Maria Pascucci
Founder of Campus Calm

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January's Tip
Courtesy of Heather Huhman, Campus Calm's Job Search Expert

Control your job search; don't let it control you

There's a huge difference between being proactive and vigilant in your entry-level job search and being obsessive. Many students I speak with today fall under the latter - they are freaking out that by the time they graduate there won't be any jobs available. A few I know have started applying for full-time jobs even though they are six months away from graduating. ...

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Words to Live By:

Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people doing it.

~ Chinese proverb

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Dear students, parents & educators,

Welcome to this week's issue of Campus Calm Connections. Thank you all for subscribing!

I just returned from vacationing to sunny Los Angeles and I have a confession to make. I returned from vacation just as overwhelmed as when I left. Don't get me wrong, I had a blast in LA. I walked on the beach, wore flip-flops in January and did all the fun touristy stuff that makes the natives cringe (like Disney Land, Universal Hollywood and a walk down Rodeo Drive to laugh at a sparkly green watch that costs a whopping $23,000 - I wouldn't have paid $230 for it!).

My husband, friends and I returned last Friday, jet-lagged and crabby to be home in 15-degree temperatures. But that isn't what had me overwhelmed. I was watching TV for longer than I would have liked to on Saturday. It finally hit me why I was glued to the tube. I was so overwhelmed in my life that my mind and body were saying, "Do nothing." I looked around my apartment. It's the end of January but it still looks like my home threw up Christmas. Sorry Santa, Frosty and Rudolph, it's time to go sleep in the attic.

But it wasn't just the Christmas decorations. I opened cupboards and closets. They were so packed I could barely close them. Every time I needed to get a pot out of the kitchen cupboard, I had to dig through eight other pans that I never use. The clothes I received for Christmas were still in their gift boxes on my bedroom floor because my closets were too crammed to fit them. My office was filled with boxes, papers, post-it notes, books to review and magazines to skim. I didn't want to return to work on Monday because I didn't want to step foot into my office. I wanted to organize everything, clear the clutter in my mind, but it was so overwhelming I didn't want to do anything.

I'm not the type of person who likes to wallow in my overwhelm, especially after I pinpoint the cause. So I decided to turn off the television and organize just one thing. I chose my closet. My husband Shaun laughed as I weeded my way through, throwing out anything and everything I knew I wouldn't wear. Every time I had that, "I'll tuck it away in the back of my closet in case I need/want it" thought, out it went. The result? My closet was cleaner, I actually had hangers again and my mind became a little clearer. Shaun became inspired to clean out his closets as well. The two of us were shouting back and forth throughout our apartment: "I didn't wear this at all last summer - I don't know - do you think it's starting to look faded?" Gone. "Aunt so-and-so got this for me last Christmas and - I don't know - it just doesn't seem to fit right." Buh-bye. "Shaun, this dress actually still fits. What do you think of it?" "Didn't you, like, wear that for our high school graduation?" "Wow, you actually remember that?" Au Revoir.

It didn't stop there. I weeded pots and pans from my kitchen cupboards that I never use, tossed old moisturizers, mousses and gels from my cabinets, clumped-up nail polish, mascara and lipstick, cold medication that expired five years ago, that toothbrush from the dentist that hurts my gums. When we were finished, we ended up with five huge bags to send over to the Salvation Army and two garbage bags to send to the trash. Whew! I'm actually sitting in my office at my desk working right now because I can actually stand to be in my office! Imagine that. :-)

Point? If the clutter in your surroundings is starting to mess with the peace in your mind, consider cleaning out the space you already hold instead of dreaming of a bigger/better place to put your crap (I mean stuff). If you don't honor your current space in life, however big/small, concrete or uncertain it may be, you will spend your days wanting bigger/more while satisfaction/meaning go hungry.

In the words of Mom, "Go clean your room or you're grounded!"






If you enjoy reading Campus Calm Connections, drop me an email. I'd love to hear from you!

Live your happy, purposeful life,


Maria Pascucci,
President & Founder Campus Calm – where students speak out about grades, stress and personal well–being
www.campuscalm.com
www.campuscalmbook.com
www.campuscalmu.com
E–mail: maria@campuscalm.com

New Year's Resolution:
Give Yourself the Gift of Happiness (or give it to the student in your life)

When you're setting those New Year's resolutions to study harder, get better grades and build up your résumé, don't forget that making your own health and happiness a priority is a resolution worth making and sticking to. Make 2009 the year that you commit to stressing less and enjoying your academic experience, centered on learning and relationship building. Let 2009 be the year that you ditch your inner perfectionist and learn about the real "secrets" to authentic success and happiness.

Let Campus Calm University help you on your journey.

Campus Calm University is available directly through the publisher, as well as Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and Target.com.

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Maria Pascucci is the Founder and President of Campus Calm – the international online-community for today’s stressed-out students, and their parents and educators. Download your FREE Student Life Stress-Less Kit at www.campuscalm.com. Maria is the author of Campus Calm University www.campuscalmbook.com.

Calming Down Changed My Life

My name is Maria Pascucci and I am the president and founder of Campus Calm. I am a full–time writer and entrepreneur who discovered the joy of creating my own success when I stopped trying to prove to the world that I was the best.

A perfectionist and stress-case throughout my high school and college years, I'd rather skip an assignment than risk turning in a less–than–perfect paper. After years of denying myself happiness in an effort to strive for perfection, I graduated with a 3.92 GPA and fell into depression. I never once congratulated myself for graduating from college because all I could think about was my next task: Trying to prove myself in the real world!

Somewhere along the way in the past six years since graduation, I ditched my need to be perfect and began focusing on what I wanted, not what my family, friends and acquaintances in the supermarket thought that I needed. Guess what? It was the most liberating thing I've ever done – and it paved the way for the success I enjoy today. My only regret is that I can't go back and help the stressed out student that I was once. But I can others.

Now I'm on a mission: To spread a dose of "Campus Calm" to stressed-out high school and college students world-wide so you don't have to suffer needlessly like I did.

Questions & comments – Please email me at the address below. I'm thrilled to hear from you!

Maria Pascucci,
President & Founder

Campus Calm – where students speak out about grades, stress and personal well–being
www.campuscalm.com
E–mail: maria@campuscalm.com
Phone: 716–510–4402
372 Aurora Street
Lancaster, New York 14086

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