10 Ways to Stay Positive About Your First Job Out of College

10 Ways to Stay Positive About Your First Job Out of College We’re all so excited at the prospect of graduating and getting our first job out of college. Then we get there and the success feels start to wear off and the tedium of adulthood sets in. We feel a sense of let down. And it’s perfectly normal. You’ve worked hard for so long, but almost all things had an end point- courses, semesters, years, and even schools. Now your whole life is stretching out before you and you have†¦ buyer’s remorse? Boredom? Don’t worry. Your life doesn’t have to be tedious. You’re not done succeeding yet; you’re just beginning. Here are 10 things you can do to stay sharp and make the most of the world of grown-up opportunities. It takes a little longer, and a bit more strategizing, but it will be worth it in the end.1. Be purposefulYes, most people have to work. But if you’re in the privileged position of being able to choose the kind of work you do, that’s huge. Keep track of why youâ⠂¬â„¢re working. What about this field or career makes you passionate. Know your purpose- both for being where you are and for heading in the direction of your particular goal. Hold onto it. The day-to-day tedium won’t touch you.2. Connect with coworkersYes, you’re on the stairway to success. But you will need help along the way. Make friends. Your coworkers might not be your college pals, but you’re going to see a whole lot more of them. Invest in these relationships and they may prove to be invaluable. You’ll all work much better together and will succeed much faster.3. Keep learning new thingsThe difference between this job and college is this: you’re now getting paid to learn. Learn as much as you possibly can and keep looking for the next opportunity to learn. Make your success as much about the journey as the destination.4.  Pick up new skillsSet yourself goals to pick up new skill sets or certifications, or even degrees. Have targets for e very few months and every few years and hold yourself to them. If you commit to learning more and more, you’ll be amazed how much more quickly you succeed.5. Break  up your goalsIf you’re daunted by the future stretching out endlessly before you, break it up. Plot out milestones for yourself. First promotion. First big project. First big client. Fiftieth small victory. This will help you make better narrative sense of your time at this job, and any job, as a stepping stone on your way to greater things.6. Remember that your job funds your hobbiesEven if you’re not 100% fulfilled by your new job and you’d rather be at the movies all afternoon mainlining popcorn, remember that your job funds your fun. When you lose sight of all else, remember that your time at the office makes your social life possible. Save up for special things like trips to make the experience more meaningful.7. Go above and beyondBest way to combat boredom: keep looking for ways to do more. Challenge yourself to get things done before a deadline, or to double your quota, or to go the extra mile on a project. You’ll feel more satisfaction, and your dedication will be noticed, and hopefully rewarded.8. Talk to your bossChecking in regularly with your boss is a great way to keep tangible track of your progress. Having someone else help keep track of your goal-setting and goal-meeting will be useful to keep you dedicated and also to notice when you’re killing it.9. Rethink foreverYou’re sitting at your desk despairing. There’s no end in sight! Reimagine your situation. What if you think of it as endless possibility? An infinite horizon? Think bigger than you have been thinking†¦ and your open-ended forever job won’t feel so terrifying.10. Find a mentorA good mentor can make all the difference in keeping you motivated and focused on what’s most important in the scope of your career. Find someone you admire and respect an d ask them to help shepherd you through your early stages. After all, they blazed this trail before!

