Learning to Love Our Failures

In life we must be willing to fail and be embarrassed because failing can sometimes lead us to success. We all hate failing and being embarrassed because no one likes being made fun of or feeling less than others. I personally have never liked failing or being embarrassed because it always made me feel less than other people and in a way not as good as other people. Even doing the smallest thing I sometimes felt like people would be judging me which would lead me to feel embarrassed and made fun of. It has taken me a very long time from caring about what others say and think about me, to not really caring about what others have to say about my failures in life. I have come to realize that no matter who you are we all will fail at some point in our lives and will learn to overcome it. Anyone who is successful has failed to get to where they are today, and from failing and being judged by others they still have managed to follow their dreams. So why should we have to feel embarrassed by our failures when everyone else is failing at some point too and are going to feel the same way as you? Instead, why don’t we embrace our failures because our failures are what make us who we are. In the end we don’t lose anything from failing, but instead we gain knowledge and learn from our failures so why not embrace them? We just need to have hope and courage to continue after these failures in our lives.


-Keara Clark

Take a Risk and One Day You Will Succeed

When you have the courage to take a risk you are more likely to succeed at something you love. If you love what you do, you work ten times harder to get better and go higher in the profession or sport you love. You wake up excited to do what you love to do. If you hate going to work or hate something that you are forced to do, you slack off and do a poor job. For me, I love doing sports, especially hockey. I love to wake up every morning excited to go to the rink and I always try to get better in order to achieve the next level. If I hated the sport and was forced into something I didn't love I simply wouldn’t try and therefore wouldn’t succeed. Elite athletes all over the world have the courage to leave home at a young age to try to become successful in their chosen sport. For me, I haven't left home yet, but next year I hope to go out of province to pursue hockey and hopefully one day play in Division 1. Some people are scared of a challenge, but that's when I thrive. I need a challenge to make me love it, if it was easy everyone would be successful and hard work wouldn’t pay off. It is proven that hard work pays off and some people are scared of putting in the effort.

My pursuit of hockey has required me to do off season training. This summer my dead lift max was 275 pounds and my goal was to work extremely hard to dead lift 415 pounds by the end of the summer.  Dedicated to working hard, I achieved that goal. I always had the courage and never gave up. Some people are scared of working that hard because it is too tough for them. I love the process of pursuing a goal. I love the feeling that I accomplished something that very few kids my age do. Other people might not set their goals the same way I do, but I know when you have courage and dedication you can thrive at whatever you choose.  While some may be scared of taking on this type of weight lifting challenge because they might be sore the next day or that they don't want to wake up at 5am four to five times a week to go to the gym, I know that hard work pays off. If you don’t have the courage you won't thrive in a sport that many people love. It is proven that the people who work the hardest are more likely to achieve their goals.

-Tyler Davidson

Follow Your Dreams

When it comes to school work I have always been a huge procrastinator because it was so difficult for me and took so much time. I would always rather be listening to music, dancing or hanging out with my family. Growing up with my brothers and sisters I always felt a little bit of pressure. When my siblings went to school, they got straight A’s and took all dash one classes. For me it was different, school was very hard and I would be lucky if I achieved a 70% on a test. This has always made me doubt myself and believe I could not do it. Now that I am coming to the end of my high school years, I worry that I won’t be able to do the things I want in the future. The career I would like to attain is either an LPN nurse or an ultrasound tech, with those I will need higher marks to be accepted into the programs. There is an option for me to complete upgrading at the Lethbridge College in hopes that I will achieve the mark I need and be accepted into the program I choose. So, it is time for me to stop procrastinating, to take charge and be responsible enough to not shy away from things just because they are difficult. Instead, I need to rise to the occasion and put my best effort in. I have found a couple of quotes that I will try to always remember to live by. The first is by Steve Jobs who said, “Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith” The other quote is from Albert Einstein he says, “If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal. Not to people or things”. This last quote rings true with the new world of social media and the way things have changed over the years.

