Positivity
“Positive people will never let their fears keep them away from reaching their goals and dreams. They always try new things and realize that failures are also important on the road towards success. They realize that there are time for sadness and pain, but they still see lightness and beauty of life.”
Credit: http://www.inspirationalstories.eu
This is very true. I have seen it in myself actually whenever I am positive with myself. But to be honest with you, I often am not so positive with myself. It is hard to think on the bright side. It is easier, for me, to think that I will fail. This is partially why I joined Silver Lining 🙂 I thought, if I help other see the bright side of things maybe I will start to see it myself. It has helped 🙂 I am still a work in progress. Like the quote says, even for this adversity, I have to remember to not lose hope! So do you! Life is hard… but in the end it is how you look at it that makes it so. -Pizza
As a senior in high school, this is one of the most important times in my life. The college that I go to can determine a lot of my future, and that’s a terrifying prospect. Everything I do now related to college applications has to be flawless, or my life may end up ruined. Naturally, thinking about this is very stressful, to the point that I lose all of my motivation to work in fear of doing something wrong. I don’t know what I’m doing now, or what I have to do. I don’t even have a clear grasp on what I’ll do once I get to college.
It’s terrifying to be so unsure about something so important, but I can’t let that stop me. If I stop now because I’m unsure, then I really won’t get anywhere. I need to keep going, even if I don’t know, because not knowing is temporary. I’ll figure it out soon, but this is what I need to do now. It’s okay that I don’t know, and it’s okay if you don’t know something as well.
The point of living is to learn about yourself everyday, so you can’t have everything figured out right away. What’s important is that you keep moving and trying your best with whatever knowledge you do have, so you can learn what you don’t know. If you keep trying, you’ll get there soon. ~Patty
Eleven when I nearly drowned.
He was watching.
I stepped on a sea urchin while snorkeling.
Spikes dug into my skin
like shark teeth,
currents of electricity
swam through my foot
as water swallowed me.
In my left temple, a pulse:
my brain pounding.
I could not breathe.
Thirteen when I met him;
swore I loved him.
He put his hands around my waist,
“A bit chubby here.”
His words stung like brine
pushing me underwater
deep into a chasm.
Seaweed groped my legs
coiling around my chest.
I could not breathe.
Fifteen when I learned to float;
tossed his words of shrapnel
into the ocean’s abyss.
I’m made of seaglass
Jagged, tumbled
Still shining.
Broke harpoons on my skin,
Snapped spears on my neck.
“If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” – Gail Sheehy
I am personally someone who loves stability. I like to know what my schedule is hour-by-hour, what events are coming up at least a week beforehand, and that I will not have to be scrambling through the day with lots of changes that will mess up my routine. Though stability isn’t a bad thing, it’s even more important that we come to accept change and how beneficial it is to our being. Think about it: We wouldn’t live in the world we live in today if we did not embrace change.
Gradually, I’ve come to accept change based on Sheehy’s reasoning. If we don’t change, we never really learn how to live. We end up just walking around as human beings, going through monotony and trying to live on the safe side. But change is all about taking risks, and the biggest risks pay off. One particular example in my life pertains to the dance duet style I chose last year. Though it was clearly out of my comfort zone (my friends and teachers admitted that it definitely was not a style they expected me to compete with), I flew with it. I experimented with it and had the most fun making that change and seeing how it would work out. That experience left me feeling more empowered and matured as a dancer and a person. Life cannot exist without change.
Too often, we feel that we can only relax when we have time. When there’s a billion tasks on our to-do list, we think that we can’t stop or take a break. However, as Sydney J. Harris states, “The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.” When you’re stressing out and your schedule is maxed out, remember to take a break.
Do something you enjoy and take it easy. Take a walk outside, watch some television, eat some cake, take a nap, play your favorite song, or dance. Without breaks, you can easily get stressed out and that’s never good.
When I have 3 hours to do 6 hours worth of work, I get really stressed out. I start feeling overwhelmed and I hate not being in control. I feel the need to squeeze the life out of my stress ball and type out gibberish in some soon-to-be-deleted documents. I’m sure many people have felt stressed like this before.
