I believe that our lives are shaped not by what life throws at us, but by the way we react.
I feel genuinely content with my life right now, and that is not to say that it's going 100% perfect, but I do feel happy because I recognize that there are so many wonderful things to be grateful for-- I have a beautiful kind hilarious family, the opportunity to work and save for myself, the ability to both learn and get ahead by taking both high school AND college classes. I have an air-conditioned home/pool, the right to vote soon, Microsoft programs and a sketchpad to release my creative energies, and a litter of the most adorable puppies who will come sprinting at the sound of your voice and clamber over each other to see you. Oh, and I can't forget the fact that I have a loving God!
In the {much too recent} past, I let myself get wrapped up in so much negativity it almost defined me. I'm not pretty, none of my talents are useful, I'm not popular. But regardless of whether these are true or false, in the end, does it really matter? I keep telling myself: Don't let nothin get you down, but instead rock what you got and use it as a stepping stone to achieving more important, long-lasting joy and growth.
I will never forget the day my favorite 8th grade teacher told us about how, though at our age she had focused her whole life on beauty and "friends," she grew up and realized that the only thing that truly mattered anymore was her family-- the people she had neglected every weekend as a teen to see some dumb movie. It hit me hard, and yet still I didn't listen to her wise words. I let myself get so cocooned in my own naive fantasies that I soon had myself woven in a trap. But now more than ever those words keep coming back to me.
And the funny thing is, I feel 100x happier when I'm more concerned about having a blast with my siblings than about looking like some Photoshopped Vogue model and earning cheap friendships.
In the {much too recent} past, I let myself get wrapped up in so much negativity it almost defined me. I'm not pretty, none of my talents are useful, I'm not popular. But regardless of whether these are true or false, in the end, does it really matter? I keep telling myself: Don't let nothin get you down, but instead rock what you got and use it as a stepping stone to achieving more important, long-lasting joy and growth.
I will never forget the day my favorite 8th grade teacher told us about how, though at our age she had focused her whole life on beauty and "friends," she grew up and realized that the only thing that truly mattered anymore was her family-- the people she had neglected every weekend as a teen to see some dumb movie. It hit me hard, and yet still I didn't listen to her wise words. I let myself get so cocooned in my own naive fantasies that I soon had myself woven in a trap. But now more than ever those words keep coming back to me.
And the funny thing is, I feel 100x happier when I'm more concerned about having a blast with my siblings than about looking like some Photoshopped Vogue model and earning cheap friendships.
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