The Only Constant Thing

Image courtesy of Man of Depravity

They say that the only constant thing in life is change. This seems like a huge contrast, but when you really think about it, it's true. Relationships, buildings, trees, even stars will go away. But things will always be changing. Cities will change, currencies will change, relationships will change, situations will change. Most of all, people will change. Things like habits and ideas will change as the person does. Different events in our life help shape and differ who we are as we discover new parts of ourselves. We can also look back on past selves and see how we have improved. There are different ways to look back at your past self, like pictures, essays, and blogs (wink wink). So, I am going to look back on how I have changed through the time I have had this blog (we all saw that coming).

Mostly, I have opened up more. My first posts were just descriptions of events. Things like the sports teams I liked, the teams I was on, just things that happened in my life. I also talked about my family and friends, the other people in my life. Later on, however, my posts got more in depth. They became more about the different aspects and feelings of life. More about the physical and mental obstacles we all face. And more about who I am, as a person. I love that. Being able to open up more about who I am and my life was awesome. This was also a place where I could blow off some steam, have a good little rant, and then actually have people read about my anger!

I also want to talk about where I got my inspiration. Because I definitely stole ideas and put them into my posts. I got these things from people like Allison, Maggie, and a blog called The Happily Ever After Project. They are so creative and inspirational on their blogs. The things they write about are fun to read, impressive, funny, serious, and, at times, perfectly personal. Like the crafts on The Balancing Act. My friend Allison does all these DIYs in her free time (I don't know how she has time, but she's already perfect so it makes sense). I have done a couple of them and my favorite one was the book box. This is where you cut out the inside of a book, modge podge the pages together, and use it as a box. It is so cool! Another one is Beauty and the Beam. The owner of this blog is Maggie, and she is also amazing. I loved looked at her posts about her gymnastics teams and tried to use things like that in my swimming posts.

This blog has been super fun to have, and I'm sad to be saying goodbye. It's okay though, we had a good run.

Signing off,

Natalie.

Here is a pig flying, you are welcome.

Looking Back

Image courtesy of Quotes Valley

This being my second to last post, I'm going to look back on how this blog has changed over time, and how I've changed throughout this school year. First though, a little side note to anyone reading this. I just wanted to say that having this blog has been amazing! What started out justas a graded assignment for an Honors English class has become a place for me to share my feelings with others. I have really loved posting on this blog and watching as people actually read what I had written. Every time I got a new page view, I felt so proud. Just being a tiny part of your guys' day is an honor for me. Thank you for everything, it’s been amazing.

Looking back now to my very first post...this was a welcome post as the enraptured new freshman (me) began to set up her blog. New to high school, she was excited at the prospect of having somewhere to share the "crazy new memories" she was sure to have. Setting up the background, font, and color scheme was super fun. I kept thinking about, the year before. This was when I had been an avid reader of my friend Grace's blog. Since she is a year older than me, I got to watch her blog unfold and was thrilled to be starting my own. Reading what she posted about what she did and where she went was really fun.

Next, developing my blog... when I started this blog I had no idea what I was going to post about. I hadn’t really given a lot of thought to the prospect of a theme, or even if I wanted to have a certain theme. I put up a poll to ask for input on a theme, but after a little while I realized that, if I was going to have a theme, it needed to be my idea. After all, it was going to be my name on the blog’s front page. One day, I thought about and decided on a kind of theme. I made the decision that I would begin to post about my life and the different aspects of it. It seemed like a good idea because I would surely be well informed on the subject (tee hee). I started to post about events, sports, obstacles, and different parts of my life that I felt would be worth sharing.

Looking back on how I’ve changed… we all change over time. I’m very lucky because keeping something like a blog is a great way to look back at my past self. It’s really cool to have the ability to do this. Since we have kept blogs over the entire school year, I’m able to look at how I’ve developed as a writer and a person. Over the year, my posts have not only gotten longer, but have been more in depth and personal. I stopped just talking about things I had done and started talking more about the mental features and obstacles of life.

To my beloved readers, thank you.

Me with our school colors.

Standing Up

Image courtesy of DesiValley

We all have our beliefs in life. However different these things may seem, they are all based on the same main subjects. These are our values, our ideas, and our influences, and those are just the main of the many effects that the lives we live can have on what we believe in. Who we live with and relate to can also effect our thoughts. It is actually shown that when you are around a person/group for a while, their mannerisms and personality traits start to rub off on you. As social beings, we adapt to what works the best in a society. This acquisition of traits also effects what we believe. But, contrary to what some people might think or say, beliefs aren’t just about religion or faith. Although they can have holy ties, they don’t all have to.

