Tag Archives: work

an open letter to the break room

August 4, 2018 JustRachel Leave a comment

oh the break room…

How I love the time we have spent together. I remember going to the store to fetch all the food. The effort put in to pull the carts, which were too heavy to push. The palate cart I also had to pull with fourteen [yes fourteen] cases of water and Snapple. This is the adventure I have since signed up for working at a small business.

My coworker and I walked through BJ’s with carts [plural] filled to the brim – and yes my struggle was real, but not as real as the struggle I face when dealing with my Oreo addiction.

Two hours later we returned to work – 700 dollars down on a months worth of groceries for an office of thirteen. The issue and gluttony of which is not lost on me.

you see…

Like many offices I have worked at, I have been forever blessed to have a break room full of food – but this gift is often paired with a guilt and lack of control. Like many of those around me I am a sucker for my sweet tooth – so while I originally thought that working at a health company would end my struggle from the temptation of snack foods – I could not have been more wrong.

an ode to my love of Oreos

To my friends, my followers, my family, I have a confession. While most grow attached to sinful pleasures, to alcohols and drugs my weakness is chocolatey and crème filled.

To my lover… double stuffed Oreos – Oh how I love the time we have spent together. From the day I said I would only have two, then two turned to four and four six. I did not mean to eat you so fast but you taunted me. Your packaging relaxed me, so blue and tinted with a subtle shine. I had no choice when it came to you; and when you were gone – I thought I would be free, but still there were more… so many packs more.

With my entry into the adult world I always thought that I would leave old habits behind, but my sweet tooth is one that no amount of dentistry or orthodontia has never been able to remove.

To my friends [and my dentist], who thought I had grown out of this phase, I am sorry, but my journey and love for Oreos is not now and will not soon be over. This love will continue to make your job [and my bills] hard to swallow – and while I am sorry, I cannot change who I am.

Oreos – I love you and know I always will.

dear break room,

I love you. I know our relationship will be long, fruitful, and expensive – But I promise to love you like only a true foodie can. This weekend will be long, and our time apart sad. I am sorry to cheat on you with my home kitchen, but you knew this relationship was never meant to be easy – only worth it for the two of us. For now, know I love you, and I will see you soon.

forever your love,

Fitness and Wellness

BETTER THAN SEX

August 2, 2018 JustRachel Leave a comment

the average person burns 85-100 calories per half hour of sex.

According to CNN, Womansday.com and a variety of other sources this is the statistic. Now obviously some people defy the odds based on what positions they do and how long they can last – but on average this is the number that is shared.

Now what if I told you that you could do better? Not in bed… but in calories burned. What if I told you that some things you do every day, outside of the bedroom, counted for your calorie deficit and that sexersise wasn’t the only way to feel sexy or toned this summer. Interested yet?

let’s get physical

As someone who works for a business that focuses on longevity, health, and financial security, finding the best and most enticing ways to sell health to the public is kind of in the job description. So I figured I’d spark a theory on some of the summers best thought-less workouts. [and maybe if you guys have more you could leave them in the comments below.]

1. yoga

Did you know that 1 HR of yoga can burn 475 calories. [doubling the amount you could burn if you were rocking that downward doggy style]

Depending on severity, yoga is a series of stretches, balancing exercises and core stabilization techniques – which absolutely kicks my a** – but it often sounds much more appealing than a three hour run. And if you go for just a half an hour more, for a 1.5 HR class your count can go from 475 to a range of 630 -712. [like I said… better than sex]

2. dancing

depending on what time of dance you do, did you know that the bump and grind could benefit you more on the dance floor than it could behind closed doors. according to sources like new health advisor dancing could burn anywhere from 105-620 calories per hour.

Now personally, I only tend to think I am a good dancer if I have had a drink or two, but if a class like Zumba is more enticing than doing yoga, or going on a jog – then learning how to dance or just trying to could help you turn up by breaking it down.

3. rock climbing

forget numbers on a scale. Just a half an hour of rock climbing could help you burn 409 calories. This way of lifting yourself up beyond your own standards won’t just be fun, but it will help you work those quads and glutes way way better than the boy next door.

