Author: Kasey Eister

Progressing to A New Perspective

July 30, 2020

Marietta, GA – While Bryan is away, today’s article is written by a special contributor, Kasey Eister.

Perspective: a mental view or prospect to gain a broader perspective on the international scene (Merriam-Webster)

As the months go on and the world continues with the ramifications of a worldwide pandemic, people begin to settle into a normalcy with what has and is happening.  We can wear masks, wash our hands, and social distance, but in the larger picture we must still wait out the virus.  I have heard and seen countless individuals complain about the “new normal”, how this pandemic has destroyed all they have known.  Yes, things are different, but does different always mean something bad?  COVID-19 is bad, definitely, but what is has done to our world as we know it is not all evil.

Before the pandemic, our countries, cities, people, were known to never stop.  We always had somewhere to be and something to do.  All that was forced to a standstill when the virus went worldwide.  Families are now spending more time together; nature is able to breathe from the lack of emissions with people having nowhere to go.  Now, as some of the restrictions pertaining to the virus are lifting in certain areas, I urge people to remember what we have learned.  Slow down. Breathe.  Instead of seeing all that has gone wrong from your known life before COVID-19, see instead what you can learn from it instead.  I hope for businesses to bring a better work-life balance into practice and for everyone to remember that all work is not always the answer.

Changing perspective can be difficult, but all it takes is a single thought that is expounded upon and put into practice.

Remember to slow down and breathe.

Kasey Eister

Embracing Change

July 28, 2020

Marietta, GA – While Bryan is away, today’s article is written by a special contributor, Kasey Eister.

“The only thing that is constant is change.” -Heraclitus

Our world is constantly changing.  This has been a known fact for thousands of years and it has been taught that to survive in a changing world, one must adapt to the new standard.  While some of this rings true, it is not always the case.

With LGBTQ+ rights rising more strongly in the past decade, the Black Lives Matter movement once more taking the front stage, and a controversial president at the head of America, things couldn’t be controversial.  In order to “stay with the times” numerous people have disregarded their personal beliefs and morals in order to fit into a societal stigma in our changing world.  

While those were just a few examples, they fit onto a larger scale.  Most times it is personal, community based bias that convinces groups of people to disregard their personal morals to be on top of the change.  It is important to remember one’s beliefs and morals so that despite change, one can still remain firm in what they know is right. There are always opportunities to learn, and perhaps one’s beliefs were not what was thought, but proper education and research is needed before following what the world dictates as correct.

Kasey Eister

Special contributor, Kasey Eister

July 7, 2020

Marietta, GA – While Bryan is away, today’s article is written by special contributor, Kasey Eister. 

Some of you may have noticed that lately the articles have been a mix of mine and Bryan Wilson’s.  I plan to continue writing more articles, and so that you get to know a bit about me, I’d like to share some things about myself.

I grew up in a military family, traveling around the world.  This has instilled both a strong sense of patriotism and an urge to travel that has remained constant as I’ve grown.  When it came to choosing a major in college, I selected criminal justice as my area of study.  While I did not want to join the military, I still wanted to help out in a way that served our country.  For me, majoring in criminal justice was a path that could lead me to help out in the judicial circuits and ultimately the communities around me.  Starting in 2016, I put a lot of time and effort into my degree program, learning and thinking about ways I could help change the judicial system for the better.  This past December, I graduated with a B.S. in Criminal Justice that I hope to do great things with.

Due to COVID-19, I have been unable to find a full-time job, but still hope and pray that I will be led to work where I can do the most good.

As stated before, another passion of mine is travel.  While that is also currently not accessible, I plan to try and see more of God’s beautiful creation whenever international flight restrictions are lifted.

As my friend Bryan Wilson would say, it is all about perspective.  This year has been one of struggle for many people, but by helping others whenever possible and utilizing a positive perspective, we will come out the other end better for it all.

Looking for the Good

June 17, 2020

Marietta, GA – While Bryan is away, today’s article is written by a special contributor, Kasey Eister.

So far 2020 has been filled with unknowns, a pandemic, and now an international surge in civil rights.  Throughout all of this, it can be hard to focus on what’s going right in the world.  The media has done a spectacular job of shutting down any positive and groundbreaking news in order to feed into the panic felt by millions. 

This is just a small reminder of the good that is still happening.  For example, this past May, SpaceX launched their two-manned Falcon-9 rocket making it the first American manned rocket takeoff since NASA closed its doors on the Space Shuttle Program in 2011.  While chaos seems to grip the world, we are still making discoveries and building new technologies that can promote era-changing outcomes.  This launch proves that, even though mostly hidden, there is still good going on in the world, you just have to go looking for it.

Emotions Run High

June 8, 2020

Marietta, GA – While Bryan is away, today’s article is written by a special contributor, Kasey Eister.

There is a lot going on in the world right now.  On top of the still underlying pandemic, there are now riots in the streets against racial inequality and injustice.  During this time it is easy to become wrapped up in confusion and anger as the world seems to turn against you.  It’s easy to become emotional in the face of everything and demand to know where the fairness is in all of this.

