Thursday, May 30, 2013

Off, Off, and Away


Off into the great wide unknown.

The chapter of my life known as High School is rapidly coming to an end. I have 5 academic days, and 13 days until I graduate and go of into ‘the real world’. Or, as I like to think of it, the great wide unknown.

But more than starting a new chapter of my life I’m also walking into a new time in my life. I’m entering a time in my life that has the potential to be beautiful and magical in ways I may not ever imagine until I’m in the midst of them.

If I could give any bit of advice I would tell you to go.
To branch out
To see the world
To discover
To dream
To make those dreams come true
I would tell you to be bold
To jump out of the boat and into the water
I would tell you to run and never stop
To leave and not look back

Because this is the time, the only time, in your life when you can do just that.
You can go.
You have the ability to do whatever you want to do,
to be whoever you want to be.
Go where ever the wind blows you,
fly by the seat of your pants.
Don’t take this time for granted, and don’t say ‘Oh, I’ll do that later in life’ because honestly, you won’t. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” (– Mark Twain)
Don’t look back on this time and wish you had done something differently with it. No one regrets that chances they did take as much as the ones they didn’t.
So take the chance.

The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible - and achieve it, generation after generation.
-Pearl Buck

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Drained.


Drained.
Emotionally. Physically. Mentally.
These past two days have left me absolutely nothing left to give.
My school put on a simulation of ‘Every 15 Minutes’ where we simulated a fatal drunk driving incident after prom. The driver was ‘arrested’, 2 ‘died’ one on scene and one off, and others were injured.
We also pulled 20 students from class that were to be representative of the Junior and Senior classes. The point was to literally scare kids out of drinking and driving.
We also held a ‘funeral’ for the students. And after they were reunited with their families, friends, and really everyone that wasn’t one of them or part of ASB.
My role. Occupy, the ‘living dead’ from 3pm to 7am.
As draining as this was, it was beautiful. It was beautiful to see 20 kids who hardly know each other (some didn’t know each others names) come together and build relationship’s with each other.

Yes. It was hard. Yes, we all cried. Yes, it was absolutely exhausting. Yes, I had multiple emotional melt downs. Yes, the words “I can’t deal” came out of me countless times.

But honestly, I would go back to school right now and do it all over again.
Because I believe in hat we did.
It blows my mind the ripple effect of drunk driving and the toll it can take on someone’s life. And, if all this did was help save just one life, or prevent one kid from doing something stupid, then its all worth it.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

You Don't Know You're Beautiful



Beauty is a common theme and something that has come up in many of my blogs, and surrounds my thoughts.

I’m constantly fighting this war between what true, pure real beauty is, and what this world tells us it is.

The world tells us that to be beautiful you must
·      Wear a size 0 pant
·      Have a gap between your thighs when your knees are together
·      Have protruding collar and hip bones
·      Have long hair preferably with high lights
·      Thin eyebrows with a nice arch
·      Wear make up that cakes onto your skin
·      Have no body hair
·      No zits
·      Big boobs, tight butt...
.
The list goes on and on.
And truly its heart breaking.
So many girls go through life thinking they’re fat when they’re not
Thinking they’re ugly because they don’t look a certain way
They think that something is wrong with them if they aren’t reaching these virtually unattainable goals set by society.

The reality is that these things are NOT what make you beautiful.

I believe that ALL girls are beautiful, and each in their own way

Because beautiful is how you look when you roll out if bed in the morning
Beautiful is when you look in the mirror and say “I don’t care what the world tells me, I AM BEAUIFUL.”
Beautiful is when you believe it
Beautiful is being proud of your body despite the size pant you wear (this is not to say that being over weight to a point that effects your health is good, it’s saying that you’re beautiful despite the size of your jeans or what the scale says)
Beautiful is when you’re confidant
Beautiful is when you decide to be happy with the reflection in mirror
Beautiful is when your just as pretty on the inside as the outside, and on the outside as the inside

I believe that each and everyone of us was created in the image of God.
That the same God who created the entire universe, took the time to hand craft every person who ever has or will walk this earth. And I do not believe for a second that He would create something that’s not beautiful.

In my opinion, one of the most powerful short descriptions about beauty goes as follows…
            "It's true. It's like the hidden secret that no one tells you. We can all be beautiful girls. It's so easy. It’s like Dorothy clicking her heels to go home. You could do it all along."  — Sarah Dessen (Keeping the Moon)

Because, ALL of US, ARE BEAUTIFUL.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Around Here


“Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”

What a way to live. To live in a way the focuses on what’s now, on what’s next; rather than on what has been.
Because dwelling on the past does noting but hold you back. 
It keeps you from becoming everything you can be.
You miss opportunity, change, and adventure.
Because maybe, trekking on, is the only way to make peace with what once was.
Around here, we seek new opportunities
Around here, we close new doors to allow others to open
Around here, we live in the moment
Around here, we keep our eyes open
Around here, we believe in moving forward

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Inspiration


Inspiration.
Something that has been so far from striking me, it’s not even funny.
I look at a blank canvas, and see it as that, no creativity.
It’s like I have become so caught up in the mundane day to day of life that I have lost the ability to be truly inspired.
Wake up. Get dressed. Drive to school. Yell at people for not knowing how to drive. Have my parking spot taken. Park in the empty one.  Write a note to the person that I paid for that spot, so don’t park there. Walk to class. Force myself to stay awake. Walk to class. Discuss how “Grapes of Wrath” is just so AMAZING (it sucks. Never read it.) Walk to quad. Talk to friends. Walk to class. Walk in late. Try to look like I care about econ. Walk to class/lunch. Do ASB stuff. Walk to class. Talk to Shelby, browse Pintrest. Walk to car. Go home. Repeat.
Really to say life is on autopilot would be an understatement.
The saddest thing is that I am currently living out my ‘biggest fear’
I’m living a totally routine life.
A life full of normal typical life things.
It’s lacking adventure in any form, and full of monotony.
So the question becomes not how to “get through” to summer, but how to make this time more well, more anything other than routine.
It’s how to inspire inspiration.
To paint that canvas all sorts of different colors
To explore the world around me
To not just seek, but to actually find adventure in any of its forms
To find this through books, day dreams, music, pictures, and compile it into words, to paintings, to everything.
So here’s how this will happen.
Through a ‘30 day challenge’ or more like a ’30 blog challenge’
Posting a blog, almost everyday from no until I have 30 blogs. Any length. Either blog. Any topic. Any length.
See beautiful places
Write beautiful words 
Use words as a tool to inspire myself to once again be inspired by what has been in my eyes a life of monotony.
Ready. Go!
Create beautiful art