“It’s all about your attitude.” That’s what I told myself as I rode up the elevator in the Greek parking garage with all of my stuff for AOII’s overnight sisterhood retreat. Stressed about my unlocked car parked in the physical plant lot and struggling to carry my sleepover gear, I was incredibly frustrated after getting a reprimanding text about being five minutes late and felt like being a brat. But from experience, I knew it wouldn’t get me anywhere. So I put a smile on my face and tried to act like this was going to be one of my favorite events as a member of AOII. Turns out, that’s what ended up happening.

Call me sentimental, but senior year is pretty bittersweet with all the lasts that have been happening. As I’ve retired from being a formal leader in the sorority, it would be pretty easy to slack off now and claim I’ve done my time and that they don’t need my commitment any longer. But that’s not in my nature. I’ve been an active member for so long that I can’t throw in the towel for complacency now. These are also the people who I’ve been 100% authentically myself with, so being anything else would not be my identity within the chapter.

I like to make people laugh. Everyone deserves to genuinely smile everyday, so that is a responsibility I’ve taken on for myself. And that is definitely a part of my AOII identity. It was no different on this retreat.

From the moment we hit the road, I was designated as the communicator of our car to the rest of the caravan. That was a mistake for anyone who thought I would take it seriously. But I’m not the only goofy member of the chapter, and we were all able to bounce off of one another’s crazy energy to create entertainment throughout the hour-long drive.

Once we arrived at the retreat center and got settled in, we started playing Ships and Sailors, a game I was introduced to during the cheerleading days. That being said, I was reluctant to participate in any physical activity, but the competitiveness soon jumped in. There was a lot of screaming, running, pushing & pulling, and jumping on random sisters’ backs, and that was just me. Of course I didn’t win, I never do, but it was one of those experiences where it’s just humorous to be involved.

The rest of the night was filled with suspicious-looking brisket, loud singing of the worst songs, touching words of admiration, and perfectly roasted marshmallows made by yours truly. We wrote letters of affirmation to one another, and almost every one I got mentioned that I made them smile, laugh, or proud to be in the organization. Heart-warming stuff, really. The best parts, however, were the stories people talked about, because it reminded me how small things in our lives can really stick out to other people. What we may see as an everyday occurrence or behavior might just brighten someone else’s day.

In the morning, I convinced not one, but two sisters to go off the 40-foot high, shaky zip-line, as well as myself. Then we all planned our zombie apocalypse team while making grand attempts to be successful at archery (I was not).  We left in high spirits, back on the road where I bullied our president in the group message for her sporadic braking patterns. 

I had a rough start to the day, having finished and sent in my dream law school application and the chaos that followed, but intentionally having a good attitude and being myself led me to have an amazing time. I didn’t complain once about being there or what we were doing. I may no longer be a formal leader in the chapter, but there is always the opportunity to lead by example. And I did it all with excessive energy, a surprising feat considering, you know, I have mono.

There’s that one quote that says if you equate the letters of the alphabet to numbers, A+T+T+I+T+U+D+E = 100%. I thought it might be interesting to add that A+U+T+H+E+N+T+I+C = 101.