-By Tavia Goebelhardt

Importance of Becoming a Better Person

We all want to become a better person. It’s hard going through day by day just trying and nothing is working. I need to become a better person for myself and others. Becoming a better person is great for others, myself, and the environment around me. I have an online friend named Robert who have been good friends for years. Robert had bought Black Ops 4 on his account and that was exciting. I had recently also met another friend named Jacob online and he didn’t pre-order Black Ops 4 because he was very poor, so I felt bad for him. I feel horrible to say it, but at the time I said that he could have my Robert's account, so I gave him the information. Jacob was so happy that he could get the game for free, and I was happy for him yet a part of me was feeling so horrible. A week went by and my mom came home from work and I was crying about talking my best friend's account. My mom had told me “give the account back” and I have never said "okay" as fast as in my entire life. I felt so ashamed for taking his account and I felt even worse when I confirmed with my mom that I did the wrong thing. I realize now that I need to become a better person; I don’t want to be that scum who takes friend's accounts. Hope and courage is important to remember when I feel like something is wrong and I shouldn’t do it. I know now to respect others and to not take items, I feel like I still have so much to learn in order to become a much better person still. I will work on it!

-Taylon Geisel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dCQv3Oa2xY

The Importance, and Challenges of Passion

Passion is an incredibly important trait to have. When one is passionate about what they do, they do it better, and truly enjoy themselves. This is a thing that many struggle to achieve, primarily because passion doesn’t always pay enough. Artists of all kinds seem to have the most issue with this, as it is difficult to get anywhere near a consistent income. Painters, even when famous, don’t make nearly enough while alive to sustain themselves. It takes an enormous amount of courage to follow your passion in these cases, as failure is more likely than not. One must also have hope, hope that they truly can succeed. Without hope, there would be no point to following your passion. There is an article attached that explains the flaws in working for pure passion, and offers solutions using what they call The Hollywood Principle. The Hollywood Principle as they describe it is “no matter how passionate you are about something, nobody cares about it simply because you do” click here to read further.

With the article in mind, one of the glaring hole in the solutions provided, is art. Art definitely follows The Hollywood Principle, and this idea is more punishing for the artist than others. This is what my biggest challenge is for following my passion. I am a storyteller. For years and years I have been coming up with hundreds of thousands of stories for movies, games, TV shows, books, and nearly every other form of entertainment you could think of. I have every single one of them rattling around in my head somewhere, waiting to be put out somewhere. I think of each of these stories as my children, and I truly want to see them flourish. This is my passion, but storytelling won’t pay the bills. Unless I truly get lucky, and manage to tell my stories on my own, I will never get to a point where I can truly make a living off of what I love. I am afraid of The Hollywood Principle, because I don’t know if I can make people care. I think this is what scares any artist who wants to do what they love, whether it be a musician, a painter, or even a writer. We’re so scared that we are willing to put our passion aside to survive, going into careers where we don’t feel fulfilled. I want to follow my passion, and do what I love, but I don’t know if it’s feasible, and I don’t want to regret following my passion.

-Chris Andrews

Soccer has been in my life since I was really little. My brothers played it constantly and I just knew it was going to be my sport. My mom put me in soccer when I was four years old and I played for the Timbits team which was super easy because we just ran and kicked a ball for thirty minutes. When I was seven I was finally able to try out for a competitive team. It took a lot of courage for little seven year old me to show the coaches that I was good. I remember that day it was the most nerve racking, stressful days I have had. My hands were sweaty, my heart was pumping so fast that I could hear it beating. My brother gave me hope and said that if I did not make the team there were always other teams that would want me. I finally got out on the field and saw all these girls who were just staring at me. I almost lost hope and wanted to walk off that field. My brother was just sitting there watching me and I felt like I needed to prove to him that I could do it. It takes a lot of courage to step up and confront something, but with the help and support of someone it makes the situation a lot easier. If it wasn’t for my brother supporting me and pushing me out of my comfort zone I would not be playing soccer today. My brother never lost hope in me, even if I did, he was always there.

