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When the world is weighing on your shoulders and you feel uncomfortable in your own skin, where do you find comfort? For me, there is only one place...at home with my family. As soon as I lay one foot in the door and the air within my home hits my skin, I feel an instant relief of worries and doubts. An immediate sense of comfort overwhelms me. I cannot say that this is due to where I live but who I l ive with. Having a husband that greets me with a kiss and a smile when I walk in the door and a daughter whose whole countenance brightens by ten times when coming home brings me the sense that I am truly home...and comfortable like nowhere else.

While I was growing up, I remember feeling like I never fit in anywhere...I can't say that I didn't feel comfortable at my parents' house but the sincere sense of belonging wasn't exactly there. At least, it can't compare to belonging to my own family now. When you have your own family, you are ultimately and indefinitely needed...which is to say, you belong. It doesn't even matter if you feel innately different from your spouse or your children, because whether you know it or whether you want to admit it...you are very much similar to your family. Think about it...you wouldn't have gotten with your spouse if you didn't have something in common. And your kids?Well, they're just mini versions of us! So remember feeling like an outcast as a teenager? Well, when you have your own family you belong ...for good. (If you are a teenager reading this, you have something to look forward to! But for now, be happy and blessed that you have parents and siblings to enjoy!)

We fight our entirely lives for a sense of independence, but what we never realize is that independence comes along with dependence. With having your own family, you will know that your family depends on you for certain things...with your spouse maybe it means sharing the chores, watching the kids so the other spouse can have a minute to breathe, splitting the bills, etc. With your kids it usually means...well, they depend on you for everything! The importance of having your kids being dependent on you is that you have the ability to show them how to grow up strong and earn independence. See what I'm saying? Independence comes from a strong dependence upon family.

So everyone depends on you but you think that you don't depend on them? You're wrong, Love! Even the most nurturing, super-mom or super-dad depends on their spouses and kids to depend on them! It's a never-ending circle of dependence...but it's a good thing. If you can't depend on your immediate family, who can you depend on?

My favorite and most important aspect of learning who I am as a person - growing through the love and support and experiences with my own family. I believe that I was still a child myself until I had my own child. Having a family of my own has taught me responsbility and about the more important things in life...things I didn't have and never knew about before I had my own family. I believe that life is about learning and growing...and our families are a constant part of this knowledge seeking and growth.

What have you learned from your family? How has having your own family helped you grow? Do you now appreciate life more than ever before?

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When the world is weighing on your shoulders and you feel uncomfortable in your own skin, where do you find comfort? For me, there is only one place...at home with my family. As soon as I lay one foot in the door and the air within my home hits my skin, I feel an instant relief of worries and doubts.

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5 Steps to Becoming a Graphic Designer - ArtBistro.com

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As the information era continues to progress, one thing becomes clear: we're living in an increasingly visual world. From signs to web pages, corporate reports to corporate logos, the way visual messages are communicated is one of the most important areas of business.

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MLB.com | The Official Site of Major League Baseball

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Coverage includes audio and video clips, interviews, statistics, schedules and exclusive stories.

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Wanted to do something different. Just a random video of my time lapse I did when building my first model truck. Thought I would share it. If you thought it was cool drop a like and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already. Go follow me on twitter.....

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Your resume needs to be professional and polished, because if you don't have a great resume your application materials probably won't get a second glance from any hiring manager.

An unprofessional resume - one that is difficult to read, confusing, covered in errors, or unrelated to the job the person is applying for - will get tossed in the trash right away. Hiring managers often get dozens, even hundreds, of applicants for each job.

An unprofessional resume makes you look unprofessional as a job seeker and will cost you a possible interview.

Sloppy resumes that are riddled with typos will be ignored and resumes that are inconsistent - bullets in some places, dashes in others, bold in some headings, plain text in others - may not get a second look either.

Another bad idea is to use a brightly colored paper. It may seem like a cute idea and obviously, it will get noticed, but it's not business-like and won't project the professional image you need.

Your resume, to be effective, needs to be consistent, concise, and clear and easy to read. Avoid tiny fonts, dense blocks of text, vague language or excessive jargon, and inconsistent formatting.

Tips on Creating a Professional Resume

Grab your current resume (or organize your work experience and education information) and give it a professional boost with these tips:

Select the best resume type. There are several basic types of resumes used to apply for job openings.

Depending on your personal circumstances, choose a chronological, functional, combination, or targeted resume. Taking the time to choose the best type of resume for your situation is well worth the effort.

Make it legible. Your resume should be easy to read. You want the hiring manager to easily read and absorb your work history and accomplishments.

Therefore, use a legible font (such as Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri). Make sure the font is not too big or too small (choose a size between 10 and 12).

Also, be sure that there is enough white space on the page to make it easy to scan. Avoid dense blocks of text and use standard margins. Use white- or cream-colored paper if you are sending a physical resume - colored paper can be very distracting.

Be consistent. Professional resumes need to have consistent formatting. For instance, if you use bullet points to describe your responsibilities and achievements at one position, be sure to use bullet points on all other positions as well. Also, make certain that the bullet points are formatted the same way throughout. For example, don't use circle bullet points in one section, and diamond bullet points in another section. Be consistent with font, font size, and style (such as use of bold and italics).