Side note: as someone who has been rock climbing, this excersise has the added bonus of sanding out that competitive edge so many of us have. Getting on top is well and good, but getting to the top of that wall and ringing the bell. Well… you know what I am going to say, its better than sex.

the down and dirty… [truth]

Now keep in mind these three ways aren’t the best ways to be fit. They are not the end all be all, or the only ways you can be that person you’ve always wanted to be. Truth is – nothing I say will get you there… but you can. Taking adventures like this is the start, and if you are like me and you hate to be told to work out – then these types of activities could be better for you than running or jogging, or even having sex. Truth is, being healthier isn’t about what others think, it isn’t a number on a scale, it’s about you and at the end of the day, you are all that matters.

As an athlete and a young woman, being fit isn’t just about making my bosses trust me – it’s important to me too. At 22 I have explored a lot of the options above, and as the descriptions indicate, not all of them have really stuck… but truth is it’s not always easy to get to where we want to be, and not all of us can manage a steady stream of “workout buddies’ so that’s when I thought of something:

Could the best way to get a summer bod not be going to the gym, but could it be as easy as seeing a summer concert series. Could your favorite band not only claim to be better than sex… but actually be the key to a better you?

hello from the other side… I wish I only realized…

Truth is… yes. According to Livestrong 1 HR of jamming out can help you burn 300 – 400 calories, and similarly singing [which I know you all do in the shower, in the car, in the rain, and YES AT CONCERTS] also can burn 100 – 140 calories depending on the time and your size. [three words. better. than. sex.]

So wait… does this mean that Coachella, could really be COACH-ella? Well no that is a little bit of a stretch [and a horrible pun], but it does mean that those concerts and shows we all love to go to are actually a key factor in keeping us happy and healthy. Not to mention this could also explain why a lot of the people we see at the most popular shows can have the stamina to dance and sing the whole way through.

Based on the types of music you listen to, the shows you hang out at, and even the small town bars that feature your favorite swing singers could be playing a major role in you living your life. Which if you think about it… is kinda awesome.

its more than kinda awesome…

By the logic above I burned around 1200 calories seeing Taylor Swift, and that doesn’t even include the long ass walk I took to get there or the other acts I was jamming to.

By the logic above I burned 800 calories dancing with Jesse McCartney and at least 300 calories listening to Nina Nesbitt who will hands down be the next best star we have seen in a while.

By the logic above I have burned thousands of calories in my life doing something that cost me less than a gym membership – and made me hate a gym far less. And as an added bonus, I got to experience real moments with my friends rather than pretending that I was training to be the next American Ninja Warrior.

I guess what I am trying to say is that – I never expected there would be data on a question like this. I never expected that 100 bucks on dinner, a show, and a workout, would give me a reason to keep doing what I am. Today I realized that when I say I am exactly where I should be, doing exactly what I should it wasn’t just a line – it was an excuse. An excuse to realize that living our lives and singing our hearts out are not only a way to live happier lives but longer and healthier ones as well.

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featured shows include T-Swift, Jesse McCartney, Beyoncé, Budweiser Made in America (Macklemore), not featured. Logic, G-Eazy, Timeflies, SoMo, Daughtry, High School Musical. And how lucky am I that this is only the start.

The Life and Times

Traversing the Unknown: How Graduates deal with the Stress of being Unemployed

July 19, 2018 JustRachel Leave a comment

“I can’t give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time.” ― Herbert Bayard Swope

As someone who just graduated, I can still feel the palpable stress of friends and colleagues who haven’t yet landed their dream job. As someone who struggled with feeling insecure, I understand what it is like to question myself in times of uncertainty. As someone who is human I know I am not perfect – but I also don’t want to be.
Truth is, post grad is hard – whether you have a job or not. And while I have taken time to measure how lucky I am to have found my way thus far, I also want to take a moment to recognize the instability I endured to get here. I want to level with you all – so here it goes.
Three months ago, I was preparing to graduate college. I was lucky enough to have studied at an institution I loved and gave my heart to, but the feeling of leaving it was and still is surreal. Now, I know that because I am going back to school in the fall my story is a bit different than those who are done with their education, but a year ago I wasn’t enrolled in a Masters program, I was working at an internship that challenged me but also wasn’t what I expected, and I still had no clue what my future held. Suffice to say I was petrified.