I am still so passionate about soccer that nothing else matters. The soccer center is like my second home because I am there everyday whether it is watching a game, playing a game, or even just practicing. I can always count on soccer to give me hope when I am going through a rough time. It calms me and makes me feel happy; I feel relieved from all my stress when I’m there. Everyone has different things that give them hope and courage and mine is soccer. Before every game when I am feeling nervous or anxious I look to social media. Instagram is where I can let my nerves calm down and I can feel less anxious. There are so many videos of my favorite soccer team which is the USWNT it motivates me to play well and gives me hope that we will win our game. I feel hopeful when my favorite player Tobin Heath posts on her Instagram or Twitter because she motivates me to be the best I can be. She shows her strengths and strategies on how she became such an amazing player. I look up to Tobin Heath, as she gives me courage and strength even if I am just looking or listening to her through a screen I am glad we have social media. Without social media it would be hard for me to be motivated when I have a game because if I have no one around me like my brother who lives in Calgary who do I look up to? With social media I can easily YouTube your favorite player and watch their games or listen to an interview over and over again.

-Chanda Heavy Runner

It is very important for people to be able to accept their “flaws and imperfections”. Everybody is beautiful in their own way. There are a bunch of us in this world who pick out all of the small things about ourselves that we feel self-conscious about. This brings down our self esteem and we start to feel less of ourselves, like we are worthless. That can lead to not feeling good enough for anyone and then we start to seclude ourselves from everyone around us. I don't think anyone should pick at themselves like that because it’s just fine to not be “perfect” like a model or barbie doll. All these little things that we dislike about ourselves shouldn’t matter because in other people’s eyes I doubt they see us the way we see ourselves. We shouldn’t hide who we are, instead we should embrace it. As a society we should not let these imperfections change us; we need to learn how to love ourselves more. We were put in this world for a reason and we aren't here forever, so why do we let the little things we think about ourselves get us down. A diamond with a flaw is worth more than a pebble without imperfections. Sometimes we strive so hard for perfection that we forget that imperfection is happiness. Even imperfection itself may have its ideal or perfect state. We are our own kind of perfect.

-Jessie Hirsch

I have hope that in the future we can live in peace without the fear of terrorism and war. Every year it seems like more and more terrorist attacks happen. In today’s society, we live in fear that if we go to a public event like a charity fundraiser or a concert we could be injured or killed in a terrorist attack. This is a problem that occurs  throughout many countries around the world. Many attacks like the 911 attack on the Twin Towers and the Boston Bombing have caused significant disarray on our society. The main reason for this is due to the war that is currently happening between the U.N and multiple groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Qaeda. I have a fear that future generations will have to live in fear every day, and eventually it will not be safe to be outside due to ongoing war that may occur in our own country. Today, we have borders, police, military, and multiple other securities that try to protect us as best as possible from letting terrorists into our country. We are all dealing with this problem together, and we can not push it aside and let someone take care of it for us. We are not losing the war by any means, but we certainly are nowhere near winning it as the war has been going on for a long time and is still happening today. I hope that in the near future, we can all realize that we are responsible and only we can take action. If we can end the war and have both sides equal so their is no more argument between the U.N and the terrorist organizations, hopefully we will one day be able to live without the fear that an attack may happen to us or the people we know.

-Logan Huss

Moving On

How can one person be willing to fail or be embarrassed? Who wants to fail? Nobody wants to fail or be embarrassed, but sometimes it can help yourself and other people. For myself, when I see other people try new things and sometimes fail, I tell myself “Why not try?” Being able to fail is a part of human nature, it is a part of who we are. Knowing there are other people who can fail and be embarrassed can tell you, you are not alone. If you fail, there are millions of people who are the same.

I sometimes struggle with the willingness to failing and being embarrassed. It hurts to fail but in the long run we can learn and grow from it. I’ve failed at many things and I have come to realize its okay. Back then, in the moment, I was ashamed; I was sad and angry at myself because I said "why me?" "Why does this happen to me?" I know now that I am not alone and that being willing to try and fail can go a long way in life and maybe other people’s lives. The most successful people in the world have gone through failure and embarrassment. The people we look up to have gone through that. Failing does not define who we are, it’s about having the courage and hope to push through it and strive to be better in life. Personally, I have tried new things like a new sport or putting myself out there for people to see and I have come to terms with being willing to be embarrassed and fail. It helps me grow as a person and helps me learn new things about myself. We can only succeed through failure. It’s about moving on from what we did, to what we will do in the future.

-Andrew Kashman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9zjMTtf4o0

The link is to the video "Why I Teach My Children To Fail" by Jim Harshaw.