Emotion has its time and place, there’s no doubt about that.  However, being able to make rational decisions and thoughts becomes skewed when high emotions are involved.  In this time when tensions and emotions run high, I urge people to not make decisions based solely on emotion.  Put your phone down or step away from the computer and take some time to encourage better thought processes without the social stream of emotionality.

Understanding Our Future

May 30, 2020

Marietta, GA – While Bryan is away, today’s article is written by a special contributor, Kasey Eister.

The youth of today are our future tomorrow.  How that future looks depends on the choices that our youth make from very young ages, impacting them in their own futures and consequently impacting those around them.

In an article published by Nordstrom and Dackis (2011), there is discussion involving a survey given to 850 randomly selected students ranging from first to seventh grade and asked them questions involving such topics as psychological aspects, substance use, and violence in order to gather a wide range of information related to all three and to see if there was in fact a connection between these issues.  After 6 years, the students were surveyed again and the results showed a connection between crime and violence in relation to substance abuse.  The study concluded that drug use at an early age may cause violence, in which early involvement in violence might cause drug abuse as someone gets older.

Such studies as the one above seek to understand and research the youth in America in order to prohibit new waves of crime rising up.  Young children are often recruited into gangs and then introduced to violence and substance abuse in a never-ending cycle.  The youth of today are our future tomorrow and therefore need to be understood and engaged in the right activities as they grow.

For more information on the article where the study was discussed, please review the following:

Nordstrom, B. R., & Dackis, C. A. (n.d.). Drugs and crime. Journal of Psychiatry and Law, 39(4), 663–687

Impact of the Labeling Theory

May 22, 2020

Right now, you are a reader.  This label momentarily dictates an action that you are currently fulfilling.  Now, what if that label was not so generic?  You are a thief.  You are a criminal.  These are titles given to countless people every day that have an impact on their actions and mental state.

In the 1960s, a theory was formed with the help of numerous sociologists and named the labeling theory.  This theory defines that the behavior and character of an individual can become influenced and even determined by the labels set in place to describe that individual.  Close cousins with the concept of self-prophecy, an individual is more likely to act out on the label given to them, be it the label of thief, criminal, useless, etc. 

The idea that words are powerful has been proven many times.  It can influence the psyche and define a person. The labeling theory takes a look at the negative connotations of giving someone a title that they then believe to be true.  While maybe a label is not always given in harsh circumstances, the act of being labeled is one that can cause an individual to act out on that label since they now view themselves as being what they have been labeled.

Just like the labeling theory, our own words can impact who we are as a person.  The more we work to produce positivity in our thoughts and actions, the more likely we are to achieve that positive growth.

By Kasey Eister

Focusing on the future: What’s after the pandemic?

May 20, 2020

man-wearing-face-mask-using-his-phone-in-the-dark-4031909The world is a different place today.  COVID-19 has changed numerous lives and situations, from businesses to nations.  People across the globe have been faced with the unknown countless times during this pandemic and are still currently staring down an unlit tunnel.  Where does the world go from here?

With the pandemic striking worldwide and the media supercharging every piece of news possible, it is sometimes easy to miss debatable discussions about one’s own home.  In this case, the United States of America has taken massive measures in the hopes to decrease the spread of the virus.  These measures entail strong encouragement to stay-at-home or even to mandate lockdowns on certain cities as is the case in Los Angeles.  However, the longer these mandates go on concerning restrictions on leaving homes, operating businesses, and gathering of people, the more people are become antsy.

sad-isolated-young-woman-looking-away-through-fence-with-3808803It is written within out civil liberties that the people hold the right to freedom of assembly.  While I do believe that at this current state the government is still attempting to reign in the spread of COVID-19, will they stall their overarching reach once the pandemic begins to die out?  This question has started to become more frequent as the quarantining orders prevail nearly nationwide.

As mentioned earlier, there are a vast amount of unknowns.  Is the government overstepping their boundaries?  What will life look like after the pandemic?  While these are important and necessary questions, their answers are not known.  Instead of panicking, let us, the people, make the needed changes to be aware of what is happening in our nation to better prepare for whatever the future may hold.

By Kasey Eister

 

Public reputation in government and business

May 12, 2020

Marietta, GA – Public reputation in government and business

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With an election year upon us, there has been plenty of discussion about local candidates and their value and experience that can be offered to the community. One of the biggest ways that the community makes their decision on these candidates, is through knowledge of their background. Past work records, family history, impactful job decisions, these all lead to people deciding their candidate.

However, what about unwanted information? A few terrible reviews on a previous business, ‘tweets’ that may not be taken well- these are all part of what creates a reputation.  People are known for thinking in the present, unaware or uncaring for the impact in their future.

2667824While the above may be true for a vast majority of people, it is not without its solutions.  Reputation can be re-made and there are resources whose goals are to help aid in reputation management. Such resources as www.fxreputation.com work to repair and re-new people’s reputations with the understanding that defamation and bad online reviews are a hurdle, but one that can be cleared.

While you may not be a candidate running for a local election, your reputation is just as important. It determines future job opportunities as well as current and future peer groups. Don’t wait to start working on your background- seize your reputation now.

#ImproveYourReputation

#EncourageExcellence

Kasey Eister