This is how I feel around this time of the semester. With 5 weeks left, we are burdened with all types of commitments, projects, and assignments to complete.

We put ourselves in this REALLY strange situation of this thing called school. It’s one of the most stressful events of our lives (if we allow it to be), along with the other stressors of life.

So today, I’m going to take a minute to give us some healthy coping skills.

(BTW, I stole this awesome graphic from mindmapinspiration.com. If you have never heard of this site, I would highly suggest checking it out!)

1. Deep Breathing. This is a really great technique in which you can quiet anxieties and lower heart rate. It’s time to concentrate only on your breathing pattern and how it effects your heart rate. Taking just 2 minutes per day to practice deep breathing will significantly increase your ability to concentrate and reduce anxiety.
2. Mindfulness. MY FAVORITE. Focus on one object. My favorite object to focus on is a candy, because then I get to eat it. It starts by studying the object. What does it look like? Is it wrapped? What does the wrapper feel like? Slowly unwrap it. What is the texture of the candy? What does it smell like? What does the candy feel like in your hand. What shape is it? Take a lick! What does it taste like, does the taste concentrate in one area of your tongue, or does it dissipate quickly? Put it in your mouth. What does it feel like on your teeth? Is the flavor stronger in one section of your mouth rather than the other? Continue on for 5 minutes focusing only on the candy.
3. One thing at a time. Focus on the task at hand and only the task at hand. For example, if I’m washing the dishes, I would control my mind to focus only on the dishes. Repeat in your head or even outloud: Pick up the cup, I rinse the cup, I scrub the cup, I rinse the cup, I put the cup in the dish rack. And so on. Do this for 5-10 minutes. If you fall off and start thinking of other things, just ease your mind back to the task at hand. This helps you be in the moment, and ground yourself.

Of course there are hundreds of coping skills for reducing stress and anxiety, but these are my favorite three. Take time to hold these in your mind and use them throughout the day. It takes 3 months to develop and maintain a habit. So start today! De-stress!

Tonight a few friends and I went to Cold Stone Creamery in downtown Holland and got some delicious ice cream, all the while raising money for Dance Marathon. My RA, Danae, is involved in Dance Marathon, so I asked her a few questions about it to give you all a little background.

Q: What is Dance Marathon?

A: It is a 24-hour event at Hope College. You have to be on your feet for 24 hours. It’s through Children’s Miracle Network and we donate to Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. There is a line dancing portion of the night. It is the biggest student group on Hope’s campus and we’ve raised over a million dollars in the past 15 years. There are dancers and moralers and many ways to get involved. Miracle families that are involved come to the marathon and speak. Y’all know you’re gonna be there!

Q: Why did you decide to get so involved with it?

A: I’m passionate about planning events and helping those that need help. When you see and meet these miracle families you realize the strength of what they have to go through and it’s really eye-opening for college students. If I could do Dance Marathon for the rest of my life, I’d be a happy camper. *starts dancing*

Q: What is the best part of being in Dance Marathon?

A: The families. This summer one of the miracle families had a five-year cancer-free party and I got to go to that. Getting to see these experiences on a personal level and seeing the impact you can have on your community is the best part.

To finish off, here are a few more pictures from our night!

Dance Marathon is March 7th and 8th this year. I hope you can contribute in some way!

Thanks for reading! Leave me a comment, send me an email at kathryn.krieger@hope.edu, or tweet me at @hopekathryn17!

“Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.”

Jeremiah 17:14

As I have been sick and unable to sing for three weeks, I have realized what a blessing being able to sing really is. Obviously I have known for a long time that I really enjoy singing, but I never realized that not being able to do it, or to do it as easily as I normally would, could make me so sad! I can’t wait until I am healthy enough to sing again because I really miss it so much! It is one of my favorite things. In light of that, I wanted to share a few of my other favorite things. Some of them are Hope related and some are not, but Hope College truly is one of my favorite things. I am so blessed to be here and choosing Hope as my school is a decision that I have not regretted for even a second.

Dimnent Chapel

Dimnent is so gorgeous. It is hands-down my favorite building on campus. It’s so beautiful and such great worship happens in this building! I love it!

Belle

 

I got to play Belle in my high school’s production of Beauty and the Beast my sophomore year! She was my favorite Disney princess before that, but I’ve loved her even more ever since. I am definitely 100% in love with Beauty and the Beast.

Downtown Holland

I love love LOVE downtown Holland so much. I walk down there several times a week. It is the cutest downtown I have ever seen with such great shops, restaurants, and cafes, and they all have such great service too! Every business owner or manager I have ever talked to in Holland has been so genuine and great. I’ve been so impressed with all of them!

“One-Eyed Cat” by Jenny & Tyler

Basically the most perfect couple on the face of the planet, one of my favorite musical acts, and probably my favorite of their songs. Enough said.

Kilwin’s fudge

After looking at this picture, I really might have to go buy some fudge. If you’ve never had Kilwin’s fudge, you need to. There’s a store in downtown Holland and it’s crazy how good everything is.