Using TDictionary for Hash Tables in Delphi

Using TDictionary for Hash Tables in Delphi Introduced in Delphi 2009, the TDictionary class, defined in the Generics.Collections unit, represents a generic hash table type collection of key-value pairs. Generic types, also introduced in Delphi 2009, allow you to define classes that dont specifically define the type of data members. A dictionary is, in a way, similar to an array. In an array you work with a series (collection) of values indexed by an integer value, which can be any ordinal type value. This index has a lower and an upper bound. In a dictionary, you can store keys and values where either can be of any type. The TDictionary Constructor Hence the declaration of the TDictionary constructor: In Delphi, the TDictionary is defined as a hash table. Hash tables represent  a collection of key-and-value pairs that are organized based on the hash code of the key. Hash tables are optimized for lookups (speed). When a key-value pair is added to a hash table, the hash of the key is computed and stored along with the added pair. The TKey and TValue, because theyre generics, can be of any type. For example, if the information you are to store in the dictionary is coming from some database, your Key can be a GUID (or some other value presenting the unique index) value while the Value can be an object mapped to a row of data in your database tables. Using TDictionary For the sake of simplicity, the example below uses integers for TKeys and chars for TValues.   First, we declare our dictionary by specifying what the types of the TKey and TValue will be: Then the dictionary is filled using the Add method. Because a dictionary cannot have two pairs with the same Key value, you can use the ContainsKey method to check if some key-valued pair is already inside the dictionary. To remove a pair from the dictionary, use the Remove method. This method will not cause problems if a pair with a specified key is not a part of the dictionary. To go through all the pairs by looping through keys you can do a for in loop. Use the TryGetValue method to check if some key-value pair is included in the dictionary. Sorting The Dictionary Because a dictionary is a hash table it does not store items in a defined sort order. To iterate through the keys that are sorted to meet your specific need, take advantage of the TList a generic collection type that supports sorting. The code above sorts keys ascending and descending and grabs values as if they were stored in the sorted order in the dictionary. The descending sorting of integer-type Key values uses TComparer and an anonymous method. When Keys and Values Are of TObject Type The example listed above is a simple one because both the key and the value are simple types. You can have complex dictionaries where both the key and the value are complex types like records or objects. Heres another example: Here a custom record is used for the Key and a custom object/class is used for the value. Note the usage of a specialized TObjectDictionary class here. TObjectDictionary can handle objects lifetime automatically. The Key value cannot be nil, while the Value value can. When a TObjectDictionary is instantiated, an Ownerships parameter specifies whether the dictionary owns the keys, values or both and therefore helps you not have memory leaks.

Liberalism and Conservatism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Liberalism and Conservatism - Essay Example It calls for minimal change in the society. It is established that both ideologies oppose each other, while one calls for change and liberty, the other calls for traditionalism and minimum change. In essence liberalism states independence and growth. It covers the basic meaning of humanity and society. Though there have arisen different strands liberalism, the basic fundamentals of liberalism remain same. The liberal philosophy ignites individualism, egalitarianism, meliorism and universalism. Individualism asserts independence and self reliance while egalitarianism imparts political, social and civil equality among individuals. Meliorism and universalism both have common motives. That is to allow greater sociopolitical interaction. All these separate ideologies converge towards a few common postulates. These are equality and individual liberty, support of private property and individual rights, limited constitutional government and pluralism, toleration and autonomy. In history there have been various critiques on the liberal chain of thought. The most significant of which has been by the conservatives. They have argued that liberalism is in fact pursuit of progress and mate rial gain. This argument was further augmented by a Hungarian philosopher, Karl Polyani. Polyani attacked the liberal economic thought. He stated that human behavior is supported through social interactions not through greed and rational, which in fact drove the free markets (Hill). He also argued that the created free markets brought with it fictitious money. In his view the liberal economic system would ultimately bring with it artificial commodification of land, labour and capital. This would lead to the destruction of the society. The counter ideology is conservatism. It promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and structure. The ideology allows minimal and gradual change in society. As with liberalism, there are many different strands of

