Procaffeinating (n.) the tendency to not start anything until you’ve had a cup of coffee.

When I wake up, I don’t actually wake up until I drink at least one cup of coffee. I know, i’m only eighteen. But guess what? Growing up is hard! We need a morning boost too. I always felt more confident at school after a little bit of time in my car with my coffee and either a friend to talk to or music to listen to. Without coffee, the opposite happened. I felt totally unprepared for the day! As if I never woke up. However, now that I survived the worst years of life (aka middle/high school) and have an amazing future quickly approaching, I hope to never feel unprepared for life ever again. In order to do that, you have to learn how to utilize your strengths and also your weaknesses.

For starters, I have learned so much about people and how to treat people through working at Starbucks. No one wants to be yelled at because you can’t remember how many drinks you ordered or because your phone died and you can’t get those ten extra stars today! Employees are humans too. I always knew that, but because of my position as a barista I have learned that being a little nicer than usual to your servers can truly make their day a little bit better. Also, I have learned how to make really good coffee! I have been able to take my strength of being a hard worker and apply that to my first job, second job, internship, and volunteer work. Now that I am able to recognize that about myself, I absolutely can’t wait to go to Sonoma and work hard to help myself and others. I have learned that I am not lucky, but I am smart, talented, and I have the strength to take advantage of opportunities that come my way since I know how to work hard. You are smart, you are talented, and you can work even harder. And you need to treat employees as the humans that they are! 

A huge weakness of mine is always trying to do the work that I know others should be doing. When someone wants to go to lunch, just asking to go to lunch implies that it is my job to plan when, where, who is driving, who is attending, and what we are doing afterwards. Most of the time the person who asked bails the day of and I am totally crushed. It’s exhausting! In high school, I felt like the only option was continuing that cycle for the sake of getting to the end. Now that it is over, I am learning how to use that weakness for a better purpose. It is not my job to plan everything for everyone. It is not my job to reach out to everyone and basically force an event. And it is absolutely not my job to force someone to be my friend! What is my job is bettering myself and developing better relationships with the people who do love me. The first step was recognizing these things, which my mom helped me do. Next, I deleted my Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and all my other social medias. This is my summer, and I don’t need to spend it watching everyone pretend to be happy doing whatever they are doing that I was not invited to. I just turned eighteen, I just graduated, and I have an amazing European vacation coming up and then I get to turn my dream into reality and move away to college and go into a blended program that was basically designed for the person that I am. I am the most important, and I do not need to worry about everyone else. I am saving my planning skills for a time in my life where I am surrounded by people who truly love and appreciate me. For now, I get to be social media free and simply bettering myself. You are enough for yourself; never waste your time and passion on people who aren’t bettering you. The most important relationship in your life is with yourself.

The rest of my summer is going to continue to be reserved for developing myself into the best version possible, and strengthening the true relationships that I have. Although I am a total procaffeinator, I plan to get to a place where every day I wake up ready for a latte and whatever else is coming my way. But not until after that latte of course! I strongly encourage you to take a few minutes of your day to reflect on yourself and decide how you can better yourself this summer. Your potential is endless. Make yourself happy.