Instead of quickly running back into my pile of essays and tasks, I should take a quick breather. The break I spend eating some food, taking a walk outside, or listening to music will recharge me and help me function normally again. If I just keep trying to work, I would only stress myself out more and end up in a bad state. Breaks are needed!
Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne’er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.
Not one of all the purple Host
Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of Victory
As he defeated–dying–
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear
– Emily Dickinson
Description: This poem describes how the one soldier who has been defeated understands success better than the whole army that was victorious.
“If you can’t fly, then run, if you can’t run, then walk, if you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
It’s all too easy to give up on something when it gets hard. I’ll even admit to giving up on so many things that I’ve lost count, but every time I give up, I’m filled with regret of how good I could have become. One in particular is Tae Kwon Do, which I did for years, even getting close to getting a black belt. The master even got one for me, with my name on it, and hung it up with other belts that were waiting to be earned. I loved Tae Kwon Do, and I wanted to reach black belt so bad, but I had to stop because I didn’t have time for it anymore, once I got to high school. And just like that, getting a black belt was over. Now that I’ll be leaving for college soon, I know it’s pointless to go back and try to get the belt, so now every time I see someone do martial arts, I think back to that black belt with my name on it, just hanging there, never earned, and I feel guilty for never going back to get it. What I wish I had done is rather than go three times a week, go once a week, and slowly work my way up to black belt. I didn’t have to keep going as often as I did before, as long as I made progress towards getting that black belt. That’s why I’m here to tell you that if you really love doing something or want something, but you don’t know if you can keep doing it, you can slow down, as long as you keep going.
We all have our hardships. In the moment, many of us think we are in the worst position ever….But that is not true. We are humans, humans have a way of adapting to the environment. That’s what we have been doing to get this far. We make solutions… we find out ways to get what we need. For example, communication was a huge problem before… before the technology we have now. Many times people weren’t able to get their message in time… and it would be too late. But now there are solutions to many of those problems and you too..no matter your hardship will find a solution to it 🙂 Find a solution that will help you get through what you are going through. There are no boundaries to it… just that you have to try not to think negatively about it.
Believe in yourself… you will get through it.
Here is a quote that I found on: https://www.facebook.com/powerofpositivity/photos/a.162838037370.127541.107787352370/10153256638642371/?type=3
It too talks about making the positive of a bad situation… and how in the end it’s all our choice. We can positively look for a solution for the situation or think negatively about it.
Last summer, I went out of town for a program right when there was a lot of drama in my friend group. Things were really getting heated, and I was so worried that that was all I could think about during the first half of my trip. I didn’t even think about the new people I met at that program, who were really nice and I liked because our experiences were so different that it was interesting. I realized this halfway through my trip, and decided to forget about what was happening at home and to just enjoy my trip and being with these new friends.
Those few days were the highlight of my summer that year, but I realized during those days that I wasn’t a really close member of that friend group because I had been so worried about other things, that I didn’t really hang out with them, so I had only 5 days to become closer with them, and, of course, I ended up being isolated, in a sense, because I didn’t know them as well. I really regretted, and still regret, not focusing on where I was at and who I was with to make memories. It was supposed to be a trip where I could have left my problems behind at home, but instead I took them with me, and it just made a mess for me.
That’s exactly why I feel that we need to live in the moment and constantly make new memories, not just remember old ones. There is something wonderful about every day, and as long as you live in the present, you can find it and remember it. However, if your mind is stuck in the past, you won’t be able to find it.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the smallest, most insignificant things in life. It seems like such a big deal that you’re standing out because of something you’re doing or wearing, or that you don’t have any pictures for any social media, or even that you said or did something awkward that you regret. A lot of people (including me at times) are haunted by these social faux pas and can’t seem to forget about it, but I’m here to tell you that it’s only you that remembers it in the long run. Other people don’t care if you say something wrong or stutter a bit too much because they are forgiving and know that it happens sometimes. They’re willing to forget about it; in fact, most people forget about things that others did by the end of the day! So if others can forget about it, you have to too, because as long as you keep thinking about what happened, you won’t be able to move on from it, possibly even causing it to happen again because you’re so nervous about it. You need to forget about it and keep living your life no matter what, because you’re going to mess up small things sometimes, but it’s okay. You’re human. It happens. So don’t dwell on these things, but keep moving forward
Silver Lining 