Today there is a powerful sense of insecurity that comes with the term unemployment.

I see it in my peers, my friends, my family and I saw it in my parents when the recession hit in 2008 but in some ways the stress that comes with that inevitable sense of insecurity, places adults in the place they need to be.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not advising unemployment, but I can say that there is a lot to gain from fear. There is a lot to gain from endless hallways and corridors that lead to unknown places – and there’s something about being lost that helps the right people find us. I would know – I have been lost – and in many ways we all have.
For those of you who don’t understand this feeling, I’ll explain it like this…Remember when you were a kid, shopping for groceries with your parent? Now remember the fear of being in the supermarket and losing sight of your parent. Remember that split second of having no idea what to do next? “Mom told you to stay in place, she said she’d find you, but patience is the last thing you need when you feel this way.” No matter your age you justified the need to remain calm, to follow instructions or to break protocol. Now look at yourself when you are scared, looking for a job, or in between relationships… This time in your life is no different.
Think about it, you have just walked into a huge space [post grad/unemployment is like a grocery store] you know exactly where you are, what each isle [opportunity] holds, but all you want to do is find the people or the food that makes you feel safe. [You want to hold onto your parents cart and not let go.]
The way I see it – when college ends, it’s like getting stuck in the supermarket without your parent. You know you should stay where you are but now the game has changed and now you need to find what is best for you.
I guess what I am trying to say is that I think it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle. To get caught on a easy road or isle that you’ve walked a hundred times – but the methods you used to get things done have evolved, and so have you. The shelves got taller, the prices rose, the stakes are more prevalent than ever and it is scary, but you will find your way.

The game has changed – but so have you. The store has changed – but so have you. Things have evolved from the way they used to be – but you have too.

Fact: each and every person you know is insecure about something. Every person in the world is insecure about something. But – Fact: that’s normal. Truth is, it’s not only ok to not know what comes next, but it’s the best thing for you.

There is a reason our mom’s take us to the store when we are little – it’s not because they have to watch us but more so that we have to watch them. We learn by following the lead of those around us. So when everyone around us is scared, we are too – but we don’t have to be.

We learn by following the lead of those around us. So when everyone around us is scared, we are too – but we don’t have to be.

To all my friends, collegues, readers and lost souls realize that you are not alone, that we are all trapped in our heads trying to find a way out. We are all scared of what comes next – and we have the right to be. But also remember that the best is yet to come, hope is on the horizon and the corridor will end if you just keep walking.
I spent a whole year being afraid, working hard, trying to play it cool. I was completely petrified the whole time, but I kept doing what I was supposed to. I worked, I exersised, I ate good food, I ate bad food and I did it all day after day – I wasn’t perfect and I didn’t pretend or act like I was anything special, I just hoped everything would fall into place – and when the year ended I got a call and I got lucky.
Truth is, fear was the best thing for me during this last year. It always has been but this year it was more important than ever because it grounded me and allowed me to set achievable goals. At the end of the day, I am not a poster child for what to do after you recieve your degree. At the end of the day, I am still learning; but at the end of the day, you are too. So hold on, keep working and be ready. The secret to dealing with stress as a graduate is simple, live. Just live and move toward your goals because sure enough you will find that your opportunity is coming – all you have to do is reach out and catch it.

Misdiagnosed Determination: the Idea that Women are kept from Feeling Confident in the Workplace

July 19, 2018 JustRachel Leave a comment

In a recent Forbes article, writer, Homaira Kabir, argues that a majority of women, despite reoccurring successes, suffer from imposter syndrome. She states that, “from the board room to the Golden Globes” women continue to feel doubt when it comes to taking on new opportunities. I disagree.