The Bill of Rights and Later Amendments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Bill of Rights and Later Amendments - Essay Example Due to the continuing reluctance of the Southern states in abolishing slavery, the federal government had found justification in going against state’s rights us protected by the Tenth Amendment by introducing the Fourteenth Amendment and establishing further federal authority to protect human rights. (Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas [1954]. The right to vote by each citizen is not based on federal constitutional right but based on state’s right as protected by the Tenth Amendment and further explained in the Latin maxim Expressio unius est exclusio alterius (the express mention of one thing excludes all others) that applies to the federal governments powers (Calabresi and Prakash 1994). The powers of the federal government are limited to what is provided by the Constitution and all other powers are hence given to the state, giving them more independence and local autonomy. As an old rule, the federal government cpuld not interfere with state acts and must keep its interaction in arms length, avoiding any form of violation of each state’s rights. ... Furthermore, aside from the Equal protection clause that is also provided in the Fourteenth Amendment, the federal constitution does not guaranty political representation or right to vote. It was held in Alexander v. Daley (2000) that "The Equal Protection Clause does not protect the right of all citizens to vote, but rather the right of all qualified citizens to vote". Qualification to vote depends on state laws and so is the right to vote. The interpretation of the Tenth Amendment provides that it is the state who has the authority to provide for the voting rights of its citizens. The Constitution again has given respect to local state’s independence and autonomy. In the case of Bush v. Gore (2000), Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Associate Justice Antonin Scalia provided that "the individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States.". It is the state legislature who has vested power to choose presidential el ectors, the right is rooted from the Constitution that provides that â€Å"Each State shall appoint, in such manner as the Legislature therefore may direct, a number of Electors†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Article II,  § 1, cl. 2). Individual citizens participate in the Presidential elections by voting a representative of their state (elector), who in turn would vote for the nominated and pledged candidate by the given state. State election is won by plurality of votes in each state as they chose for a senator or state representative that will represent them in Congress and in the Presidential elections (Patterson 8). A candidate must obtain an absolute majority in the Electoral College that is followed by most states except Maine and Nebraska whose votes are in proportion to the popular

A critical response to Donald Davidsons views of self-deception Essay

A critical response to Donald Davidsons views of self-deception - Essay Example Such event, according to the theory, will "permit" the idea that an individual may at any given time cling to incongruous viewpoints and ambiguous judgments about her/him or about a given state of affairs. The concept, Davidson contends, is that if parts of the mind are, to some degree or level, independent, we can comprehend how they are able to entertain and embrace inconsistencies, contradictions and variations, and to intermingle and cooperate on a causal level. This, I beg to disagree. If we take a cursory glimpse, Davidson's account offers a fascinating depiction of self-deception. It seemed to naturally and readily settle the absurdity and the irony of the concept. Nonetheless, if we investigate seriously the sketch of this phenomenon on the "divided-mind" paradigm, grave doubts and opposing protestations will come to our mind.However, before explicitly elucidating my disagreement, let me first discuss another angle that runs parallel to Davidson's idea of the divided-mind occ urrence - Freud's embodiment of the human mind consisting of an ego, super-ego, and id. To the Freudian picture, the ego matches up with the conscious part of the mind, while the super-ego and the id, to the unconscious. The id is steered by impulses, cravings and desires; as the super-ego flushes out the "undesirables" conceived by the id, the ego puts things into action. A Freudian version of self-deception, then, would justify for the absurd possession of diametrically opposed beliefs. The unconscious id discerns and understands that p, but is compelled by a desire to believe that not-p, so it "cooperates" or "works together" with the super-ego to deceive the ego. In this scenario, the agent may deliberately and knowingly assumes a belief this same agent instinctively knows to be false, but the fact that this belief is false is one way or another "concealed" from such agent. In this manner, self-deception becomes unequivocally comparable to interpersonal deception, with two agent -like structures misleading/deceiving a third into believing something they know to be false. Though desisting to succumb to the Freudian concepts of ego, super-ego and id, Davidson concurs with Freud that particular facets of the mind must be put forward in order to explain self-deception or absurdity of any kind: [First,]the mind is to be regarded as having two or more semi-autonomous structures. [Second, we assign] a particular kind of structure to one or more subdivisions of the mind: a structure similar to that needed to explain ordinary actions. [Third,]certain mental events take on the character of mere causes relative to some other mental events in the same mind. [I]n order to accommodate [this feature] we must allow a degree of autonomy to parts of the mind (Davidson 1982) As Davidson puts it, one psychological event can be a cause of but not a sufficient reason for another mental event. Certainly, this framework can be a probable occurrence in interpersonal interaction. For instance -- I yearn for Mr. X to be inside my bedroom, so, I positioned a hundred scented candles of different sizes and colors in strategic places, allow some erotic music to reverberate inside the room and open the door a few inches apart just enough for Mr. X to have a wondrous peek of what's inside and what he can expect if he gets in. As he saw what's in store for him inside that room, he then craves to enter and will want to