Keep it focused. It's important not to include extraneous information. More isn't necessarily better. Your resume should focus on the skills and attributes that qualify you for the job. Leave out anything that won't help you. Here are the top 15 things not to include on your resume.

A resume shouldn't be several pages long for the average job seeker, a one-page resume is probably enough, or two pages at most.

Use resume examples and templates. Use a resume example or template to help you write your resume. An example can help you decide what information to include. Templates can help you format your resume. However, whenever you use a resume example or template, be sure to customize your resume, so it reflects your skills and abilities, and the jobs you are applying for. A simple copy/paste isn't enough.

Get creative. If you're in a creative field, you might use a free resume website to build a creative resume that includes all the facets of a traditional resume, with add-ons like video, infographics, and links to your accomplishments. However, only do this if you are in a creative industry. Otherwise, you definitely need to stick to a traditional resume.

Carefully edit your resume. Spelling and grammar errors can make an applicant seem inattentive to details.

Review these proofing guidelines to ensure that your resume is consistent and error free. Then check it again. And, if you can, find someone else to look at it too, because it's so easy to miss your own typos.

Get resume help. Writing a resume is hard work and it's important to get help, or at least have your resume reviewed, before you send it to employers. Consider using a career counselor or other professional resume service to help you make sure your resume is professional and polished.

Check your resume. This resume checklist includes the information you need to include in your resume. Use the checklist to make sure you have included all relevant information in your resume. In addition, review these 10 resume writing tips. It may also be a good idea to make sure you don't have any of these common mistakes on your resume.

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Your resume needs to be professional and polished, because if you don't have a great resume your application materials probably won't get a second glance from any hiring manager. An unprofessional resume - one that is difficult to read, confusing, covered in errors, or unrelated to the job the person is applying for - will get tossed in the trash right away.

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Strategic plans are tools that many organizations use to keep themselves successful and on track. A strategic plan is a roadmap for success.

You can use the same sort of plan to establish a route to academic success in high school or college. The plan may involve a strategy for achieving success in a single year of high school or for your entire educational experience.

Ready to get started? Most basic strategic plans contain these five elements:

Mission Statement

Goals

Strategy or Methods

Objectives

Evaluation and Review

1. Create a Mission Statement

You will kick off your roadmap for success by determining your overall mission for the year (or four years) of education. Your dreams will be put into words in a written statement called a mission statement. You need to decide ahead of time what you'd like to accomplish, then write a paragraph to define this goal.

This statement can be a little vague, but that's only because you need to think big at the beginning stage. (You'll see that you should go into detail a little later.) The statement should spell out an overall target that would enable you to reach your highest potential.

Your statement should be personalized: it should fit your individual personality as well as your special dreams for the future. As you craft a mission statement, consider how you are special and different, and think about how you can tap in to your special talents and strengths to achieve your target.

You might even come up with a motto.

Sample Mission Statement:

Stephanie Baker is a young woman determined to graduate in the top two percent of her class. Her mission is to use the gregarious, open side of her personality to build positive relationships, and to tap in to her studious side to keep her grades high.

She will manage her time and her relationships to establish a professional reputation by building on her social skills and her study skills. Stephanie's motto is: Enrich your life and reach for the stars.

2. Select the Goals

Goals are general statements that identify some benchmarks you'll need to accomplish in order to meet your mission. Most likely you will need to address some possible stumbling blocks you may face on your journey. As in business, you need to recognize any weaknesses and create a defensive strategy in addition to your offensive strategy.

Offensive Goals:

Defensive Goal:

I will identify and eliminate time-wasting activities by half.

I will manage relationships that involve drama and that threaten to drain my energy.

3. Plan Strategies for Reaching Every Goal

Take a good look at the goals you've developed and come up with specifics for reaching them. If one of your goals is dedicating two hours a night to homework, a strategy for reaching that goal is to decide what else might interfere with that and plan around it.

Be real when you examine your routine and your plans.

For instance, if you are addicted to American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance, make plans to record your show(s) and also to keep others from spoiling the outcomes for you.

See how this reflects reality? If you think something so frivolous as planning around a favorite show doesn't belong in a strategic plan, think again! In real life, some of the most popular reality shows consume four to ten hours of our time every week (watching and discussing). This is just the sort of hidden roadblock that can bring you down!

4. Create Objectives

Objectives are clear and measurable statements, as opposed to goals, which are essential but indistinct. They are specific acts, tools, numbers, and things that provide concrete evidence of success. If you do these, you'll know you're on track. If you don't carry out your objectives, you can bet you're not reaching your goals.

You can kid yourself about many things in your strategic plan, but not objectives. That's why they're important.

Sample Objectives:

5. Evaluate Your Progress

It's not easy to write a good strategic plan on your first try. This is actually a skill that some organizations find difficult. Every strategic plan should have in place a system for an occasional reality check. If you find, halfway through the year, that you are not meeting goals; or if you discover a few weeks into your "mission" that your objectives aren't helping you to get where you need to be, it may be time to re-visit your strategic plan and hone it.

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5 Step Strategic Plan for Student Success

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Strategic plans are tools that many organizations use to keep themselves successful and on track. A strategic plan is a roadmap for success. You can use the same sort of plan to establish a route to academic success in high school or college.