Healthy, Happy and Humble

I have officially completed my first year of college. I have learned more in my one year hear than I have my entire life. I learned so much far beyond the classroom. I got to learn so much about my self and what I need to be happy and successful. I have also learned so many life skills that aren't taught to you in school (even though I think they should be). It is graduation season right now and a lot of people are preparing to head of to college so I though it would be fun to do a "Things I have learned" so that it may give some advice to these incoming There is no specific order for importance as I feel these are all important things in life. 1. Use the universities free resources - From my understanding many universities have a lot of free resources on campus. They may not be all the same but they are there. At my university their are many of them from things like              - Counseling services: Therapy sessions and life guidance, and...

The Lotus flower represents something that many of us can relate to. I think that the blog "After silence" described it best:  " The lotus flower grows out of mud. Yet, it rises above the surface clean, blooms with remarkable beauty, and its beauty remains untouched by the mud. The flower closes and sinks underwater at night, but it rises and opens again at dawn.        Lotus flowers have strong symbolic ties to survivors. They start as small flowers down at the very bottom of a pond and then slowly grow and rise towards the surface, continually moving towards the light. Once the lotus flower has reached the surface of the water, it begins to blossom and turns into a magnificent flower.        The lotus flower is a symbol for courage, purity, and awakening, and it mirrors survivors' journey toward healing and recovery. Like the lotus flower, survivors have been at the bottom of the pond but can rise abo...

I hate school but I love learning... Most people would argue that the two are the same thing and that they go hand and hand. I believe that the idea of school, especially lower level education like High School, has a different structure than it should have. Being a very analytical person who really enjoys learning I have observed through out my years of school that school is not about learning, and i don't mean learning as in memorizing every single detail there is to know, i'm talking about understanding the concepts and understanding the main ideas and being able to connect and analyze them. I believe that the school system is outdated. Many years ago when the concept of school first started there was no such things as the internet or electronics in general. The main goal of school was to get everyone on the same page in terms of the facts that they believe is true at that time. To do that it required a lot of memorizing on the students part to know all this information...

I recently read this article written by a USC volleyball player named Victoria Garrick , where she discussed how she learned to love her body as an athlete. This has inspired me to share my story on gaining self confidence and loving your body for what it is. Growing up I was the tall skinny one. Many of my friends were never as skinny as I was and always shared with me how they longed for my body. I would always think to my self why in the world would they want to be as skinny as me. If we take a look at what society has defined as "beautiful", it creates this want for this body that many of us are not. When you think of women as society defines it we don't think of words like strong, competitive or athletic. You think of words more like skinny, sexy, delicate, and soft. We are taught by the media and by the culture of todays society that we as women are supposed to carry this certain persona that as an athlete may contradict it. I began playing volleyball at the ag...

The United States of America is known to be the melting pot of the world. It is known to be a place where different cultures from all over the world can come together and be themselves. People think that because there are so many different cultures here, that we Americans would be well-rounded when it came to knowing other cultures. Yet we Americans create stereotypes based on the lack of knowledge or understanding we have of other races or ethnicities. That idea or single image becomes all that we know of those races, and we tend to close our minds to anything that says otherwise. I personally have a lot of experience when it comes to being put into a single image that is far from what Hawaiian people actually are. Stereotypes seem to confine people into little boxes and have this image put into others heads that that’s all they are. Many of the stereotypes of different races are never portrayed in a positive way, which is why it offends majority of the people who are put into...

Being raised in Hawaii we are encouraged to go to the mainland for college. No one back home really knows why they push us to go away, because of the many different reasons they give us. The reasons are things like better opportunities, new experiences, and thanks it would be good for us Hawaiian kids to branch out into the world. What many people don't realize is that the culture in Hawaii is so different that it is a big adjustment when going away to school. Starting college is hard enough on any teenager, so add on the stress of being in a completely new culture and many miles away from home, it can get pretty difficult. I have been here at CSUN for about three months now because of the summer program I was in. I feel that after three months I am finally starting to get adjusted to this new space, yet maintaining my identity. I am finding ways to maintain my culture and who I am, while adjusting to the new culture of Southern California. I was raised in a very traditional...