Colourful Passion

Something I am passionate about is art. I love looking at art, I love buying art, but mostly I love making art. For me, art is a get away from the outside world. I’ll plug my headphones in, listen to some music, and let the world fade away, while I wind up creating a new piece. Art is a way I can express myself, a way in which I can push forward when I have a bad day. Just recently one of my pieces got put into a gallery, in a viewing where everyone can see it. To me, I am glad that I was finally able to express myself, and put my hard work out there. Sometimes the difficulties I face are my imperfections and self-criticism that my art isn’t perfect. I think many artists face the same challenge. I usually just push past my negative criticism and accept that art is art. No matter the shape, size, medium, neat or messy it’s beautiful in its own way.

-Emily Kerber

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/hope-and-courage

The above link will take you to some very inspirational pieces of writing...

I would say in general I’m a pretty open person. When I have a problem I usually address it, but the one thing that I do hide is that I’m really scared of failing. I can hide that pretty well because I am an extrovert and I’m a pretty outgoing, and happy person. However, the fear that I have of not being good enough has put me in bad spots. For example, in school I have always had the mindset that I’m not good or smart enough to get good marks, so I shouldn’t try. I have gotten past that mindset somewhat, but not completely. I still get stressed by big assignments and tests. My first reaction is to not do it and leave it to the last second; I can be overwhelmed pretty easily so I do even worse in school. I have been through really good and productive days to days were I don’t do a lot. I hope that I will be able to be on the ball all the time and actually complete things on time. I just need to tell myself that I am capable of doing things and don’t need to overthink them. I need to have the courage to tackle a situation and not run away from and wait for someone to come deal with it for me.      

-Abigail Llewelyn-Jones

Open Door

The thing that gets me thinking the most is about my future because the future is a scary place for me. I always think of the negative things first rather than thinking of the positive things first. I don’t know where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing in the future because I still don’t know what I want to do when I finish school. The reason I don’t know what to do is just because I still need to find out who I really am and what I enjoy doing in my everyday life. I don’t know if that’s normal thing, not knowing what you want to do at this point of age because most everyone I know has a goal of what they want to do and I just feel like I’m still here stuck in a box with a bunch of things in my head and most of it is the future and what’s going to happen to me. Fear was always something that held me back in my life, now that I have to start thinking about my future I see that this is something way different than having fear about having a test or something like that. It’s like I'm going to have a really good life because I got my dream job or I didn’t get it and now I must work even harder to achieve my dream job and help the family out. To me I’m just taking everyday as a reason to learn new things, making me grow as person because it could help me with the fear of the future and help point to the positive things to come in the future.

-Corson Red Crow

Ever since I was a child it didn't seem that important to have a dream; I didn't have a passion that early on. I was young and all I needed to worry about was recess, friends and being happy. Now that I'm seventeen years old, having a plan seem to be in my best interest. From a very young age I noticed that I enjoy helping people and my passion for selflessness showed through, it gave me ideas about maybe going into the faculty of science to work in the health division. Taking care of myself is what I’ve always been aware of in my childhood and my everyday life. I was always a reckless child, falling and getting hurt was a habit of mine, so I learned to treat my wounds, so maybe it's time for me to treat other people's wounds for a while. Another passion of mine was sports, being an athlete while caring for my body was most important to me. A career I thought of was to be a physiotherapist or nurse. Those are my top careers but I've also looked into being a nutritionist also along with paramedic. My passions were what helped me to make a plan for my future.

-Taylee Rider

Perfect Imperfection

Accepting your own flaws and imperfections is the first step to truly loving who you are, inside and out. More often than not we will find small things about ourselves that we are self-conscious or ashamed of, but there is nothing wrong with feeling imperfect. Feeling imperfect is perfectly okay. Even though the little things that we dislike about ourselves might seem so large or noticeable to us, other people may not even take a second glance. We shouldn't cover up our imperfections because other people don’t like them, or because we feel “gross” or “repulsive”, there is somebody out there who will love every single one of those little things, so we can't try to change who we are for other people because chances are they wouldn’t do the same for us. If we are truly happy and beautiful in the body God gave us, nobody can get in our way and tell us otherwise. Inside all of us there is enough courage to be ourselves and to be happy with ourselves, we just must figure out how to show our true colors and not be ashamed of who we are. Love yourself, and every perfect little flaw you have, because you are the only you you have.