The Emotional Impact of Infertility and Assisted Reproduction

The Emotional Impact of Infertility and Assisted Reproduction 1. Introduction It is assumed by the majority of young people that they will conceive later in life and have their own family. Unfortunately, a significant proportion will have difficulty in reproducing and will need to seek help. Infertility is the inability to conceive after regular unprotected intercourse for a minimum of 12 months (NICE guidelines) and affects approximately 80 million people worldwide (WHO 2002). It is estimated in the UK that one in seven couples will have difficulty conceiving (HFEA). The inability to conceive can be a very stressful situation, and can bare huge strain on individuals and their relationships. Infertility is not solely a physiological condition but also a psychological and social condition; of which is often overlooked. Having difficulty conceiving can have vast psychological consequences on the individual which may affect social relationships and cause a feeling of isolation and stress. It can have a negative influence on relationships provoking marital issues sometimes resulting in divorce. Many patients who are undergoing assisted reproduction treatment (ART) find it difficult to fit into social situation and struggle with the personal management of infertility. This report aims to review the literature available to discuss the emotional impact of infertility and ART by examining the social and cultural impact of infertility, including gender and marital issues, and stress and depression. It also aims to briefly assess the effects of stress on ART outcome. 2. Sociology Infertility affects all parts of an individuals life; it is a social situation. The value of fertility is often misunderstood and the role of parenting is natural and assumed. An integral part of adult development is the ability to reproduce (Leiblum and Greenfield 1997). Individuals who have fertility problems often find themselves challenging their identity and self-worth (Greil 1991). They may feel that their body has failed its natural function. Female patients, in particular, undergo severe emotional suffering and find they feel a loss of control. They may feel confused and angry and often isolated from the fertile world. It is common for women to blame themselves for the infertility the couple experience, particularly if caused by a female factor. They may feel guilt from previous relationships, indiscretions or abortions (Domar and Seibel 1997). Patients have reported a lack of empathy from friends and family who are unable to relate to their situation. A vast proportion of ART patients are anxious that they will not receive the support they require (Miall 1986). Interestingly, different people suffer more at different points in their treatment, for example some exhibit the highest levels of anxiety and stress whilst trying to conceive and others during or after treatment (Cousineau and Domar 2006). Confronting infertility can, in some people, be the most difficult part. Studies have shown that discussing infertility can reduce stress levels in men and women (Schmidt et al 2005), and that women are more likely to discuss their situation with friends, colleagues and professionals (Abbey et al 1991). The infertility becomes a focal point of life, disorganising their world. This focus can result in eliminating or postponing other important aspects such as careers, aspirations and social connections (McLaney et al 1995). The balance between managing infertility and its treatment and maintaining healthy relationships with family, friends and work is extremely difficult. Firstly, the patients must rearrange their lifestyle and schedule to undergo vigorous medication and examinations which will have a significant impact on their body and mind (Mahlstedt 1985). Secondly, patients have reported that social settings become increasingly difficult due to feelings of upset and anger towards people who are pregnant or those who have children (Domar and Seibel 1997). In addition, some women may chose to bury their distress, through feelings of embarrassment or self-consciousness, further increasing the difficulty in social situations. The psychological impact of infertility is certainly under -estimated. 2.1 Culture In many cultures procreation is encouraged and the importance of biological parenting is vast. For example, for Islamic women there is huge emphasis on fecundability, and marriage is highly associated with a subsequent family (Fido and Zahid 2004). Women are expected to continue the family name and reproduce as assurance that elderly relatives can be cared for. The majority of cultures are accepting of ART, however, in some religions some aspects are forbidden. For example in the Islamic community the donation of eggs or sperm is prohibited as it is classified as adultery (Serour and Dickens 2000). Irrespective of whether cause of infertility is a male or female factor, in many cultures, for example some Arab and Asian communities, the females are usually blamed (Fido and Zahid 2004). In these communities infertility is associated with an enormous amount of shame. By Western norms infertility has become very accepted, in particularly for the male to take responsibility for the cause of infertility in a significant proportion of couples. Unfortunately this is not the case with all cultures, in extreme situations women can be blamed and subsequently subjected to violence and exile, irrespective of whether they are the cause of the couples infertility as their status is now diminished (Rustein and Shah 2004). 2.1. Gender In the past infertility has always been associated with the female. However, over half of couples undergoing treatment are due to both male and female infertility (Johansson et al 2011) and half of these are solely male factor infertility (NICE guidelines 2004). Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) has further increased the acceptance of male infertility and in many cases enabled the couple to overcome it. As previously discussed many cultures have not come to terms with male factor infertility and woman can be severely victimised against, suffering dramatic consequences (Rustein and Shah 2004). The literature demonstrates that women feel significantly more pressure on them to reproduce, they find infertility treatment considerably more stressful and they suffer more emotionally than their male partner (Jordan and Revenson 1999). Despite this, the psychological well-being of the male partner should not be ignored. Men are severely affected by infertility (Wright et al 1991, Carmeli And Birbaum-Carmelli 1994), however there is much less exposure of this. The males feelings are often overshadowed by the females and they may hide their emotions in order to support their partners. Male patients are reported to use different coping mechanisms (Peterson et al 2006) such as engaging in extra work and other activities (Jordan and Revenson 1999), which may give the impression they are less affected emotionally than the female. Men can feel a severe loss of masculinity, particularly if there is male factor infertility, and can become extremely embarrassed resulting in low self-esteem. Men may feel inadequate in fulfilling their role in the relationship being unable to provide their partner with a child. Additionally the stress of being unable to conceive and the subsequent treatment can lead to impotency and sexual dysfunction (Saleh et al 2003). Although the patients are treated as a couple, the female is normally the identified patient, irrespective of the cause of infertility. The emphasis on the psychological well-being of the female is understandable considering the female will undergo the immense and invasive treatment necessary for IVF/ICSI. It is the female that must inject herself daily and rearrange her schedule to have blood tests and scans for weeks before her eggs are even collected. Despite this, it is important to be aware that both the male and female will be under enormous amounts of psychological and emotional strain and neither should be ignored. 2.1. Marital There is varying information about the effect of infertility on relationships and marital status. Interview studies have shown that going through infertility and assisted reproduction can bring relationships closer together and often strengthen marriage in approximately one-third of couples seeking treatment (Schmidt 2009). Other studies have demonstrated marital problems as a result of their infertility, in particularly suffering from a lack of effective communication and often using active-avoid coping mechanisms. Evidence suggests there is increased marital stress between couples when they do not conceive in the first year compared to those couples who do (Benazon et al 1992). Additionally, couples have reported their physical relationship suffers whilst trying to conceive and whilst undergoing infertility treatment (Benazon et al 1992). Although not always recommended, many couples have intercourse at specific times in the females cycle, which can diminish intimacy and sexual fun ction, further enhancing relationship stress. 3. Stress and depression Stress is defined as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the stimulus which produces mental tensionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Cousineau and Domar 2006). The inability to conceive is undoubtedly a very stressful situation. It is extremely difficult to measure psychological stress as it can be subjective. Despite this, it is clear that mild to moderate stress and depressive symptoms are present in the majority of people undergoing ART treatment (Demyttenaere et al 1998). Studies demonstrate that depression and anxiety levels in women who are experiencing fertility problems are dramatically increased and are significantly higher than in fertile women (Domar et al 1992). These levels of depression and anxiety have been reported to be comparable to patients undergoing cancer treatment, myocardial infarction and HIV-positive patients (Domar et al 1993). Unsuccessful IVF attempts can result in severe depressive symptoms and it has been shown that over 10% of women experience passive suicidal ideations (Baram et al 1988). This highlights the importance of monitoring patients emotional state before, throughout and after treatment. 3.1. Affect on ART outcome There is conflicting evidence that suggests stress factors may influence IVF outcome. A prospective study carried out by Klonoff-Cohen et al (2001) demonstrated that baseline stress levels were significantly related to biological end-points. This included oocyte number, fertilisation rates, and pregnancy and live birth rate. These findings emphasise the importance of emotional and psychological support early on in treatment. In contrast, a recent meta-analysis, by Boivin et al 2011, collated 14 studies with a total of 3583 women and assessed the effect of emotional distress in infertile women undergoing fertility treatment on the outcome of their treatment. The conclusions were confident that stress does not compromise their ART outcome. Although the jury is still out with regards to stress affecting ART outcome, stress has an impact during pregnancy. High emotional stress levels can increase glucocorticoid levels which negatively affect foetal development and birth outcomes (Bolten et al 2011, Schulz et al 2011). Therefore patients stress levels should be monitored during assisted reproduction treatment, and importantly also after treatment, whether successful or not. 4. Conclusion In conclusion, this report has demonstrated that infertility patients undergo significant emotional distress. Infertility and its treatment can bare huge strains on all aspects of their lives particularly social interactions with friends and partners. Patients feel a loss of control and their infertility becomes the focus of their life often resulting in the neglect of other aspects. They may feel upset, anger and a lack of self-worth. This is heightened in some cultures which do not accept infertility and bare huge pressures on reproduction. In these cultures women, in particular, can be subjected to very severe treatment such as exile. Women appear to suffer more emotionally than their male counterpart; however this may be due to the male hiding his feelings to support his female partner. Males can experience a severe loss of masculinity and feel inadequate in fulfilling their role. Both members of the couple will be experiencing substantial distress and this can have positive and negative impacts on their relationship. Some marriages benefit from treatment by becoming emotionally closer, others do not. It is clear from this report that there is significant stress associated with infertility which can result in depression and anxiety. This can be particularly serious in those patients who have unsuccessful attempts at IVF. There is varying evidence to whether this stress and anxiety affects ART outcome. Whether or not it affects outcome it is fundamental that the psychological aspects of infertility and ART are not ignored. Counselling and emotional management should be offered to all patients before, during and after treatment. Stress and depression levels should also be monitored a various time points as the welfare of the patient is paramount.

