Costa Rica

Hello Everyone!
This week's post is about my trip to Costa Rica.

          I had an amazing time in Costa Rica this summer. I went with a church from my hometown and held a bunch of services, had game and craft time with kids, went to the ocean, sweated a lot, and in general had a lovely time. We spent half of our time in Miramar, and the other half in Desamparados. We had a break day that we spent at the beach, and resting up before running off to the second half of our trip.

          Although I did get sick and lose my voice for the majority of the trip, it was one of the best things I've done. I had gone on a trip with the same church 3 years ago, when I was in high school, and I came back feeling completely changed. There's something about that country that just warms me to the center of my heart (and I don't mean with the heat and humidity, though that also was very present); it may be the beautiful scenery, or the beautiful language, but I think most of all it is the people that I have met when I've been there. They are so caring and generous. They welcome complete strangers into their homes, churches, and lives, and teach us how to love unconditionally.

          Leaving Costa Rica the second time was even harder than the first. And that's saying something, because several of us on the first trip began to consider running off into the jungle to hide away and then spending the rest of our lives traveling across the country. Last time, I thought I was never going to be able to see the people we had met, ever again. But during this trip, we went to the same church in Miramar that we had been to last time. Having strengthened the bond I had with the people three years ago, it was heart wrenching to have to say goodbye again. I hope I will never forget how much that country means to me, and all that the Costa Rican people have taught me.

Now, without further ado, here are some of the pictures I took while in Costa Rica:

It took us an entire day, but we made it!

The fruit in Costa Rica is indescribably amazing.

The kids loved to play soccer, and we loved to play it with them!

Mangoes, mangoes, everywhere! (they were delicious, and very loud on the tin roofs)

It's very important to find the JOY in every moment of life.

The mountains and farms were so beautiful.

Coconuts were everywhere too!

The sunsets were gorgeous!

 I found this little lizard on the way to a waterfall!

The woman third from the left gave hand made earrings to the moms of our group as a thank you gift.

We threw a part of a log down into the crocodile river and they thought it was food! (aaah!)

We did a lot of fun crafts with the children and teens near where we were staying. 

We had so much fun playing with the kids.

I am thinking about putting together a short video of some clips I took while I was there, but I haven't decided yet. If you would like to see that, let me know, and I'll do it. Either way you might see it eventually.

Have a wonderful day! <3

Kaylen

Help Send Me to Sweden!

Hello Everyone!
I have a request today. Instead of me telling you things, I would like to ask something of you. I am about to go on a 4 month study abroad trip to Sweden, and its expensive. I don't think I quite knew what I signed up for when I said that I was going to go, but, needless to say, I filled everything out that needed filling, and sent my application on it's way.

 I am leaving August 12th, and even though I'm working, I know I won't be able to keep up with all of the money I'm going to need to cover all of my costs. I am responsible for my plane ticket, my food, my textbooks, my stuff for my dorm, train tickets, and anything else that I need when I'm there. My parents don't want to pay for it, so I am doing my best to work out how to best come up with the money.

The idea that I have come up with is simple, really. It is a fundraiser. I have a page on gofundme.com and if you don't know what that is, let me explain. It's a website where people who are in need of funds for whatever cause they are working on, can hold fundraisers. They set a goal, and people can donate to their cause. It can be set up so that people who donate get a special thank you sent in the mail, which is something I chose to do. If you donate, you'll get a different prize depending on how much you donate. You can enter any amount you want to, whether that be a dollar, or $20. Any amount will help and mean so much to me. I am really looking forward to this trip, and it would mean the world to me if you would donate to my fundraiser. All of the money will go to a good cause and be used wisely.

The link to my gofundme page is here: http://www.gofundme.com/kaylentosweden

Please, please, consider donating to me, and thank you for your support. Have a wonderful day!

Kaylen

End Romanticising Laziness 2k15

I'm Back! It's been forever and a decade, and I wish to apologize for my absence. The only excuse I can use is that it was a combination of be being lazy (uh-oh) and procrastinating. Thus, I was inspired to write this post, and get up off my butt and make a difference.