Pinterest

If you know me at all, you probably know that I am slightly obsessed with Pinterest. It’s my favorite study break for sure (besides maybe Good Time donuts).

Crazy Horse

There are so so SO many great restaurants in Holland, but I really think Crazy Horse is my favorite. I have never had anything there that I didn’t absolutely love. It’s a little bit of a drive from campus (which is probably good, because otherwise I’d be there every day), but it’s so worth finding someone with a car to take you there. It’s so fantastic.

Five Hebrew Love Songs by Eric Whitacre

This is one of the most beautiful choral pieces I have heard. I play the piano part constantly and I just love the piece. I sang it my senior year and I just fell in love with it. The words are also beautiful. You can read the translation and the background of the piece here.

College Prepster

College Prep is definitely my favorite blog to read. Everything she posts is just perfect.

My nephew

How cute is he? I love him. Baxter may be my only nephew, but he’s also my favorite nephew.

What are your favorite things? Leave me a comment, send me an email at kathryn.krieger@hope.edu, or follow me on Twitter at @hopekathryn17 and tweet at me!

* With the exception of the photos of Baxter and I, none of these pictures or videos belong to me. If you click on the pictures, they will link to the original pages.

“God makes his people strong. 

God gives his people peace.”

                         Psalm 29:11.

Well, I guess it had to come to an end at some point. Halloween’s officially over and gone with it is the month of October. November is alright… I guess. Aw, who am I kidding? It’s going to be a long, long winter.

Anyways, I figured I’d help battle my post-October depression by writing about what I did for the month of Halloween. That’s right, the month.

First off I beat Costume Quest. Boy, oh boy, was that a great game! I also went back and played Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare and Castlevania: Symphony of The Night as well.

I watched all 31 movie reviews on Cinemassacre.com like I do every year, and I went and saw a showing of the original Night of The Living Dead that had a comedy commentary over it. That was DEFINITELY a highlight of the month since It’s kind of a one-of-a-kind event.

I drank more apple cider and ate more Count Chocula than I’d ever feel comfortable sharing (obviously), and I stocked up on more to last me until December.

The most substantial thing I did was watch a whole bunch of movies. I’m going to list them all since I really want to know how many I watched.

1. Halloween

2. Halloween 2

3. Halloween 3: Season of The Witch

4. Halloween 4

5. Halloween 5

6. Alien

7. Aliens

8. The Conjuring

9. Cujo

10. Pet Sematary

11. Return of The Living Dead

12. Curse of Chucky

13. Evil Dead

14. Evil Dead 2

15. Army of Darkness

16. Evil Dead (2013)

17. Creepshow

18. Freddy Vs. Jason

19. Friday the 13th

20. Friday the 13th 2

21. Friday the 13th 3

22. Friday the 13th 4

23. Friday the 13th 5

24. Friday the 13th 6

25. Friday the 13th (2009)

26. A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

27. A Nightmare on Elm Street: Freddy’s Dead

28. Carrie (2013)

29. The Thing

30. Pumpkinhead

31. Hatchet

Wow, 31 movies. That’s one for every day of October! Well, it’s been a great Halloween season and I’m already counting down to the next one.

I think I’ll end this one with a quote from the movie that started it all.

“It’s Halloween, everyone’s entitled to one good scare.”

As a music major, I am required to attend at least 10 concerts every semester. As this is something I would probably try to do anyway, this is a pretty cool requirement to me. I definitely don’t mind it at all! I have been to several concerts in the past week or so and they’ve all been really great!

Last Thursday morning, we had a departmental recital in Nykerk Hall of Music. Several music students sang or played on their respective instruments and they were all so good! We have so much talent in the music department here at Hope and I was so impressed!

Thursday night, I went to see the Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble (CALJE) in Dimnent Chapel. As a Hope student, I got into the concert for free, which is pretty cool since I believe tickets for the public were around $18. CALJE was unlike any performance I have ever experienced. The music was written by a couple of the group members, and that totally blew my mind. It was so intricate and incredible! I like to think that I often know what’s going on musically when I listen to performances and such, but I have to admit that I was completely out of my league during this concert, but it was such a great experience! It was such a talented group and I’m glad I got to be a part of this cool event.

On Saturday, I went to a senior organ recital and a junior flute recital. I am not too familiar with either of those two instruments, but I was so impressed by the skill of the performers!

Tonight, the Wind Ensemble had a Halloween concert. It was really cool because all the performers dressed up in costumes for the concert! They played some familiar music, like the Star Trek and Doctor Who theme songs, as well as some really unique, different pieces. It was a really enjoyable concert!

Tomorrow, there is a student scholarship recital in Dimnent Chapel at 7:30. I was originally supposed to be in it, but since I have been sick, I am unable to perform. I’m still excited to go and see all the other performers! I hope to see you there!

What musical performances have you experienced at Hope? Send me an email at kathryn.krieger@hope.edu, leave me a comment, or follow me on Twitter at @hopekathryn17 and tweet at me! Have a great weekend!