-Kristie Riley

La Vie En Rose

Vulnerability, the thing that causes us to stop, or give up. Everyone is vulnerable, whether these vulnerabilities are about our looks or our smarts. Some of these vulnerabilities stem from our family, or our friends. Some people can’t say no, they force themselves to say yes, no matter what comes their way, if they've been told that no one likes them or ever will, so they say yes, to make others happy, to make themselves happy. People compare themselves to those popular girls with the short shorts, or the football boys with the muscles; however, true happiness, true beauty comes when people stop comparing themselves with others. You are beautiful, and if you can't see that about yourself, get a better mirror, look a little longer, stare a little harder. No matter what you get told in the halls or at home, you are beautiful.

When I was in fourth grade I made friend with a girl who had a birthmark that took up more than half of her face. On the first day of grade 5, someone taped a note to her desk that said “beware of dog”. We would get bombarded by an arsenal of names that got updated every year. We were running the halls that were battlegrounds to a war we couldn’t win. We would stay inside for recess because outside, outside was worse. In grade 8 she got raped and had a child, and got kicked out of school for something she couldn’t stop. The names grew harder and harder, her beauty was fading, but to this day she is still beautiful. To others the definition of beauty comes from looks, but for her the definition of beauty starts with the word “mom”.

Everyone no matter what has happened in your life, no matter what you see or get told, you are beautiful, even with shame, and fear, you are beautiful. My Grandmother used to tell me “ Non puoi scoprire nuovi oceani se non hai il coraggio di perdere di vista la riva.” Is an old Italian saying which means: you cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. I truly don’t know what it means, I never have, but the words have stuck with me through all of my life, they have been burned into my brain like a kids song, or the national anthem, I will never forget it, for as long as I live. What I understood from the saying is you can't see the future until you forget the past, and I connect with that deeply. I know there are people who can move on, and that is my view on life, because it gives me hope that there might be more in life. Later on or even now, my grandmother gives me courage and hope. When I was younger in my time of need she would sing to me, and help me, save me, I do this for others now. For my friends or families or strangers in times of need, I always try to help and be there, try and give them HOPE.

-Brandon Stella

The song my Grandma sang to me- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUl6gf-6ol8

Courage and Hope video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otFug78Sc5Y

The Monsters of Being on the Field

The biggest monster  that I have is every Friday night, as I strap on my helmet. Every time I put on my helmet one thought races through my mind: will this be my last game, or my last play? That thought goes through my head because every time I step on the field anything can happen to me that will never let me step foot on the field again. I could get an injury that will change my life forever, or maybe I won't have the grades that will let me go on to post secondary. Thankfully, as I take that second step and I’m in between the lines that thought gets chased away. I start thinking of what I need to do to help my team win and how I need to play the best so I am able to go on and keep playing the game that I love. Football is my passion, It’s the only thing I love to do. It lets me meet new people, I get to work out and stay in perfect shape. I understand the game of football, it’s almost the one thing in life that I get and am good at. I can learn a new playbook in two days. I can learn every position on the field in 4-5 days, and almost know what they do on most plays. Coach Vercillo once said, “ football is just like life just put into a game”. I hope that football can take me to new places and help pay for school. Football has helped me in so many different ways that people don’t understand. Football is the reason why I go to school everyday, it’s the reason why I don’t skip class, and it has helped me to stay out of trouble. It takes courage to play football; we have to get hit for three hours everyday during practice, then on Friday we have to do what we learned all week and on Friday night when the lights are on us we have to line up against the other team and risk our bodies for our brothers who are doing the same for us.

-Cody Harper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVZ9zSRf39U

NFL Countdown "Fear"

I believe that every choice and decision, action and outcome affects the universe and our reality in a small, but profound way. Everything we do impacts our lives or the life of someone else. The future can never be certain because its ever changing and evolving. Time is never a constant and our perception of reality is dictated by how we shape it with our actions.

