Photography

Random Suggestions

1. Don't live in the past but be a reflective person. Don't be afraid to look back at the past and use it for the future.

2. Open your eyes to the world or you will never be able to see...

3. Don't shy away from being yourself. Be proud to be different from those who think they are everything.

4. Ask questions because it is the only way you will get answers.

5. This is a question but... have you ever wondered if someone thinks you're as cool as you think they are?

6. Most days have no impact on the human life but that doesn't mean you shouldn't pay attention.

Yourself--------> How You Define It

I believe that when you meet someone new, you are forced to define who you are... and that isn't a bad thing. meeting new people helps you realize and discover who you are exactly.

After meeting so many people abroad, I have found that you must pick and choose what you want them to know about you. What is it that you can tell them that will give them a perfect sense of who you are? Will you choose to share your love for sports, music, outdoors, etc? or will you talk about your family or the place you come from?

Can you portray yourself in just a few sentences? How do you define yourself within a first impression?

Goodbye?

I don’t have much to say other than something about goodbyes. I thought that the more times I would have to say goodbye, the easier it would get. I believe that’s true to a certain extent but why do I still get sick and nervous to say goodbye? Is it because I hate the goodbye or is it because I dread the” in between life” that I live while I travel? I think it is because I hate being neither the girl from school nor the girl from her hometown. This messes with me and I find it hard to deal with.

I was just telling my best friend that most people find it very difficult to be one person while living essentially two lives. I noticed, more on this break than any other, that people change dramatically. They not only change dramatically over time, but also going between situations. I myself have found this difficult but I think I have found a sort of synergy between my two selves. This took me a long time and I can tell that many people around me have yet to be able to do this. So with people having difficulty with this, do I have to say goodbye to the people that I knew and say hello to the different people that have now taken over? Am I expected to accept that people have two personas or should I be frustrated?

Personally, I am frustrated. A friend of mine lives by the statement “To thine own self be true.” Anyone should and must stay true to this statement in every situation and scenario they face. If they don’t, they are fake to me and do not know who they are. To me, that is no life to live. So… moral of the story, you may live two lives but you must merge the two in order to gain a harmony of self. Living an “in between life” every few weeks or months may be difficult but it is so worth it if you can have the opportunities to see and experience entirely new things. This makes the goodbyes tolerable. They won’t ever become easy, but they will become doable and that’s all I can ask for.

Stories Never Told

While I’m flying home I think about all the different stories that I see in people. I always wonder where people are coming from and where they are going. Are they on their way back from somewhere or are they leaving to go somewhere? Is it business, pleasure, or holidays?

All I know is that I’m a volleyball player flying from RI to the beautiful CO for Thanksgiving. This raises a question for me. When I fly I feel in between lives. I have a life and a home in RI but my real home has been CO for 18 years. I live two lives. Is it like that for most college kids? Or do most leave behind their previous life and begin an entirely new one? Do they leave behind everything in hopes of finding something different? I don’t think I’ll ever be able to move on completely from the past. The past holds my CO family and friends. That was my life and, to me, it still is.

But back to the people I see while I’m traveling from point A to point B. You wonder what their story is but why don’t I ever ask? I’m curious about people and want to get to know ‘em. Are they business people just on the job or are they traveling to go kick it on a beach somewhere? Or for that matter, are they going to tear it up on the slopes of some world class mountain? Could it be sports taking them somewhere or the death of a family member? So many paths cross and so many stories go untold. You can people watch easily while sitting in an airport, like I am right now, but I’ll never know the stories of the two children playing across the aisle from me or the elderly woman with the sweet smile. To me each person is not just that. They are their own story that is waiting to be learned by someone who cares… someone who will mean something to that person holding the story.

We Own The Sky

I woke up this morning and felt like I just had to listen to this song. It gives me perspective and makes life seem so simple.

I don't have to care about anything when I listen to this song. It puts a positive spin on things even when things may seem terrible.

The Views are Epic

I'm about a week away from going home to my home state of CO and all I can think about at this moment is the mountains. I'm thinking of my friends and family of course but the more time I spend away from Colorado, the more I think about what makes the state so much better than everywhere else to me. CO is unique for its mountains compared to the "ocean state" that I'm living in right now.

I'm picturing the views that I have had the privilege to see. I try to tell my friends here about the mountains but most can't imagine what its like to be on top of a fourteen thousand foot peak. Its the view that makes life epic. You can see life from every direction. I can see life from above yet there's so much more above me. The views from the "fourteeners" that I have climbed really keep things in perspective. From these views, I stay grounded. I know my place in nature and I know that there's so much more to life. Beyond my personal experiences, lies a world full of peaks that I can't wait to climb because the views are my rewards.