Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Life always knows the right moments to show you what you needed.

Day Two – Something you would like to say to an old friend.

Hey D, old friend, chickadee, I miss you. Remember how we used to hang out every single day after school during our freshman year? And we would talk on weekends and nights during the week? We would sit next to each other during history class all the time, and at lunch we had MCR parties. I miss that, all of that. I miss talking to you, hanging out with you, listening to music with you. You were one of my best friends—you took the time to know me, you understood me, you were a part of me. You felt my pain, I felt your pain. You felt my joy, I felt your joy. You helped me get through so much and made me into the person I was during our sophomore year. You introduced me to one of the best bands of all time, and in turn their music helped me through the roughest point in my life (…so far). Now, we barely talk, and if we do, it’s when we’re in the junior lounge together with only one or two other people. Our conversations are only there to prevent awkward silences. Sometimes, it might even include a little bit of gossip. The things we talk about now aren’t meaningful like they used to be; instead, they’re just things that come naturally to us girls (gossip, boyfriends, classmates, etc.). We aren’t in any of the same classes and we don’ sit at the same lunch table. Although we were never close friends before our freshman year, I had always thought that we would stay friends throughout high school. Unfortunately, I guess I was wrong. I really wish we had stayed close friends. You were someone I could trust and confide in all the time. I miss having someone I was so close to. It’s not even like we had a blowout fight and never recovered from it or anything. We just stopped talking so much and slowly drifted apart. It saddens me that this is the reason for the loss of our friendship. At the same time though, I am happy that we have another year and a half together, and I hope that perhaps we will grow close again during this time. If not, that is okay too. If I could say one last thing to you, it would be this: thank you for being a part of my life. You are such a beautiful person and I am honored that I had the chance to get to know you as well as I did. I wish you the best of luck and happiness throughout your journey of life, and I hope our paths will cross again someday. xoxo.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Assure me it's ok to use my heart and not my eyes.

Day One – Something you like about yourself.

Honestly, there aren’t many things that I like about myself. I actually hate myself for the most part. I have absolutely no self-confidence, I don’t think I’m very attractive, I pretty much think of myself as a loser because I have a very small group of friends, etc. If I had to pick one thing I like about myself, though, it would probably be how I try to answer questions about myself as sincerely as I can. If someone asks me a question that involves personal reflection, I try to answer it as best as I can. I want my answer to mean something. I don’t just want it to be another one of those “I don’t feel like doing this so I’m going to bullshit the entire thing” situations. Even if I would rather be somewhere else at that moment, I try to answer the question. Not just for the person who asked it, but for myself as well. Here is an example of a question/response exercise we did in my English class while studying The Great Gatsby a couple of months ago. The response only had to be about 6-8 sentences. I clearly wrote more than that. I replaced the name of my school with the words “my school,” just so you all know.

Part One. In the opening of The Great Gatsby, Nick reflects on advice from his father, who tells him, “Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone…just remember that all of the people in this world haven’t had the advantages you’ve had.” Reflect on something or someone in your life that has been an advantage or a support in an important way, and describe how this helped you to become who are today. Then, consider some aspect of yourself that you imagine you could “give back” to someone else, to give them a support or an advantage in life. What about you would you like to give to others, and how might you give it?

Personally, I have a strong support system for many reasons. This support system is made up of adults whom I can trust and go to at absolutely any time if I have a problem. Though my support system is only made up of four adults (teachers at my school and counselors), it is four more adults than some people in the world have today. I have a lot of issues and things going on at home and these people help me get through those things so that I can reach my full potential, especially in school. This has been such an advantage for me because if I did not have the money to go to my school or to pay to see a counselor, I would probably be in a much worse state than I am right now. These people have helped me get through so much and I don’t know what I would have done without them.

I feel that this journaling exercise is perfect for me, because I have been thinking about this topic for a couple of years now. I have thought about it long and hard, and I think that I just want to be a teacher when I get older. To be perfectly honest, the teachers from my school that have helped me so much have given me more chances and opportunities to reach my full potential than many other teachers would have the patience for. These teachers want me to do well, and they have showed me that they care about me and how well I do in their classes. At my old elementary school, I never had teachers like this. The teachers did not care about their students and they even made fun of them at times. When I came to my school, I saw a huge difference. I want to be a teacher because I want to help students the way that teachers at my school have helped me. I want to pay it forward and help other students succeed. Sometimes people assume that because I go to a private school, I can’t possibly have any problems or be struggling with anything. I want to show students that it is okay to be struggling, and there is always someone who will be there for them when they want or need help.

Just Say It.

I have been really bad with blogging lately, considering my last blog was posted in December. To fix this, I want to do a challenge to make sure I post something every day. Thing is, I’m really bad with long-term things and I have spring break in March so a 30 day challenge probably isn’t the best idea right now. Maybe in April I will do a 30 day. Early in June I want to start a 365 so that I can record each and every day of my senior year, with the last day being the day I graduate high school. Anyhow, here is my seven day challenge for this week. (:

One Week Challenge – Just Say It.

Day One – Say something you like about yourself.

Day Two – Something you would like to say to an old friend.

Day Three – Something you would like to say to the person that has hurt you the most.

Day Four – Say how you feel right now and why you feel that way.

Day Five – Something you would like to say to one of your ex’s.

Day Six – Something you would like to say about the thing you can’t live without.

Day Seven – Something you would like to say to the person who has gotten you through the most.