Family ties

I feel that everyone takes the holidays differently. Some people are still deep seeded in traditions, while others are dead set on making new ones on their own. I am quite conflicted when it comes to family. My parents separated a few years ago now and therefore I always have two of everything.

I am currently at my dad's side of the family's Christmas party, every year we meet up at a cabin in the mountains and spend the entire weekend there. This year is no different, so that sparked a thought in my head. I wonder how many families still actually have traditions and if they have changed over the years.

I asked some of my friends about their families and their traditions, and most of them either don't have traditions or don't even spend the holidays with their family. Now, I'm not much of a family guy myself, but I always try to make some time for them around the holidays.

I hope everyone takes time to spend time with the people they love whether that's their friends, family, or otherwise. Leave a comment below about some of your family's traditions or your plans for the holidays and we will talk about them.

Thanks for reading,
~Ben

A different direction.

Tonight we take a break form the typical melodramatic postings of my background!

     I am talking about the break form insanity I received last night! I got to go out with my boyfriend and go see the lights at Dollywood. It was a brisk evening filled with fun, laughter and the occasional swear word while riding the coasters at night.

   What is your favorite thing to do that takes your mind off of your surroundings?

:)

A wonderful addition....

As we continue on...

     After pulling myself up I wasn't content with where I was so I set off to work towards a goal. My end goal is to open a business (preferably a restaurant) and prosper. I do this goal to not only help further myself but also those around me that have helped me during this great journey we call life. I never forget those who help me even if it is just giving me a compliment, because sometimes that's all I need.

    I began my next semester of college and started working more diligently towards opening a bakery with my friends Tiffany and Stephanie, they would prove to be two of my closest friends during college. We worked through the nights and weekends, doing everything from sketching out possible bakery layouts and signage, to building menus, to writing the business plan. We traveled around Oak Ridge, TN (where they live), looking for the perfect place to open up shop. We finally found somewhere that was somewhat affordable, the only downside being it was previously a finance office and didn't have even the slightest inkling of restaurant readiness.

     So we began the build out needed, we were fairly broke during this time and therefore did a majority of the work ourselves with the help of friends and family. This took almost a month to complete but in the end it was worth it. We opened up on April Fools Day of 2012. It was no joke. This would begin a very important chapter in my life and would provide me with more hands on learning than college would ever come close to teaching me.

     to be continued....


If anyone has any comments or wants to share a story of there on, I invite you to do so! I am always on the look for others who wish to share their experiences and lessons.

Thanks,

~Ben

More regular updates to come!

I would just like to thank everyone for checking out my blog, and I hope it will help to inspire you to do great things with your life!

Continuing on...

     First off, I apologize for my lack of  a post these past two days! I have started my oh so fun work week of 4 doubles in a row.

     I want to continue where I left of the other day and expanding on it with some very real experiences. After finding myself jobless I felt that I had finally hit the bottom of the barrel. I started skipping classes and getting down on myself. I was also single at the time which only further added to my negativity. After applying for unemployment I finally felt that I could sympathize with all of the middle class Americans that fell shorter and shorter on their bills after the recession hit.

    I decided to do what any problem solving entrepreneur person would do, I shifted my focus from the negativity to the future. I started going back to class and with the help of my friends and my director (at school) I turned my failing semester into a new start. I ended the semester with a new job and a B+ average.

     This just goes to show you that sometimes in your darkest hour if you can just shift your focus and maybe, just maybe distract yourself a bit from the reality around you. You then begin to open up and allow people to help you back to your former self if not better.

    I am going to cut today's blog just a little short, but I will try to post more and continue some more of my back story as I work this weekend.

Thank You,
~Ben

Working Through It

    Today I want to talk about a situation that happened to a young man as he was nearing graduation and didn't know quite what to do.

    This young man didn't particularly know what he wanted to do with his new degree or what path he would take. He had tried in the past to make strides in his part time job and perhaps even form a niche role that he could fill post graduation, thus turning his job into a career. This didn't look like it would quite pan out for him so he decided to band together with two of his close friends from college and start to form an idea for a business that they could start up. The first idea they had was to start a restaurant, well this idea seemed to be in the distant future as they were all pretty broke (as most college students are). So they started doing what any good entrepreneur would do and they shifted their focus.

     With their focus now shifted they started to work on the idea that maybe they could start up a new business that would fulfill some of their wants to have a restaurant and be successful. That's when they began work on a bakery/cafe concept. They worked tirelessly through the nights both after school and on the weekends. All the while they were working on internships for their respective degrees. The young man quit his part time job, and decided to work more at his internship as it was paid and showed promise. Then tragedy struck and without notice the young man's internship was told to lay off some new hires in preparation for a shift in management. In a blink of an eye the young man was jobless.

The young man mentioned here was me, I faced these very real and very common problems that an upwards of 53% of college age people and college graduates face in these hard times. I would like to elaborate more tomorrow on how you can pull yourself up from a seemingly bottomless pit of problems and negativity.

~Ben

Life's troubles

Ever experience a time when you feel disconnected from the world? For example, right now the only entertainment I have in my house is the iPhone that is currently dying while my power is out and my dog who is barking at the wind. Is this what people recognize as the simple things? They can have them.
~Ben