Stretched too thin

Be careful what you wish for, because two months ago I was waking up at noon, wasting my afternoon on Netflix, and hanging out with my boyfriend and friends until another blissful night of sleep. I had no job, school had yet to start, and my only daily commitment was going to the gym. Although I did take advantage of my time off, I was painfully bored, and grew excited for September. Now I am two weeks into school, working as a key-holder at my job, and I can barely find time to breathe.

First of all, I am not complaining, I absolutely love my job and the people I work with, it is such a breath of fresh air from my last job. School is amazing, the program is exciting and the people in it are all sweet and caring and everyone gets along. I am just busier than I have ever been, and finding a fine balance between work, school, and my personal life is more difficult than anticipated. Although my personal life is kind of dealt with, since my boyfriend lives 2 hours away and is also a full time student, we see each other for a few hours a weekend, which kind of sucks but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Let me walk you through my typical day; I wake up at 6am to start getting ready for class, shower, eat breakfast, and of course my makeup routine takes about half an hour. I am out the door by 8, class starts at 8 30, and usually goes until 2/3. Then I run over to work, which is conveniently right beside my school, and I work until close (9pm). Then I drag myself home, and do a simultaneous “make lunch/ eat dinner/ do homework” fiasco. Then hopefully I am asleep by midnight. I do that 5 out of 7 days a week. Yikes.

I figure this will only be a preview of what the future holds; if I want to be successful in PR then I need to be able to balance a million things on my plate at once without breaking a sweat. Orrrrr I will have a mental breakdown and learn nothing from this!

The Plaid…what?

I couldn’t think of a more appropriate first blog post than to describe in painful detail and length why I chose the title. Its really riveting stuff, I promise.

I called my blog the Plaidfessional because I wanted to break the mirage that to be a modern professional means you have to look or be a certain way. I ventured into the world of public relations with the notion that everyone wears pearls and heels, that the entire job was attending fancy launch parties and getting free stuff, and mostly that I wouldn’t belong. I was extremely sceptical applying for this program, because I am not the type of girl to pick heels over Birkenstocks, I own one article of clothing that is pink (it was a gift), and as I’m writing this I am rocking a top knot, wearing a mens plaid button-down shirt (duh), and I am inhaling an inhuman amount of spring rolls. Not very glamourous. But I decided to start this blog with the purpose of breaking stereotypes, and to insist to everyone that PR is about hard work and forward thinking. Just because you don’t own a dress by Lily Pulitzer does not mean you will not belong.

Let me be the first to break that stereotype, because in reality I have worn oversized plaid shirts, all black everything, and Blundstones to class, and it doesn’t matter. Obviously class is different from fancy events, but I’m trying to say that what people really care about is your brain, your ideas, and your dedication to the task at hand. Disclaimer: I do not condone wearing sweatpants and sneakers to a black tie event, appearance is important too, but I am saying you can be yourself, put your own flair or spin on things, and be genuine.

Honestly, PR is a lot of unglamorous work.  I just began a post-grad PR program, and that is what every one of my professors told me; this job is about 1% glamour, and 99% grunt work. So if you put in the work and try hard, no one will notice if your dress is from the thrift store or from Bergdorf Goodman, but they will remember you!