Perspective

“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” ― Abraham Lincoln

Is the glass half-full or half-empty? It’s all about perspective. I personally prefer to look at the glass as half-full and I like to consider myself to be an optimist. Life is less stressful if you are more positive. There is less drama and less pain. So I don’t understand why people see life negatively. Some people like drama and stress they might even thrive on it. I on the other hand do not thrive on drama but again it’s all about perspective what I like and don’t like could very well be the opposite for someone else.

Imagine

“I believe in everything until it’s disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it’s in your mind. Who’s to say that dreams and nightmares aren’t as real as the here and now?”― John Lennon

Having a wild imagination is one of the greatest things in the world. Your mind can take you anywhere; you can be anyone and do anything. So then why our we discouraged from believing in fairy tales. From an early age we are told that fairy tales are not real and that we have to focus on reality and school and life. But why can’t we do both, why can’t live in reality and be dreamers at the same time. In global we once did a project where we had to build a structure out of marshmallows and straws that was a certain height. We truly struggled with this task as most adults do, yet when the same task is given to kindergarteners they succeed quite quickly. This is because the kindergarteners are just building using their imaginations while adults are using knowledge of what they are told won’t work instead of just what their minds come up with. I think it’s better to have the imagination of a little kid and then that of an adult.

Effort

“Anything in life worth doing is worth overdoing. Moderation is for cowards.” – Ballard of the Frogman

I have a huge tendency to procrastinate and be lazy instead of doing my work. I have struggled to understand why I can’t seem to just do my work to the best of my ability from the start. I have finally realized that when I am passionate about something I put 10x more effort in and I am usually happier with the results. So in moving forward into my future in the real world I know that I will be much more involved in activities and work if I am passionate about it.

Time is a …

 

“How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?”― Dr. Seuss

Time flies when your having fun. I’m graduating and everyone is getting ready to start their new lives at college. I’ve struggled with balancing the amount of time I have left before starting over at college. My time is split between working to get ready for my next step as a college student and trying to finish my last year of highschool with decent grades and trying to spend time with my friends who I won’t be able to see everyday in the next few months and also balancing time for work. What I’ve learned is that there is not enough time in the day to devote all of my attention to everything, especially with the constraints of having a curfew. Realistically I know that I have to focus on everything that takes up my time so that I can set up my future but I would much rather just spend time with my friends and work (so I would have money to keep going out with my friends.)

Value

“Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.”              – Albert Einstein

Success vs. Value what’s the difference. To me success is achieving a physical or materialistic goal while being person of value is someone who has meaningful experiences and meaningful relationships. One day when you’re looking back on your life, what are you more likely to remember that A+ grade you got on an assignment or a fun experience with your friends. My point is that being a person of value is much more important than having success. I strive to be a person of value because to me that is the key to life.

Loyalty

“Dumbledore’s man through and through, aren’t you Potter?”

“Yeah I am,” said Harry. “Glad we straightened that out.”

― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

 

I value loyalty a great deal, I think it is vitally important to be there for those you love when they are need and I would do anything for those I love. I love the Harry Potter series, I read all the books…twice and I’ve seen the movies countless times. One might even say I am a very loyal fan of the franchise. Loyalty is a major theme throughout all of the books. As it turns out loyalty is Harry’s greatest strength and weakness he is loyal to a fault and would do anything to protect his friends. It is his most valiant quality but his enemies use it against him knowing what he’ll do. Even though his loyalty is used against him I can’t imagine not being there for my friends.

Take It Easy

“Lighten up while you still can

don’t even try to understand

Just find a place to make your stand

and take it easy” – Jackson Browne and Glen Frey

Take it Easy by the Eagles is one of my all time favorite songs. It is just a great chillout song. I try not to take life too seriously; it takes a lot to get me upset but most of the time I’m pretty laid back. I personally just roll with the punches and try not to get too caught up in plans and stress. Life is just more enjoyable if you learn to just roll with it instead of fighting and getting worked up about small things that in the long run don’t really matter. In life, you have to deal with a lot of people and don’t get me wrong I love people but sometimes people can get on your nerves and you can either blow up at them or take it easy.

For Travel’s Sake

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

I am asked all the time what do I want to do next. What is the next chapter of my life? My answer is always the same: TRAVEL. The most common response is “where do you want to travel and why?” I don’t have answer, I usually just say anywhere and everywhere. The where, and why does not actually matter all that matters is that I am traveling. To me traveling is about getting out of my comfort zone, to get away from the routine of everyday life, to experience new and exciting things. The misconception is that I would have to travel far to do this but in reality I only really need to travel a few hours to a different part of Georgia to get a new experience and to get away from the routine of my Atlanta life. That’s why this quote is so meaningful because it doesn’t exemplify the location of your travels but of the journey itself. So I guess all I have to say is that it doesn’t matter where I go as along is the experience is something new and a way to escape the typical day.

Who We Are

“So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we’ll never know most of them. But even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.” – Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I read this book, during my freshman year (I actually think it’s the last book I read just for myself, and wasn’t assigned for school) and it really resonated with me because I connected with the main character Charlie. In the book, Charlie struggles during his first year of highschool but eventually powers through by leaving his comfort zone and becoming more outgoing. I was very shy and quiet during my freshman year and I befriended a lot of the seniors similar to Charlie in the book. The problem with this is that as seniors they are leaving to start their college lives. So how could this possibly be beneficial to Charlie and myself? Well it gave us the confidence we needed to start fresh sophomore year and continue to become more and more outgoing. So what I’m trying to say is that I believe that the whole book’s message can be summed up in this quote and that is that basically we cannot choose who we are but we can choose who we become. This idea was very important to me back then because I did not want to be stuck as the person I was but I wanted to grow and change and become a better person. I am happy about where I’ve come from to become the man I am today, which is all this quote/book is about.

Changing The World

“Many small people who in many small places do many small things that can alter the face of the world.” – Eduardo Galeano

 

I am a firm believer in the idea, that people’s actions and experiences fuel who they are as a person. To me this quote expresses this same idea on a global level that the actions and experiences of everyone, politicians and farmers, shape the world into a global identity. It makes the world seem smaller, more attainable and easier to navigate. Somehow the idea of 7 billion people seems less daunting in this perspective.