In this country we are extremely lucky because we have amendments. Particularly, the first amendment. This means that as we all have our own beliefs, we also have the right to exercise and fight for those beliefs. We are very lucky to live in a country where we have this right. But I think that we don’t use this right enough. We shouldn’t just sit around and let all the decisions be made for us. If the decision of a group effects us, our lives, or the people around us we should check it out. If that decision effects in a negative way, or a way we don’t agree with, we shouldn't just let that pass by. We have a right to fight for the things we believe in and we should use that as much as we can. Too many people just sit around and let other people take charge of their future. You shouldn’t. Just remember that your life is your life, and that you can take charge of your life. We only get one chance at a life, so we should make it an amazing one.

Again, there is a huge range of things to believe in. You can believe in the existence of something, whether or not a goal will be achieved, or what value certain things have. You can also have cultural, political, and educational beliefs. Examples are that a God exists, that you can get an A on a test, that a doll have more value, or that a candidate is perfect to be president. Your beliefs may even conflict at times, or be a mashup of many. It can also be uncomfortable when what you believe in conflicts with the beliefs of others who are close to you. But you still need to fight through it all, no matter what. Once again, you need to stick with what you believe in because it is your life.

Stay with, and fight for, what you believe in and grab life by the horns.

Image courtesy of Indian Country

Risk

Image courtesy of Ali Davies

Throughout our lives, we will take risks. Some will be bigger than others, but all risks can be scary. This is because taking a risk entails that something could be lost or hurt. Just the risk of jumping over a small gap in a hill can be terrifying. This is only because we know that we could get hurt. But not all risks are physical, a lot are emotional. Emotionally, we can still lose things and get hurt, I think we all know this by now. The other side of emotional risks is that there can be BIG payoffs. Yet, we are still afraid.

If there were never any risks in life, it would be pretty boring. Constantly getting exactly what you want with no worry sounds great, I'll give you that. Still, it would get a little monotonous. Having something hang in the balance can be exhilarating. Not having risks wouldn't only take away what we feel when we fail, but also take away how we feel when we do succeed. And even when we do fail, we can still be proud of ourselves for taking a chance. I have taken risks that haven't ended well, but I'm glad that I took them anyway. It shows that I really wanted something, that it was worth it. It also shows that I was strong enough to take a risk with the chance of getting hurt.

Image courtesy of Back West

Image courtesy of Cambridge University Contemporary Dance Workshop

Image courtesy of Pix Good

There are physical risks. Things like leaping across gaps, doing that barrel roll you couldn't do last dance class, swimming a 200 butterfly for the first time, tackling the biggest guy on the other team, and so many more. We each have our own physical risks that we have, and will, overcome. Different lives lead to different risks because of different activities we do. Any risk can be scary.

There are also emotional risks. Personally, these are scarier for me than physical risks. I think that they have more weight on your life. Scrapes or cuts, even broken bones, heal over time. Emotional wounds might not. They might affect your decisions later in life, days, weeks, maybe months or even years later. Emotions are interesting things. Memories with strong emotional connections are the ones we remember the most. This is because these have the most effect on our minds, they stick there. We remember them in times of need and if we are in a similar situation. The outcomes of those old memories will most likely effect the situation you are in right then.

The risks we take can be based on family, friends, sports, beliefs, or anything else that has effected you and your life. We will take risks in almost everything we do in life. It makes it interesting. Having something to lose can be terrifying, but also exhilarating because you have something to gain. Don't be afraid to take risks, they can be extremely worth it.

Family: Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em

Christmas pictures with my little brother (C.J.) and little sister (Rachael).

Since the dawn of time, there have been families. How long you stay with your family depends on your species. There are animals who never know their parents and have to strike out on their own, to others who stay with their families for life. Humans seem to have variations of these times. Some of us never get to know our parents, some of us stay with them for only a little while, some of us stay with them until adulthood, some of us stay past adulthood, and some of us stay even longer than that. Although we are able to live without our biological families, for at least the starting period of our life we need that  close group of people. Like with people who are adopted. They don't have their biological family, but they have a group of people showing them the world and helping them to learn about and explore it.

Can't live without 'em:
Families help us grow up and explore the world. They create a safe, educational, and compassionate environment in which we can grow up. They help us develop physically, mentally, and socially. Physically by showing us how to do things like eat, walk, go up stairs, run, etc. Mentally, they teach us how to speak and think. They read us stories and give us puzzles to strengthen our quickly developing minds. They also teach us how to function in the social world. By telling us what to do in certain situations and reprimanding us if we don't act well in others, they show us how to act in our society. They prepare us to have lives of our own with our own friends and relationships.

