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.

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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.

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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...

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Thank You

Dear readers,

I have just reached 1,642 pageviews. My goal at the very start of this blog was to get at least 500 pageviews, and, apparently, I've surpassed that. Having to change my goal was a great feeling, because I have achieved way more than I thought I could. But I couldn't have done this alone, well maybe I could have, just reloading and reloading my blog, but that's not the point. The point is that you, my readers, make an effort to check out what I do. Some of the best things you do are:

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Voting on my polls. If I need inspiration, one of my tactics is to make a poll. Having a question and seeing what the majority thinks can inspire me to write. Whether I agree with it or not, I like finding out what my peers either want to see, are seeing, or believe. Polls are also just great to see what's up in the world. An example is my holiday poll. Around Christmas time (for me) I put up a poll to see what holidays others were celebrating. It was really cool to see the diversity in culture and religion we had right here. So, thank you.

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Commenting. Getting feedback on how I'm doing and what I'm doing is really beneficial to me. I always like to know if I'm doing something wrong, just as much as it's nice to know if I'm doing something well. This makes me better for myself, and for you. Constructive criticism is always welcome because I want to be the best possible for you, my readers.

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Just reading my blog. Taking time out of your day to check out my blog makes me feel extraordinary. It doesn't matter if you give me two, five, or ten minutes. Just the thought of someone wanting to spend some of their precious time on me is superb. Whenever I check my stats and see that I've had a couple pageviews that day, I'm filled with a feeling of pride. Knowing that I'm even a small part of someone's day makes me feel valued.

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Once again, thank you. Thank you for voting. Thank you for commenting. Thank you for reading. Thank you for everything. I could never have done this without my amazing, incredible, magical, crazy, hilarious, and devoted readers.

Community

“We are neurologically hardwired to seek out people like ourselves. We start forming cliques as soon as we’re old enough to know what acceptance feels like. We bond together based on anything that we can - music preference, race, gender.” -iO Tillett Wright

Communities are formed by many different things. Neighbors, sports teams, musical preferences, interests, etc. Throughout life, we will each belong to many communities. These have many different people in each of them, and they shape who we were, who we are, and who we will become. The people we spend our time with can directly influence our decisions and personalities. I believe that communities are very important in people’s lives. They give you things that you can’t just give yourself.

Image courtesy of Ignitum Today

First, just the act of having people around you is beneficial. Humans are very social beings, we like to have companionship throughout life. Without companionship we may feel left out, excluded, and lonely. Loneliness actually has physical effects on our bodies. Remembering a time of loneliness can make people estimate that a room’s temperature is significantly colder than it actually is. It can make our actual skin temperature drop. It also makes our bodies feel under attack. Loneliness increases our blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Loneliness also “activates physical and psychological stress responses.”

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Second, having people who care about you around you is spectacular. We all have times that are scary, sad, stressful, and hard. Having people who will help you through it, or just give you a hug when you need one, is amazing. Knowing that you can rely on this community for a "good morning," or a "how are you" is incredible. Once again, having the companionship of these people is incredibly beneficial to your mental and physical states.

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Last, but not least, is that a group of people can give you things you can't just give yourself. The biggest of these is a feeling of acceptance. Yes, you can accept yourself for who you are, but we as people need others to feel truly accepted. Exclusion is not a very good feeling. Being pushed out or away from people makes you feel unwelcome and unwanted. Exclusion can lower self-esteem and even lead to depression. But when you have people around you who accept you for who you are, you don't have to feel that. You can know that you are loved, wanted, and needed.

Being in a community can be an amazing feeling. Whether it's for a couple days, weeks, years, or life. You should treasure when you find a group of people who you fit with. I know I do.

The TMJH Library's Breakfast Club

Invisibilia

Lately, I've realized that there are too many things we take for granted in this world. I don't blame us. Some things are just there, and they always have been, and they always will be. But some people don't realize is that if you just take a second to look at everything you have, it's pretty cool. In light of this recent discovery of mine, I'm going to tell you the things I believe are taken for granted, and why they shouldn't be.

Image courtesy of Discover Magazine

First, the sun. It's a big yellow ball in the sky that you see during the day and don't see during the night. Yet, this big ball of hydrogen that's up in our sky is so much more than that. The sun is an incredible thing that we cannot live without. Earth is at the exact distance where the sun gives us just enough heat and light without frying us. How cool is that? If there was no sun, there would be no us. It's as simple as that. It's a source of light, a source of heat, a source of energy, and a source of life.

Image courtesy of 22 Words

Next, trees. Trees are completely underrated in society. First, they are GREAT to climb! Climbing trees is a great childhood memory for almost everyone (except for children of course, they're already living the dream). Getting up to the highest branch of a tree is such a great feeling! You feel like you can see everything on Earth from up there. You can even just sit in the middle of the tree, surrounded by leaves and branches. You feel like you're in a secret place that only you, squirrels, and birds ever have the pleasure of being in. Another great thing about trees is that they provide us with oxygen. Yes, the oxygen that we need to breath and live. As we keep slashing down trees to build homes, and make space to build homes, we have huge affects. We take away oxygen, increase carbon dioxide levels, and take away the homes and habitats of animals everywhere. Trees are amazing things, don't take them for granted.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Also, the stars. I myself am a huge fan of the stars! I think they're incredible. Astronomy is such a cool science because it helps us look at something we're made of. It's amazing that the tiny specks of light we see at night are huge balls of burning gas hundreds of lightyears away from us. These stars are the remnants of what created the universe, they are formed out of the chemicals that were left after other things formed. There are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on the Earth. Needless so say, that's a lot. Stars are also incredible things to just look at. One night, go outside and lay down and just look at the stars. It's pretty cool. Here's an amazing video by one of my favorite scientists on stars.
We have a lot in life. We're lucky to live in the U.S. where we have opportunities and education and everything we need. But we should also take a step back once in a while and remember the basics, and how great they are.