Stay Curious!

One of the biggest fault I think we all have as humans is falling into a daily routine.  We start to settle without even knowing it.  Days, weeks and years can go by doing the same thing without change. We wake up go to work, run errands, hopefully find time to do something we enjoy, go to sleep and do it all over again. I also find myself falling into a similar routine; I wake up, workout, do things around my house, run some errands, catch up on TV shows, head to work then go to sleep and do it all over again.  

Today, I changed my routine and I was pleasantly surprised!  I wanted to workout but didn't feel like driving across town to go to the gym so I decided to take advantage of one of the last beautiful days to take a walk around my neighborhood.  I thought I knew about all the paths around me as I had explored before on foot and bike but I decided to walk a different way to see different houses.  I came to a path and decided to take it, little did I know that taking that path would change my entire day and outlook.  

I started walking with no intentions of exploring or wandering just with the intention of getting some exercise in for the day.  This path looked like it would lead to no where and I had no faith that it would lead me to something exciting.  But I kept walking on, at first the path was long and boring and didn't seem to go anywhere, then all of a sudden around the corner things changed.  I found myself walking under the interstate on this path that I thought led nowhere.  All of a sudden, like a diamond in the rough, I found a beautiful path, pond and scenery.  I walked for over two hours just exploring and wandering and finding new things.  There were times that I was uncertain where I was but I was never lost.  I took a moment to forget about everything that I needed to do today and I just enjoyed being curious and finding new things.  

Who know this was in my backyard!!

Pictures from my 2-hour 3.5 mile adventure!

What I took away from my walk was life holds a ton of unexpected adventures and you just have to have the courage to pursue them.  You have to stay curious about life to grow.  I challenge anyone who reads this to do one new thing a day.  No matter how big or small do something new and be curious about it.  Don't let yourself fall into a routine for the rest of your life.

Whatever your "path" may be and whatever your "adventure" may be just take it and just do it.  Not all paths lead somewhere great but you will be glad you took the chance.  The first step is always the hardest but from there anything is possible!

XO-Miss Pearl City, Christy Scimeca

Picking up the Pieces

Sometimes there is so much to say that you end up saying nothing at all.  That is what has happened to me since Miss Iowa. I lay in bed each night and run through the day and plan for the next and I often find my mind wondering every which way. It often happens in that time when you are not quite awake and not quite asleep, I wish I could get up and write it all down but I know if I do the thoughts will disappear.  So I just lay there and try to let the thoughts keep rolling and try to remember them all at the same time to jot them down the next day.  But in a moment's notice I drift off to falling asleep and those deep and what I thought were  profound thoughts disappear and they never make it out of my head.  But tonight is different.  I have been wanting to do a blog post for some time now but never could find the perfect words or the perfect thing to write about.  Different topics entered my mind but I always dismissed them with the thought why would anyone care about my opinion.  Then I went on with my day, week or even month searching for the perfect thing to say and write about.  I am not saying I found the perfect thing to write about because there isn't such a thing. But I did realize just that, there never is a perfect thing, it doesn't matter who reads this and it just matters that I am doing what I want to do and I am fighting for it.

To start this blog, I have to go back to June at the end of Miss Iowa week. The time since then has flown and sitting here it does't feel as if Miss Iowa was that far away but it really was and a lot has happened since then.  Here's a quick recap, in no order, that I can elaborate on later; I was able to enjoy almost an entire summer at home with my family, my family bought a condo in Florida, my cousin got married, I totaled my car, my brother has his senior pictures, and I got hired for a job that fits me perfectly working at the University of Iowa. After Miss Iowa I escaped, ignored my feelings and enjoyed life.

After Miss Iowa was hard.  There isn't much more to say than that.  In these next few paragraphs I am going to be very candid about my experiences and about how I felt in those moments and how I still feel about it.  For those of you who don't know me that well, I have a fear of failing.  I don't believe this fear is irrational and I believe it is one of the driving factors on why I have achieved so much in my life.  With that being said, going into Miss Iowa I knew it was my first time and I knew there were 15 other beautiful, wonderful, talented and driven ladies that I would be competing against but I tried to focus only on myself and block out all the other noise.  Going into Miss Iowa I had a plan, and like every other contestant my plan was to win. And when I say I had a plan, I am not kidding, ask my board and the ladies at Legacy, I had a full 5 page written business plan titled "Path to Miss Iowa" with a mission statement and all.  This plan kept me focused in preparing and it kept my focus on me.  Like I said I knew there were other contestants and I knew by no means did I think I was a shoe in, but I knew what I needed to do.  Mentally, I needed to plan how I was going to win.  Mentally, I had to go in knowing there was a greater chance of me not winning than there was of me winning, it was pure odds.  And that is what scared me the most, I had a significantly larger chance of "failing" than I did at "winning".  With this I without telling anyone or really realizing it myself started to prepare myself for less lofty goals. My goal started out as winning Miss Iowa 2015 is the only option, then it moved down to making top 5 would be like the gold medal trophy, then as I was in Miss Iowa week I  mentally prepared myself to only make the top ten. With each of these goal adjustments I had an inner fight of confidence, I wanted to so badly believe in myself but I also had to tell myself there's a chance you are not good enough.

After Miss Iowa, I told people close to me, the hardest part of Miss Iowa for me was, I mentally prepared myself in winning Miss Iowa, making just top 5 and only making top 10, but I had never prepared myself to not make the top 10.  And that is what hurt the most, in that moment when all ten names had been called and I realized mine wasn't, was one of, if not, the hardest moments of my life because my biggest fear had come true.  I had "failed" right there on that stage in front of an entire audience that consisted of a lot of people that not only I cared about but who came out of their way to support me.  I will openly admit that I cried the rest of the entire night and I continue to tear up now re-thinking about it.  In that moment and for days and weeks after I thought I had truly failed and I couldn't face that.  I was able to take time to be with my family and really distance myself from pageants and my failure.  I was able to hid from people long enough that when I saw them again they had forgotten about Miss Iowa and I didn't have to admit to my failure again.

But now I am ready to begin again, I was inspired after the wonderful weekend I had attending the "Light the Night" walk supporting Leukemia and Lymphoma and attending the FBLA Fall State Leadership conference talking to students about how I can help them support the March of Dimes in our National Partnership. This time I am starting in an even better place than I did before I won Miss Pearl City.  I have started to do what I know how to do best, and that is to plan.  I have reached out to those who know more than me and have recruited their help, expertise and extra set of eyes.  And I am truly thankful to them, especially the ones I don't personally know. I have purchased many different books to read and study up on, from books on the Miss America system to books that help you reach your goals.  I have immersed myself even further into my platform and started another job that encompasses both of my college degrees.

I now realize that I didn't truly fail because I tried and I gave it my all.  There are 7.125 billion people in this world and I let 5 of them take away my self worth for a period of time that I won't get back.  I learned a lot in my first run at Miss Iowa and I luckily have one more year to compete.  I am going to finish out my year strong as Miss Pearl City and then hopefully start the new year with a new local title and a ticket to Miss Iowa.

It is now close to 2 am and I should be in my second or third REM cycle by now but tonight was different, tonight I chose to catch all my thoughts and feelings on one page.  I am glad I did, but now my plan of going to the gym early before I head to my new job at the Dance Department at the University of Iowa, where I am the head athletic trainer is shot.

Goodnight,
Miss Pearl City
Christy Scimeca