Be the Change

When I was in high school, I majored in Communications Arts and took writing classes with Mr. Moore. To say that he influenced my writing and changed my life is an understatement. But lately, I haven't been able to get something else about him out of my head. I heard him say this expression many times over my four years of high school, "Be the change you want to see in the world".

We live in a world so full of negativity, disrespect, disloyalty, selfishness and entitlement. Often times, I wonder how we let it get so bad. We're often more surprised when someone has our back than when someone stabs us in the back. And that is such a sad statement for me to make.

So how do we change it? We certainly can't change how everyone else lives but we can change ourselves for the better. We can change how we live our lives. If you think that there are too many liars in the world, be honest. If you think people are too angry or negative, be a positive influence. If you think people are selfish and unhelpful, be generous and helpful. Don't let yourself be pulled into someone else's negativity or toxicity. Negativity is contagious but positivity can be just as contagious, if you let it.

There are small ways that I try to avoid negativity in my everyday life. For example, I do not post anything negative or political on any of my social media outlets. I try to give people compliments whenever I can. I always try to offer people help, whether they have the courage to ask for it themselves or not. Or I answer phone calls from crying friends at 3 a.m. These things seem so small but trust me, they add up; and they allow everyone else to see your good example and follow it. And recently, I've started really focusing on self-love. So many of my friends struggle with this and I admit that I do myself. It's a daily struggle that I'm working on and I'm finding it easier every day. And what I want more than anything is for nobody else to ever think that they aren't good enough. So I'm hoping that by sharing my journey of discovering self-love, that message will spread, allowing more and more people to truly love themselves for who they are. The world definitely needs more of that.

So what I'm trying to say is that if everyone stopped focusing on the negatives, about anything, whether it's about themselves or the world, the world would be a much better place. Yes, the world isn't perfect and bad things happen every day. I'm not saying that we should ignore that. What I'm saying is to make sure that you are working just as hard to make sure that good things are happening every day as well, whether it's in your life, your friend's life or a complete stranger's life. One of the best pieces of advice that I've ever been given is, "Don't play the victim". If there is something that you can do to make your life better, then you have a responsibility to yourself to do it. So if you think something needs to change, whether it's a personal problem or a global problem, you have the power to make that change. The world isn't going to sit back and wait for you, and you shouldn't either. You deserve the chance to be happy and to make others happy as well. So the time to claim your power is now.

I know that it can be much easier to be a negative person or to believe all of the bad things about the world. But trust me, you don't have to just sit back, watch it happen and accept it. The truth is that there is still kindness and positivity all around you; you just have to look for it. And you know where you can find it? In yourself. It creates a kind of domino effect, like paying it forward. When other people are making you lose faith in humanity or the world today, be different and show the world what it could be. Be a good role model for someone else. Be optimistic. Be inspirational. Be kind. Be encouraging. Be helpful. Be generous. Be brave. Be honest. Be positive. Be the change.

-Chelsea

Positives of 2016

For many people, 2016 was generally a bad year. I'll admit that there were parts of it that were less than perfect for me as well. But I've realized that there is a lot of negativity in the world and I want my own little slice of the internet to be a positive one. So, I've decided to look back on 2016 and share some of the positive things that have happened to me.

I discovered competitive pole dancing and fell absolutely in love with it. I've found a great way to stay in shape and made some really amazing friends as well.

Kris and I went white water rafting for the first time. We went on a trip with some friends and had so much fun! We will definitely be going again.

I participated in my first 5k, which was a color run. This was something that I've always wanted to do and I'm glad that I finally got the chance to do it.

Kris and I did a lot of hiking and discovered many beautiful waterfalls near our hometown. We got to see just how mesmerizing the north country truly is!

We discovered Clayton and fell in love with it as well. It is definitely one of our new favorite places!

I traveled to Connecticut for the first time and participated in my first pole dancing competition with a bunch of my friends.

We couldn't go home for Thanksgiving, so we celebrated with some friends! We spent the night eating good food, laughing and watching football. I even learned how to play poker, which is something that I've always wanted to learn!

I've always been a huge Rodgers and Hammerstein's fan and their version of Cinderella has always been a favorite of mine. I finally got to see it live and bought tickets for my family members as Christmas presents. It was one of the most visually stunning performances that I've ever seen and I loved every second of it!

I got to go back to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party! I used to go a lot when I was little but I haven't had the chance to go back since I moved away. It felt so nostalgic to get to experience it again!

As a Christmas present for us, my mom paid for Kris and I to get portraits done. We took a whole bunch of beautiful photos and I absolutely love how they turned out. I absolutely can't wait to get the prints back!

What positive things happened to you in 2016?

-Chelsea

Blog Challenge, Day 23: What School Can't Teach You

I'm actually pretty excited to write this post. Although I will fully attest that school is a good thing and you need to get a good education for yourself, there are many lessons that school cannot and will not teach you. Living life itself is the best lesson that there is.

The only way to really learn something is through trial and error. You can't learn how to live your life and be successful through a textbook. You can definitely learn about the Civil War, geometry or anatomy through a textbook but chances are, a year after you take that class, you won't remember half of it. That's just how it is.

I have learned tons of different things since my high school graduation 2 years ago but this blog post would go on forever if I mentioned them all, so I will pick one thing to focus on. Hmmmm, what to choose? Well, since this blog is centered on positivity, I will go with that. :)

I started living my life with a positive outlook after my accident turned my world upside down and I thought that my life was over. However, through the help of my mother, I realized that even though I was going through the hardest time in my life, good things were still happening to me and if I focused on them, (or at least acknowledged them) and it didn't seem so bad.

Teachers are amazing people and they provide you with wonderful facts about where we came from and how to do certain things, like projects. However, there are such limits as to what they can teach you about life, at least where I'm from. Nowadays, it seems like all schools care about are test scores and not about what is going to help the students get farther along in life. School taught me how to be successful in my classes, not in life. School didn't teach me how to pick myself up again after I fall, to see the world differently, to be different, to express myself or to see the glass half-full. Life taught me that and some of it, I actually taught myself.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to talk trash about schools or getting educated. What I'm saying is that school teaches you a lot but it doesn't teach you everything that you need to know. Had I known about how to live a positive lifestyle, I might not have gone through depression, which would've saved me months of my life. I'm not blaming school for my problems, I'm just saying that that lesson would've proved helpful for me and I'm sure many other kids. Either way, I learned a lot in school and a lot through living my life and no matter what, I'm happy that I learned everything that I know now.

Blog Channel, Day 6: What I Do

What do I do? Well, if I'm going to be honest, there isn't a long list of things that I do. I tend to find something that I love and stick with it. It doesn't leave much room in my schedule to find new things that interest me. Plus, normally I love what I do so much, that I don't really want to stop doing them.

However, as far as what I do to support myself right now, I have a job at one of my local restaurants. Despite my fears that I would hate the restaurant business and that I would never want to eat out again, I actually really love my job! I work at an all-you-can-eat buffet and I'm the cashier. However, there are more responsibilities than I thought I had when I got hired. I close a lot, so that means that I not only handle the money, I help stock and clean at the end of the night. However, at the end of the night, you can hear the radio better and I am able to make the night go by faster as I turn my chores into a dance party.

In my personal life, I just try to live a healthy and positive way and spread the message of living in a positive way. Whether it's blogging, writing stories, or just face-to-face conversation, I do my best to make other people happy and their lives a little brighter. Basically, I try to have a little bit of fun exploring my imagination and I try to make the world a better place as best as I can.