Giving Back: A Morning Muse
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This morning I was in a great mood and found myself dancing around my office while blow drying my hair. It occurred to me this is something only women do when happy; I’ve never seen my husband get giddy and do twirls in the kitchen. And it reminded me of two years ago when I would dance around with my roommates at 803, our unofficial sorority house, almost every day.
Like many, I was actively involved in social and philanthropic activities in college. This was done through a few different organizations, but the one I hold dearest to my heart is my sorority. My sorority is not Greek; it was started by a group of girls a mere three years before my freshman year of college.
People always asked me why I hadn’t just joined a “real” sorority, meaning one that was Greek and established. I never had a good answer until now, because I’ve finally figured out I love start ups. I loved my independent sisterhood because I had input into the group, my opinions mattered, we didn’t have to follow Greek rules and as such the sky was the limit for us. I loved that the girls had a tight-knit, unbreakable bond like true sisters would, and we could work together to accomplish great things.
Before you start flaming me for being anti-Greek, you should know I’m not - my husband is a frat boy and most of my friends were in the Greek system. Like many of them, I have moved on from my sorority more and more since graduating college. The organization I invested four years of my life in, where I learned about leadership as president, learned about marketing and advertising as recruitment chair, and where I met the best friends of my life - is not a part of my daily or even monthly routine now.
When I thought about writing this, I considered linking to our website, but upon visiting it I realized it hadn’t been updated since 2006. I immediately felt guilty because I make my living as a software engineer. Then I remembered reading something on my facebook newsfeed about recruitment in a few weeks, and realized we need a better website. Now. And I think about the email requesting an alumni update I left unanswered, filed under “do later.” Later never came.
I resolve to do better. I will call my friend who is the current recruitment chair today and ask her if she wants help with the website. I will respond to that email this weekend, and add that I’ll be at our ten year alumni weekend in April, even though I’m a workaholic and can’t stand the thought of wasting seven hours of productivity time in a car. One way.
But I miss my girls, and I want them to know I still care. I still support what they are doing. I still think they are brave and strong and cute and funny and great, even though I don’t get to see them every day.
Want to reconnect with your roots? Find a way to give back. It’s that simple. What will you do today?
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Monica O'Brien is the founder of Twenty Set, a website about personal and professional growth and development for the Millennial generation. She has been a blogger since 1998 when blogging was still in its “Dear Diary” form and in May 2007 began blogging for personal branding and profit.
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