This can be scary for me sometimes, knowing that my future is dictated by my actions. Not only the future of myself, but the relationships around me. I’m a planner, everything I do has been thought out carefully in detail, yet it doesn’t always work out. However, I look at the opposite side and see the good possibility of the positive light I could spread, knowing that if I did a good deed for someone it could affect their life in a positive way. That is enough to work and benefit rather than suffer the consequences even if we have to sometimes.

-Declan Treleavan

The Never Ending Tunnel

Today I have chosen to write on how I had to find a little bit of courage and hope throughout my life. In the start I remember when my parents, older brother, younger sister, and I used to live in the trailer park. (My other little brother was born in a house after the trailer park.) My older brother was my leader. I would basically follow him and hang with the people he would be with. I didn’t learn to communicate properly yet because my speech and language was delayed due to my severe-to-profound hearing loss, which I was born with. When my brother did all the talking, I felt comfortable to just hang out in the conversation and not add much. School became increasingly hard to make good connections with other school mates. I was young and not confident interacting with others one-on-one.

                Eventually, I did have my own friend in junior high. Nic was my friend in middle school for at least the whole grade nine year. He and I connected through playing the Halo series and making non-stop jokes at school and out of school. I had the mindset that everything was a joke and that nothing really mattered to me. I had hoped for a good friend in my life that I could do things with; however, by part way through grade ten, we weren’t hanging out as much anymore. I began to take the relationship I had for granted

                I started to connect with another guy that I’d always gone to school with who was in my classes, rode the same bus as me, and played the same video games I did. At first things seemed to be just fine, and I ended up having three really good friends. I was glad I had taken the risk to chat about video games while riding the bus, and I felt hopeful that I would have some friends to finish out my school years with. After a while I started smoking pot occasionally with my friends. It was so easy for me to get, and I didn’t think it was a problem.  I ended up being betrayed about one and a half years later by my friends when they decided to invade my back yard and steal some personal things from me. When I realized that I was doing things that I had told myself that I would never do, as well as not getting things done that I had hoped to accomplish by my age, I knew I had betrayed myself. I didn’t know what to do next.

                After this occurred I had to take a pause, and get some serious help. My mother helped me a lot and brought me up a bit, to at least build a rebound in my life. The first thing I knew I wanted to do was get a job. It took courage to face my fear of interacting with others and knowing what to say, especially in the interview! I received encouragement and guidance, and I got a job at Staples as a cashier. I learned quickly how hard it was to work and stay focused, being expected to provide proper customer satisfaction and to keep composed and clean all throughout a shift. This experience had a good impact on me. I hoped to be kept on, but the position ended, so I hope to get a new job soon, I feel more confident that I will know more this time around.

                I choose to go solo in my last year of school to be focused and work diligently. I see places such as Sweden or Ireland, and I think it would be a good place to live and have a fresh new start. I choose to stay positive, continue to move forward with courage, and to face any mistakes. I will not let my mistakes define me. I choose to not live in the past, and to face the hardships that may come, so I can become who I am purposed to be.

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.” ~ Corrie Ten Boom

“No amount of security is worth the suffering of a mediocre life chained to a routine that has killed your dreams.” ~ Maya Mendoza

-Glen Clark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXKzECf8oI4

Change

In today's society there is so much expectations on the younger generation. All my life I've heard nothing but complaining about the next generation. We don’t go outside enough, we don’t socialize the right way, we dress the wrong way, the list just goes on. I could never understand the complaining because if you look back on each generation everyone changes it for the better. I have so much hope for my generation; I think we can do so much to make this world a better place, and i'm going to prove everyone who ever doubted us wrong. Every generation has the courage to go out there and do different and amazing things, so why can't we have the support of other generations who made this world what it is? Because all I see is the next generation trying to build up the courage to put their ideas and creations out there. We just need the support instead of the negativity. I plan on finding the courage to help people who don't have the courage to help themselves. After high school I'm going into social work, I plan on making a change in the world through that. I'm going to give people hope to have a better life and to get out of the terrible situations that they are in. And those people are going to to give me the courage to go out there and help more people. It's not just me, I have friends who are graduating with me that want to make a better change in the world. We have the power to make great change in this world and I know we will.

-Mikayla Wilcox

What If...What If...What if I Am Smart?

