Nature is a Beautiful Thing

Day #7

I went to the park today. I love nature, but sometimes it’s hard to see and appreciate with all the concrete you see here. It’s something that I missed while I was in Italy. The cities just seemed to be so lifeless. They were devoid of grass and bushes and trees. Sure, the buildings were beautiful and it was nice to see such a different kind of architectural beauty, but I missed the beauty of nature. It’s not something that can be replicated but it’s something that many people tend to overlook. And it’s so sad to be missing all the beauty out there

Children <3

So of course, again, I’ve been forgetting to actually write down what I had thought of each day. There’s just been too much happening and I don’t always have time to even take a break let alone write something down. But I’ll still do this as best as I can.

Day #6

That was Sunday. Sunday was hectic, but I had to be thankful for children. They may be tough to take care of and sometimes maybe you just want to tear out your hair because they just ride on your last nerve all the way to China, but they’re sweet and cute and funny and they’re our future generations that will lead our world in the future. They are the pride and joy of the present and we have to raise them to the best of our ability because they will take us further than we can ever take ourselves. And so, I am thankful for the children :)

My Beautiful Sister :)

Day #5

I have a sister. A beautiful sister. She is just so wonderful and I love her so much. She is just amazing as any person can be and I love it when she comes to visit me. We talk a lot, about everything under the sun and I am just so thankful that she is a person in my life. I have only ever lived with her for a total of maybe five years and while maybe we didn’t always get along when we were younger, she always listened to me and as we both got older we found that we enjoyed each others company more and more. I love my sister so much and I love the times when I get to spend time with her and just hang out because she is one of my best friends. I feel so lucky that I have a sister like her because I she is a person that I get along with and that I know that I can talk to about anything and everything no matter what. And that is something that is absolutely amazing to have. That’s more than I can ask for and yet, it was given to me in my sister. We spent time together today and we got the chance to talk again like we haven’t been able to in a while. I always miss her terrible and I love that time that we get to spend together. She is the listener. The advice giver. The driver. The one who made it through everything and did everything on her own. I look up to her and I have learned a lot from her. She is my role model, and even though she’s made a lot of mistakes, who hasn’t? The point is that she’s worked through them and does the best she can with what she’s given and what she’s done in the past. And that, is something to look up to.

My Grandpa <3

Day #4

I have a grandpa. A very wonderful one at that. I am so thankful that he is alive. A main theme of this year I guess is to recognize what I have that others don’t. Some people don’t have a grandpa, and I have two. There is one that I see all the time and even though his retina is detaching and he may be blind for the rest of his life, he is ALIVE. And no amount of blindness can change that one bit. He is my grandpa, and he lives. He tells me stories, he conversates with me, he gives me good food and lets me do whatever I want. If I ever ask him for anything he just tells me: mi casa es su casa, take whatever you want. And I smile cuz I love his accent when he talks. I love my grandpa so much and even if he goes blind, I’m just happy that he’s still alive :)

A Healthy Body

Okay so obviously it’s easily noted that I missed a couple days and I am making up for them here and unfortunately I already fail at doing this daily thing. I am doing my best but I have so many things to do since I came back that I just fall asleep in the middle of my work without actually writing anything, but I will get better!

Day #3

Anyway, yesterday, I was thankful for the fact that I have a healthy body. Yes, I do have my own array of health problems, but they are all relatively minor and I can still run, I can still be active, and I can still live the type of life I’d want to live. There are so many people who have health problems and have to worry about dying so young and about what they do with their life because they have to be careful with everything that they do. And yet, I still have a healthy body and that is something that many people take for granted. They don’t realize how lucky they are to even be healthy enough to move around let alone go to school and play sports. And that means a lot.

A Loving Family

Day #2

I have reason to be thankful. I have a loving family and even though they just make me so mad sometimes, I love them all and I know that they still love me. Today I just got so frustrated with them, as all teenagers and everyone else for that matter does.  It just happens, it’s a part of life and it’s going to happen to everyone no matter who you are. I am so thankful to have my family; there are so  many out there not nearly as fortunate as I. Not only do I actually have a family, as opposed to the many out there that don’t, but I get to see them and I talk to them and they’re people that I can actually be in a room with for more than five minutes without wanting to shoot someone or even myself. They’re people that I love and people I get along with. I hear so many stories from my friends of their families that just don’t connect at all and don’t talk and don’t even interact with one another and I am just so thankful that my family isn’t like that. They’re people who want to be around me and actually care enough to want to spend time with me, and that is something to be thankful for.