Can't live with 'em:
FAMILY CAN GET REALLY ANNOYING. When you have to live with a group of people, you see it all. The good, the bad, and the ugly. And the really ugly. You get to know the little things about them, like disgusting habits, weird rituals, and all around odd behavior. There are also the fights. Long road trips, sharing, or just being in the same room for too long can start an argument. You might not even know what you were arguing about the next day!

It is said that you always have to love your family, but you don't always have to like them. This is so true! Yet, it is all worth it. This is because these people will help and care for you throughout life (and if they don't they look bad). But seriously, be glad to have a family and you will realize that, in the end, they do more good than harm.

Image courtesy of My Repurposed Life

Emotions

Image courtesy of Stylist Stuff

Emotions bring more depth to our lives. If we couldn't feel, then our world would be very different.
Our ability to have feeling is what lets us be happy when something good happens, sad when something bad happens, and everything in between. There are so many emotions that it would be insanely difficult to name them all. So I'm going to try. There's happy, sad, angry, frustrated, stressed, confused, crazy, tired, lifeless, exhausted, worried, excited, acceptance, joy, rejection, surprise, fear, content, grumpy, depressed, disappointed, pride, temptation, love, disgust, awareness, quilt, sickness, pain, panic, and way too many more. Again, too many to count. It's incredible that we, as humans, have such a range of feeling in this world.

Emotions can also be triggers to us and our bodies. Emotions such as fear, panic, and pain give our bodies warnings to react to our surroundings. There are some people who can't feel pain, and that gives them a great disadvantage. This is because they can't react to things that we would, not because they shouldn't, but because they have no warning. When we put our hand on a hot stove, we instantly snatch it away. But, for these people who can't feel pain, it isn't that easy. If they put their hand on a hot stove, they won't realize it. Their hand will begin to burn but they won't know to take it away until they look down and see the damage that has been done. There is one girl who walked around on a broken ankle for weeks before her parents noticed a deformity. This was simply because there was no pain to alert her that it was broken.

I wouldn't want to live without emotions. Yes, that would mean no pain or fear or heartbreak, but I still wouldn't want to. This is because, without emotion, I wouldn't feel things like happiness, joy, contentment, or love. I don't want to, and don't think I could, live without emotion.

Image courtesy of Google Play

High School Sports

Image courtesy of Park City High School

Once you are in high school, things change. You start to have grow up as grades count, responsibilities multiply, and your future seems to constantly loom over you. But high school is also a chance to try out for things like sports teams. There are many sports that our high school has teams for; cross country, soccer, softball, baseball, track and field, football, swimming, tennis, golf, lacrosse, and more. These teams give us many new opportunities to show what we can do and connect with others. There are many good reasons to be attributed to one, or more, of these teams.

The first reason is to show off your work ethic. Being on a sports team, or multiple, for four years straight shows commitment, skill, and the ability to do hard work. Going to practices after school, five days a week, how many weeks depending on season length, for four years is impressive. Your resume will look even nicer with that on there. Plus, colleges LOVE you to have loads of extracurricular activities! (Because we, students, totally have time to belong to multiple clubs and teams after going to school for seven hours, and then doing the hours and hours of homework our classes give us. Well, we do have time, but only after giving up things like friends and sleep!) Seriously though, sports teams can look really good on records, speaking of records...

Like my segue? I know I did! Now, onto what I wanted to talk about. You don't even need to be super talented when you're starting a sport to succeed in it. With a high amount of practices, plus great coaches, you can get really good really fast. If you get good enough to set records, personal or statewide, that also looks good. It chiefly helps if you want to be on a college level team when you get older. Setting records in high school can also just be really cool :).

Last, and I think most important, is the teammanship (yes I made that all one word). Belonging to a team and having to work with that team gives and develops skills. Skills like how to work well with others, how to integrate yourself, and how to make, and keep, friendships. During the swim season, I gained so many incredible friends. Belonging to a team that work well together and care about each other is a great feeling. Mostly I loved the difference between the water and land. If we were at a meet, we competed against each other. In the next lane over your best friend in the world could be swimming, but you would still try and kick their butt. Then, after the race, you'd be congratulating each other. I liked this because it showed that we know how to work hard and that we value our individual goals, but also that we can value each other's goals too.

High school sports teams are pretty great. You gain skills you never would have alone, and you get a great sense of belonging. Just maybe don't try diving anytime soon...

Image courtesy of You Can Be Funny