``You can’t do it’’``This is so simple’’ ``You are useless’’ ``You are worthless’’``What are you gonna do after high school?’’ ``The way your going is gonna take you nowhere’’ ``You suck’’ ``Be quiet, you are talking too much’’``Quit your dreams’’ ``You are terrible’’

This is it, I’ve had enough. Why the f**k is music not going to take me anywhere? Why is it that my siblings have a future according to my parents, but I don’t?. Why is it that in today’s unfair society if you do not have post secondary education your only destination is either the streets or jail? Why is it that intelligence is measured only in what you show to people, but what if intelligent people keep their intelligence to them selves?

What if I am intelligent, but there is something in me preventing my intelligence from escaping. I am scared of having the potential which could be able to save or change a person's life... ``Sir we have found a treatment for you’’ but what if there is something pushing me back from doing it?``Would you like some fries with your order.’’

What if am actually SMART?

-Nicolas Hurtado

Deadline for Dreams

So all my life I have been procrastinating about everything, and leaving everything until the last minute (particularly if it's not fun). I've even been procrastinating about my future, putting everything on hold saying: "I’ll do it tomorrow or the day after that". I think it's because secretly I don't think it will work, but if I never give it a shot I will never know if it’ll fly. From now on I’ll try and find the courage and hope to see this through and give everything a shot. I need the courage to stick to it, and just hope that I will. Now, doing this will leave me vulnerable because not everyone will agree with it, but I guess that kind of like bravery because I will finally be letting my dream out of the box I usually keep it in. Steve jobs said that once you find out what your passionate about you can do anything because you're doing what you want, but this could all end if I just leave it until tomorrow or the next day. My procrastination could keep going if I don't take the wheel from the monkey and I'm hopeful that I'm going to do so and have the courage to keep on with it because there is never a deadline for dreams.

- K.F

Inside the mind of a master procrastinator Tim Urban https://youtu.be/arj7oStGLkU

I always felt so out of the loop, like I didn’t fit in. I saw everyone else as  beautiful, but me. I’ve always been so insecure about how I look; I have always been trying to fit in and be the same as everyone else when in reality I feel like no matter how much I try I will never get there. I’ve always felt insecure about the way I look ever since I was little, and I always cared about what others thought about me because I’ve never felt pretty. It was really hard always feeling that way about myself, while getting bullied. How could I really feel pretty when everyone was bringing me down and calling me ugly or gross? I felt so bad about myself and no matter how much I tried to put on a happy face people would still stomp all over me. Everyone always says don’t let it bother you, but that doesn’t help. It’s been hard for years to boost my confidence and be happy and ignore all those terrible people, but I am very sensitive and I would cry all the time because people don’t realize that others have feelings.

I have learned over the last little while to love myself just the way I am and not think too much about what others think of me because I believe I am a good person and have a good heart. I have learned that when others judged me they are doing that to make them selves feel better and it was not something I did, or the way I look.

-Mac

The "Perfect" Body

Today in the world, social media has changed the way of beauty. When all we see on T.V, magazines and movies are girls with the perfect body, we start to look at our bodies and find every little thing that is wrong, and then we are always wanting to change, so we can be "perfect" just like everyone else we see. We see so many girls showing off the bodies that we have always wished for, but we think to ourselves: Is it really natural, or from surgery?Today in society it is extremely hard to love ourselves and accept our flaws. People are so quick to judge if we are “too skinny” or “too big”.

Learning to love our bodies, and not constantly be wondering what people are thinking or saying about us, will make us so much more happy with ourselves. Having that courage to learn to love ourselves is hard at times, but it will put us in a better spot than we are in when we are wondering what others think. We should always be focusing on ourselves and making our lives the best and happiest they can be.

-Hailey Sander

A grizzly bear - who knew we would see one today? I was hiking with my family at Crypt Lake in Waterton Park and we had walked all the way to the lake. It was a challenging hike, but a really nice lake. We were near the end of the trail; we were all alone. He was 50 feet ahead of us, right on our trail, and he stood up on two legs. What do we do now? Luckily, the bear was more scared of us, and took off as soon as we started talking and yelling. Fear? A bit (we had bear spray). Courage - We found it as a group and a family. Hope - We hoped we could get to the beach soon, to where the boat was meeting us, without meeting back up with this bear. We still love to hike, but a lot more cautious than we were before.