A Year of Thankfulness

I never had a new years resolution. So now, two months and eight days late, I have created a new  years resolution for myself. I have decided that in order to create a happier and healthier life for myself I want to find something every singe day to be thankful for. Maybe it won’t always be something different, but just to find something to always be thankful for no matter how dismal and depressing the day.  It is my goal to every day write something here, even just a little something to help myself see that there is always something to be thankful for in this world. And since I am starting after the year already did, I am planning on 365 days of Thankfulness; a Year of Thankfulness… my year of thankfulness.

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Day #1

Today wasn’t a particularly difficult day, but already I am thinking that I don’t know what to be thankful for today. But thinking about it, I want to dedicate the day to being thankful just that I am alive.  I spent two weeks in another country and have spent over 25 hours in one plane or another in the past two weeks.  And I have come home without a scratch (well, I guess I can’t say that, I have a couple scrapes and bruises, but nothing more than what I would have gotten just being at home).  After all the things that you hear happening to travelling people (and of course, mostly teenage girls traveling with school or friends), nothing terrible has happened and despite some particularly creepy people we have seen while over there, I have come home to my family and friends.

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I must say, that was not particularly, hard, but now the real challenge is to be able to take the time to do this every day. I just hope that I will be able to live up to my own challenge.  This is something that I know will help me :D so BRING IT ON! (weird how I’m kind of talking to myself…)

To Stay Away

To be asked to stay away from you? To pull away and ignore you? I don't know if I can do that. The forced proximity we will have that used to be desired will most definitely be a factor. That and perhaps I don't want to pull away. Such is life I suppose. I feel sick and twisted and confused, but then again I'm a teenage girl. What else is to be expected of me?
Still though I am determined. I have to have hope. Without it I'll be lost. I pull this hope from inside of myself now, instead of from you. My source of light and joy in my life. I have to find another place, and now I look in the place that I have been so afraid to look in for so long- inside of myself.
It's a dark and scary place, adn yet, I have to search here. Elsewhere I feel only desolation, so now where else is there to look? And now I know I'm stronger than I was before. I am challenged to look inside of myself and I realize just how amazing it is. I look at myself in the mirror and see a pretty girl growing into a beautiful young lady. I am strong. I am intelligent. I am beautfiul.

I never would have seen it if it weren't for you. Thank you.

Thankful

One Minute Writer: who do you thank for something as amazing as the gift i've been given?The gift of being different. and the gift of knowing i'm different.the human mind craves to fit in while i know i do not. I'm thankful for the people i know now. the people i used to know. thankful that i know and love God and am grateful for him in my life. thankful for my sister. my mother-*end of minute*

Sadly enough I know that this simple cartoon, no matter how funny it may be, isn't much of an exaggeration. Over the weekend I had been a Legal at our own Tustin High Schools 16th annual Model United Nations Conference. I had to do the paperwork, grade caucus, watch the timer, the speakers list, take roll etc etc. Surprisingly... I had a lot of fun...
Why does the human society, on any scale at all, believe that to raise one's self up you have to push others down and use them as stepping stones. I used to believe (yes I know i'm about to paint quite the morbid image and i'm terribly sorry for that) that to get ahead in life you had to push other people down in the ground and use them as stepping stones. As if you were trapped in a well with a lot of other struggling people and that to reach the top I had to 'dispose' of these others and build myself a staircase. Ants sacrifice themselves in such a way to help their society. To cross a body of water ants will sometimes drown themselves creating a bridge for the rest to walk across. Thanks to experience, and some amazing people that have influenced my views on life, I know now that it is possible to climb high without having to dispose of others. To climb high without stepping on others. Take the well image for example. One can simply take resources and create a ladder, a rope and pull themselves high. You don't always have to put others down, be thankful and gracious for what you have. Sometimes people feel lost and without a cause, and so to try and find their way they push around people who have. Then those people become lost too.
I'm glad I now know this lesson, or I could never be comfortable with who I am. Perhaps I still don't know who I truly am, (i'm only just turned fifteen mind you!) but I do know this. I know I will be comfortable with who I was, and who I am to become.