they were still fresh in my mind, so here we go-

8 Life Lessons I Learned While Waitressing

1. How to be part of a team
This is an obvious one. At most other jobs you will be part of a team, and probably will be working very closely with at least a couple people on your team regularly. At a restaurant you are PART of the team, meaning that without you the team will flounder and fail quickly. It makes you realize the importance of helping others, and how much more success you have yourself when you do.

2. How to be self-sufficient
On the other (contrary) hand, at a restaurant you learn that it is also up to you and you alone to get through certain situations, and that you have to be able to handle it. You learn to deal with situations without having to run to someone else to help every time.

3. How to handle any and all personality types
This one is huge. You can and you will have to deal with every personality type under the sun. That may be a three year old who spills her chocolate milk you just gave her and screams through the entire place, a customer who feels the need to create their own dish not on the menu every time they come in, the guy who makes terrible jokes you have to muster a laugh at, or the "VIP" table you have to give special attention to. You learn to be able to walk into any situation and be able to make small talk comfortably, which is so helpful in many life situations.

4. How to keep a "game face"
The scene - your name is being yelled in the kitchen because two of your tables' meals are up and need to be run to them. Someone at another waitresses table is aggressively flagging you down for a refill of Diet Pepsi. The table you are standing at taking their order has been debating whether to order calamari for five minutes, while you stand there with pen and pad in hand silently tapping your foot in frustration. But no one can tell, because you have your game face on. This one has been a hugely helpful skill to transition into real life, as a game face and keeping your cool can help you through many a sticky situation.

5. How to know your limits and speak up when you need to
The saying is "the customer is always right", but you find out quickly that can't always be the case. No matter what, you are going to have a jerk at your table every now and again, and you quickly learn to not let them get away with anything and everything. As a definite "people-pleaser" personality type, this has been a great lesson to learn for me.

6. How to multitask like a madwoman
You better bet I can hold a conversation and do four other things at the same time. Thank you, bartending experience.

7. How to communicate clearly and efficiently
Often times you do not have more than a second or two to relay a message to a fellow waitress or the kitchen staff on a busy night. The more concise and clear you are, the more likely the result you are looking for will come about, so you quickly learn to communicate efficiently. This has helped me a ton in my business and customer service communication.

8. That it is important to have fun at work too
As crazy as it can get in a restaurant, the staff can get super goofy as well, which makes for a fun time even in a high stress situation. If you can make a joke out of it or find the humor in a sticky situation, it makes it so much easier to get through it, leave it behind you and keep your priorities in line.

Mt. Philo State Park & Daily Affirmations

This afternoon Owen and I drove to Mt. Philo State Park in Charlotte, VT to get outside for awhile after a long weekend of working indoors. We didn't get there in time to do any major hiking, but instead drove to the top and walked around, checking out the breathtaking views of Vermont and the Adirondacks in New York that the outlook provided. It was so relaxing to sit and look out at all that green and blue, and immediately took me from a slightly stressed state of mind to a calm, centered one. 

I have been reading the morning affirmations I wrote about months ago every morning, which I printed out and taped to my computer screen. Saying them out loud every day first thing reminds me to stay calm, remember I am on the right path, and be grateful for what I have. Looking out from Mt. Philo did the same thing this afternoon, so I decided to share them again in case they may do the same thing for you! Hope it starts your week off right : )

Morning Affirmations

I have been waking up a lot the past couple weeks in an anxious state of mind. As soon as I open my eyes I start thinking about all the things I need to get done that day, about all the things I didn't get done the day before, and then get frustrated at myself that I didn't wake up earlier to get started. This has happened to me once in awhile when I have let my life get out of balance, most notably one winter when I was managing a busy restaurant. I had just been given a second restaurant to manage out of the blue, and the same day my assistant manager broke his leg in a skiing accident. I spent the next few months just holding it together, and I would wake up in the middle of the night suddenly in a panic with something I forgot to do or felt needed to be done and would have to write it down immediately.

I am nowhere near that now, but needless to say, this is no way to wake up regardless! Like I said a while back in this post, I have been reading a book that promotes positive, "prosperous" thinking as a way to bring the best into your life. One way I am going to start doing this is with a morning affirmation. Probably half of you are out there nodding your head and saying DUH Kristin, we all do this, you are way late to the whole morning game here you dum-dum. But I am giving it a try! There are a TON if ideas for affirmations to choose from online, but my favorite were these from Prolific Living.

8 Affirmations to Say Every Morning before Getting Up

1. I am feeling healthy and strong today.

2. I have all that I need to make this a great day of my life.

3. I have all the information I need to solve any challenges that come up today.

4. I have the knowledge to make smart decisions for myself today.

5. I make the right choices all day using my inner wisdom.

6. I am happy and content with my life.

7. I am patient and calm and greet the day with ease.

8. I am filled with gratitude and kindness for another day on this earth.

I'm going to print them out and put them by my bathroom mirror so I see them first thing every morning. If anyone has had success with these let me know, I am excited to try it out. Hopefully it turns out like THIS haha.