Looking for God :: Papers

Looking for God Where are you supposed to look for God? How are you to look for God, and does it help to decide what sort of thing you are looking for first? What kind of thing is God? Looking from the perspective of someone with no previous faith, looking for general revelation, I would have to say you have to perceive what you think is God-like first. If you ask the majority of people with a faith what God is like, they would probably say 'all good and all-powerful'. So are you looking for general signs of goodness, beauty, power and awe? If you are then you can rule out finding God in evil, ugliness, weakness and un-impressiveness. Or can you? I know that black isn't white, but people thought Hitler was 'good'; beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so an 'ugly' person to me might be stunningly 'beautiful' to someone else; the queen bee is supreme over mere drones, however it looks a bit pathetic in comparison to even simple humans; and David Beckham's match and free kick against Greece last year left thousands of footy fans awe-struck, yet my brother just couldn't see what the fuss was about. God is deeply personal, so will be found in different places for everyone. If you thought that 'The Miracle Of life' was completely un-earthly, and could only be explained with a super-human being, then I bet I could find half a dozen more that just think we are here accidentally. [IMAGE][IMAGE][IMAGE]If you are solely looking for good, you can still find it in atrocities. In Sept. 11 you could find God in the 'power' and 'awe' of it all, but also in those brave people whose spirit never wavered, in those volunteers determined to help, in those fore-fighters who gave their life to save others, those selfless rescuers, counsellors, vicars, children. Osama tried to devastate American spirit and attitude as well as massacre, but he failed in crushing the love and goodness in people's heats and minds.