-Brennan Penney

Life Goes On

Most of the people that I know are miserable, as if someone blew out their candles and it seems like they’re stuck in the darkness. It made me sad to see many people like that. Four years ago I asked a friend of mine, whose name is James, about why he was so miserable and unkind to himself. He then proceeded to tell me that, “there are things in life that are not meant to be.” In his case he was not able to achieve his dreams because of an accident that paralyzed his legs, and he continued to tell me that there is no hope for him and that maybe he deserves the situation that he is in. I went home and thought of the possibilities and what could have been, and I was able to realize the importance of courage and hope in our lives. Tragedies, temptations or unexpected problems might happen and it’s going to make us vulnerable at times and it may change our perspective in life negatively, but if we have that sense of courage to grow and hope to have a brighter future ahead the positiveness that life can offer us will help us withstand all of those problems.The fact is that we are still alive and breathing, and we can still do whatever we want even though we might need some assistance in achieving our goals or wants. Believing is the key to let courage and hope take over our lives.

After four years James was able to find his heart again, and he learned to love himself and to love others. He learned to accept his situation and he did his best to make the most out of it. I asked him why he changed and he said, “I fell in love with a girl and I got scared that maybe sooner or later she will wake up and not want me, but then I got tired of having these negative thoughts and I got tired of being miserable all the time. The girl continued to show her love for me and finally I build up the courage to be a better person and the hope to be able face all the challenges I am going through. I chose to be better for myself and for her because this is how I wanted my life to be. I thought I could never get through this but I did. I am blessed to have this life.” I was amazed by what he said. It really made appreciate my life more and the people that surround me. Courage and hope really do have a big effect in one's life.

-Sofia Olvis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSayMXTaQY8

The man talking in the video is Nick Vujicic. He was born with tetra-amelia syndrome, it means that he is born without legs and limbs. He is a motivational speaker. It is said that he is one of the seven known surviving individuals planet-wide who live with the syndrome. Way back before when he was a teenager he attempted suicide because he get bullied in school a lot. His mother showed him a man who was also dealing with a severe disability and after that he started to give talks at his prayer group. He was able to conquer his life and he finally accepted himself. No matter what his situation is he will always focus on the bright side.

Those men above have prosthetic legs. Their disabilities did not stop them from joining and finishing the marathon that they’re in. Even though it is hard, they still made it happen because they both have the essence of courage and hope in their lives. It also made me think that if I want to do something I should start working on it and motivate myself to achieve. The guys in the picture once thought that they could not make it, but they chose to focus on the positive side and it gave them courage and hope to achieve what they want. Both of these athletes made history and they were able to capture the hearts of a lot of people. They were able to inspire a lot of people that have disabilities. They gave them hope and courage that even though they don’t have legs they still can make the most of their lives.

Monsters of My Life

Everyone has monsters that undermine them, and can and will affect life as we know it. I'm going to be explaining what monsters I've had in my life and how I've handled them. There are certain monsters that affected my life, and what I mean by monsters are challenging circumstances. I have definitely been through hardship, sometimes more than often than not. I feel like everything I touch, or have a human connection with always ends up failing or breaking. What helped me get through some of these tough times was youtube, from a youtuber named Syndicate. This guy was my inspiration and he has kept me motivated to make life better. It was honestly like having another friend because watching him kept my mind busy and I never thought about the problems I had in my life because I always had a distraction. Sports, especially basketball, also helped provide a distraction because I had so many different people that I could choose from and that's what kept my mind busy. If i got bored I could just try and find something new to distract myself with. After that phase of my life I got bullied because i was a “nerd”, so I changed my life around and really got into music. Rap was my thing, I always listened to Eminem because the lyrics were so close to my heart and it helped me when I was down, but it and also taught me stuff along the way and it gave me courage to talk to people because I listened to rappers and none of them cared what people thought of them, they had no cares in the world. To me that's the coolest thing in the world. These little things in life gave me the hope and courage to get up out of bed.

-Reece Mason

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79_vbh-jD7Q - Seananners Stole My Style ! - The Syndicate Project Vlog #1