Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.
-George Bernard Shaw
Having an Open mind when faced with hardship opens many doors in life. Keeping an open mind when faced with new environments helped me become the person I am today. I learned very quickly that if I kept positive and had an open mind at all times, life would be so much easier. Open-mindedness might be one of the best lessons I’ve ever been taught in my life when facing adversity.
Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it
~Nelson Mandela
Courage is a skill that is constantly being portrayed in each and every human being. Debatably the most monumental thing that has ever happened to me was becoming a Fenn boy, and that was all built around courage. Whilst becoming a Fenn boy I had to use every ounce of courage ever imagined as I was truly changing my life and identity as a person.
Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family.
~Anthony Brandt
You cannot achieve anything without the love of family. My family tells me what I need to hear, rather than what I want to hear. When I was broken, going nowhere, my family was there to reassure me and lead me down the path I was always supposed to follow.
Family is not an important thing. It’s everything.
~Michael Fox
Without family life would not be the same. It was my family that helped when I needed them most. My family understands what is important to me, and no matter the situation, my family finds a way to make me happy. If I need a ride to hockey, a place to sleep or some advice my grandparents are always willing to help me out.
When you’re feeling stressed, worried, or anxious, everyone has a place that calms them down. It is in the long, winding, creeks of Cape Cod that I find myself drawn to the primal force that is nature. After a long school year filled with stress and anxiety, my salvation lies in those rivulets. It is there in the infinite peace and tranquility that I search for crabs, eels, and maybe a striper or two.
Persistence is a powerful thing, and with enough of it, almost anything can be accomplished. When I am persistent and determined to accomplish something, there is so much I can do, but it is always challenging to keep that motivation. It’s not about how much you fail, but how much you are willing to keep on failing until you succeed. A lot of the time, it seems easier to just give up, But no one would succeed in anything if everyone had that mindset of just giving up. Failure makes me stronger and smarter. When I fail at something, it just makes me more determined to succeed next time.