It has been a good semester and beginning of summer for me, but I have been noticing more and more that people are romanticising the idea of laziness. How weird is that! Why has it become a sort of twisted competition to see who is the most unstable because of the amount of sleep we got? I haven't really noticed it as much in my life outside the internet, but then again, we don't always say what we mean to people in real life anyway. Online, is when our true colors seem to come out. People say what they mean, and explain what they feel leaving little to the imagination. I've been noticing more and more posts like this one:

"Uggghhh. Just so tired today. Only got 4 hours of sleep and got nothing done." - Person 1

Notifications:
5 People have liked your status.
2 People have commented on your status.


Person 2's comment: The Encourager
This person makes it seem like it's normal to get 4 hours of sleep a night and still function fine. They may or may not be one of the peppiest people you know, and when they say that they only got four hours of sleep (and are still bouncing with energy despite the supposed sleep deprivation), it may start to make you question if what you've been doing wrong is getting too much sleep. Unknowingly, this person is encouraging you to try surviving on that much sleep again and you'll wonder why you keep waking up in random places.

Person 3's Comment: The #Hipster
This person likes to act like its cool and trendy to not get enough sleep and be lazy. They encourage you to "let it work with you" which is basically just encouraging you to accept tiredness as normal and not accomplish anything. They probably forgot to check with their own life before commenting, or they would have realised that not accomplishing anything gets you nothing in return. Also, their comment saying that they get less sleep than you could be the start of a "my-horse-is-bigger-than-your-horse" run, but don't give in, they will be falling asleep soon from exhaustion and then maybe it won't look so cool to them either.


Instead of continuing the cycle of laziness, we need to encourage ourselves and others to make it cool to accomplish things. We tell ourselves at New Years that "this is going to be our year! We will accomplish great things! We'll finish that project we've been putting off, take that trip that we've wanted to go on for years, volunteer at a local organisation, learn a new skill!" Then, one month later, we're stuck in our same routines we were in before. The way to fix this problem is to have yourself be held accountable. Maybe it's with an app that reminds you to go exercise, or organises your to-do list and alerts you when things need to get done, maybe it's a friend who can ask you how your goal is doing and encourage you, or maybe they will try accomplish the thing you want to do with you. There are tons of ways to keep your efforts going toward your goal, so don't use "I forgot" as an excuse.

Another important step in keeping up with a new routine or accomplishing a goal is to make sure you give yourself reasonable expectations. You aren't going to learn how to become a master at french macarons in a day, you aren't going to learn how to dance like a pro after one lesson, and you aren't going to be able to organise your entire life in a day. It takes time to accomplish anything, so set mini-goals. Tell yourself (and your app or friend!) that you will reach a certain level of accomplishment by a certain day try to set a slightly lower goal, but not too low that it won't challenge you. And go easy on yourself for the first check-in point or you could get discouraged and give up.

Then comes the day you get to your first check-in for your mini goal. Celebrate if you accomplished your goal. In the wise words of Tom Haverford and Donna Meagle from Parks and Recreation, "Treat yo self!" You deserve a reward after your work. If you didn't accomplish your goal, don't sweat it. You learned that the goal you set was a little out of reach, but now you know to set the bar a little lower for your next goal. Also, remember that even though you didn't reach your goal, you tried, and that's what matters. The fact that you tried and failed is better than never trying at all. By not quite accomplishing what you wanted, you still accomplished something while striving for your goal. You aren't left with nothing, you are left with the knowledge that you did gain while getting to your goal.

The final step is accomplishing your goal. On the day you accomplish your goal, shout it from the rooftops! Tell all your friends! Tell me! Tell your pets! and Treat yo self! Congratulations on completing your goal. You did an amazing job. Even though you struggled at times and probably felt like giving up at least once, you made it to the end. And there's nothing quite like the feeling of knowing that you accomplished something and saw it through to the end. Celebrate today, and then go figure out your game plan for the next goal! Good luck!

Let me know if you have any questions or want me to be your encouragement buddy. Also, let me know if you have accomplished something recently that you're proud of or if you're about to go start setting goals. I'd love to hear about it!

Have a fantastic day!

<3 Kaylen