Maybe it is my generation, maybe it is the women I associate myself with, or maybe it is my mother who instilled an immeasurable strength in me, but as a woman in the work force I for one, see no formal lack of confidence. In fact, what seems to reflect a lack of confidence, for me, actually represents an unmatched form of determination built on an idea that no matter how often we succeed, we can always get better.

Look, I get it, I’m 22, I am just out of college – how could I possibly know what the female populous feels when it comes to working in this day and age? Well let me tell you a story. When I was 15, I started working at a camp. By 19, I was working 80 hour weeks during the summer, literally running from camp to night shifts at a local burrito shop down the street, by 21 I had 4 jobs during the school year [not because I had to but because I wanted to work and I wanted to learn new skills] and two in the summer. Still 21, I went back to school to work 5 jobs, burned out – dropped to 4 and now I am down to 1 and loving it. Now, I don’t tell you this to impress you, I don’t tell you this because my life has some hidden workaholic intervention story, I tell you this because I am what Shonda Rhimes would call a ‘Titan.’ I work, I sweat, I burn out, I recover and I do it all over again. I am a Titan. I schedule myself to the 11th hour and then negotiate for a 12th. I am confident in who I am and I inspire the same in those around me because as a woman, and a millennial, I can’t afford to be anything less. So while I know that I am more the exception than the rule my point is that I wasn’t born this way. My point is that I learned to be driven from women around me; so when you tell me that something is keeping women from feeling confident in the workplace, I have to tell you that you are wrong – because I don’t see it.

Moral of the story? I’ve worked a lot. I’ve worked early mornings, late nights, stood until my feet ached and still managed to work on physical fitness. I rarely had weekends off and minimum wage was a lot lower than it should have been but still, no matter the job, my coworkers and I managed to push through. I’ve celebrated success and grown from failure, and – I get it – I wasn’t making salary, I am not a mom, but the places I worked were filled with a diverse number of people that had families and bills and illnesses and the women I worked with, well they were no less real than the ones I assume to have been categorized as the “many” in the Forbes article. So if your board room lacks confidence, then go to the back kitchen of a restaurant, or look at the girls on the line in a burrito shop – then tell me that these young women, these proud and inspirational women lack confidence, because I swear that they are not falling prey to being anything but themselves.

Tell me that these young women, these proud and inspirational women lack confidence, because I swear that they are not falling prey to being anything but themselves.

As a child I heard a quote. It was in the movie, “Akeelah and the Bee,” and it read –

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” – Marianne Williamson

The first time I saw “Akeelah and the Bee,” I was in my mother’s classroom. I remember that, around this time, my mom was training one of my classmates for the Scripts National Spelling Bee in DC, and I vaguely remember wishing that another movie was on – but for some reason, after ten years, this quote sticks with me.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”

and how beautiful is that, how incredibly profound is it that our deepest fear is not that we lack something, but that we are so great that we cannot fathom the power of it?

As a young girl, I will admit I grappled with the fear that I would not be enough. I grappled with the idea that my efforts were not grand enough to succeed, but as a woman in the workplace, I have never let the fear of being less prevent me from trying to be more. I have never lacked confidence in a job, or a challenge, because I have always treated mistakes as lessons and successes as reasons to be humble.

In a recent Forbes article a writer and life coach states that “many” women are kept from feeling confident in the workplace. I disagree – I think women are made to think that they lack confidence when in reality they are feeling what it takes to drive yourself toward greater and more humble victories.
I don’t think it is a coincidence that a majority of the jobs I have worked provided women with the ability to be confident leaders. I think the fields I have gone into build character, and build determination in women. I think that claiming that “many” women feel insecure in the work place and that they are kept from accepting their own brilliance is completely false because in 22 years, I have met more confident and capable women than I could name.
As a woman in this day and age I will never let my deepest fear be “that I am inatequate” because I know that I am and the women around me are more powerful than we will ever understand – and for a lot of us, dare I say, for many of us, that is our most powerful truth.