Problem Solving + My Dog

 My mom and I got a puppy last January. I wanted a dog for the longest time and I would ask my mom every month for probably 3 years. I kind of gave up on the idea and told myself I would get myself a dog after college when I have my own place. Then, at the end of December in 2021 my mom and I both got Covid and had nothing to do. We talked a lot over the course of 2 weeks being stuck in our house. She agreed to look into getting a puppy. We decided on a golden retriever because it’s both of our favorite breeds of dog. We went to pick her up and fell in love with her right away. Her personality is like no other. 1 year later and she’s a 60 pound dog with lots of fur and energy. She seemed to solve all of our problems, if we were having a bad day she always puts a smile on our face. Working through problems looks different for everyone. I definitely like to distract myself from problems and my dog is great for that. I find nothing wrong with a good distraction if it’s something that makes you happy. A lot of this relates to chapter 1 from our textbook. Critical thinking can sometimes be useful when a problem arises. According to the book, you need to be actively engaged and appreciate creativity. You also need to have a sense that life is full of possibilities. Whenever I have a problem I like to engage with it in a way that allows me to not give up or dread the problem. After you face a problem it can be useful to use deep learning from the textbook. After you face the problem, think about what else it connects to and how you can solve it. Think about how the small problem can be linked to a big picture. After reflecting on a happy story for me and how my dog helps me with my problems, I think this topic relates very well to chapter 1. 

Introduction

     The most basic information I can tell you about myself is that my name is Taylor Swanson, I’m 18 years old, and I’m majoring in Psychology at North Central College. However, none of that information is very exciting. I don’t consider myself an extremely interesting person. Sure, there are things about me that make me who I am. But, how do you know if they are actually exciting or interesting facts? In the next two paragraphs I’ll try to tell you the most interesting parts about me that not everyone talks about.

    Some things I would not want to live without include my planner, my camera, my phone, iced chai tea lattes, and hoodies. Yes, those are all materialistic items. However, it’s the importance behind them that matters. My planner: I’m extremely organized and I like to plan out things in my life before they happen. My camera: I love taking pictures of anything and everything that I never want to forget. My phone: I think almost everyone wouldn’t want to live without their phone for obvious reasons but some people don’t admit that. Iced chai tea lattes: they are better than coffee and how I start my day 90% of the time. And last, hoodies: who doesn’t love wearing a big sweatshirt? These are all of the materialistic items that make me who I am. 

    The future is not promised, but I think about it constantly. I like to think about my future career, future wedding, future home, future pets, and future life. The best way to plan out your life is through Pinterest. Instead of showing you all my pinterest boards, I’ll just explain what they look like.I think telling you what my future will look like is the best way for me to tell you about who I am. After I graduate I want to become a pediatric social worker at a hospital. I finally found a career that truly excites me and I am so excited to take the next steps to get there. After I start my career, I would like to have my dream wedding. I’ve actually been thinking about my wedding since I was probably about 6 years old. I want to get married on the beach in a winter month because if you get married on the beach in July, it’s way too hot. I want to have a beautiful white dress with lace sleeves. I don’t want a huge wedding, maybe 60 people. And I want to have lots of flowers that are white. I have way more details in my head but I won’t tell you all of them. One day I will live in a house with 3 bedrooms, a big backyard and front porch, a walk-in closet, and a front yard with lots of flowers (can you tell I like flowers?), and it will have big windows for lots of good natural light. Next, I will have a golden retriever and a mini dachshund. That one is simple, that’s all I can say about pets. So, that’s my future life. Those are all the interesting things about me that you wouldn’t already know.