Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Success In My Eyes

Success is defined by many as how wealthy someone may be, their job title, or how big of a house they own. Miriam Webster Dictionary defines success as, "achieving wealth, respect, or fame." This definition is old and phased out. The 'New Success' is confidence in what you're doing. A drive and passion to reach your goals that's so strong that nobody can get in your way of it. Success is being satisfied with where you are in life, and the things you've accomplished and achieved. Success is looking back over an experience or a lifetime, and having no regrets. This 'New Success' isn't defined by money, or your material items. I will know I've reached success, when some of my long term goals are met. Goals such as getting married, starting a family, and providing for them. If I can look back over my family, and see that I was able to raise and provide for them, then I will consider myself successful. I don't need a ton of money or a ton of stuff to be happy, all I need is to have people around me who I love, and who love me.

Goals

Everyone has some sort of life goals, or dreams that they want to achieve before they're a certain age, or before a certain time. This past week, our class completed a Goal Setting Workbook, which gave us to ability to plan out our own goals in an organized fashion. This packet was very long, and at times felt a bit repetitive, but at the same time it made me really think about the things I wanted to do by the end of this year, and by the end of three, five, and ten years. One thing that I found that keeps me from reaching my goals, is not having enough time, or allocating too much time to certain goals over others. Some of my goals in the near future are to graduate from high school in June and have a summer filled with memories with all of my friends before we leave for college. A few of my 1-5 year goals are to study abroad in college to experience different cultures, and explore my industry in other countries. Another goal is to graduate from college, and enroll in a Hotel Management training program. And long term, one of my goals and dreams is to travel to Thailand and work at a hotel or resort over there. These are just a few of my goals for the next ten years. 

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Handfuls of Kindness

 
It's that time of year again bloggers....HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted" 
~Anonymous

I dig this quote, because around this time of the year, a lot of giving goes on, and kindness is something that should be gifted to everyone, no matter the season!
Being on a high school campus, i'm surrounded by a lot of people struggling to find out who they want to be, what they want to do, or where they want to go. This stress can build up, and spiral into a lot of things such as negativity or depression. As an iQuest class, we could do nothing but attempt to help solve this issue.
My class was recently tasked with one simple job, to exercise gratitude around our school in some form. Keeping in mind all the stress that us high schoolers are going through at this point in our lives, my team of friends Nicole, Rylie, and I set out on a mission. We wanted to create random acts of kindness, and deliver them throughout our campus. So we created little hands of encouragement. We did this by writing some of our favorite motivational quotes on paper hands that we had cut out, and we delivered them to random students and staff across campus. It was pure joy when we would hand someone one of our hands of encouragement and say, "Here, this is for you!" And then we'd see their reaction of surprise, or just happiness.
I hope that this year as a class, we can find more ways to bring encouragement and spread kindness among Cal High.
It's not that difficult to brighten someone's day, and no act of kindness is too small.

~LH
 



 Bucket List

Luke's list of must do's before I die:

  • Go to Thailand
  • Hike the John Muir Trail
  • Learn to ski well
  • Give the perfect gift
  • Find the perfect guacamole
  • Travel to Japan with my dad
  • Run a half marathon in under two hours
  • Meet Taylor Swift
  • Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower
  • Travel to the Sydney Opera House
  • Learn Italian
  • Learn how to do archery
  • Do a triathlon
  • Go scuba diving
  • See they pyramids of Giza
  • Surprise someone
  • Be on a game show
  • Be an extra in a film
  • Shower in a waterfall
  • Learn to ballroom dance
  • Spend New Year's Eve in Times Square
  • Remodel my own home
  • Get a tattoo
  • Go on a Safari
  • Do Zumba
  • Go to all 50 US states
  • Live in a house with a huge tree in the front with a tire swing
  • Be on the news
  • Build a tree house
  • Hike the Grand Canyon
  • Visit the set of Friends
  • Attend my twenty year high school reunion
  • Attend my twenty year college reunion
  • Have something names after me
  • Memorize a book of the bible
  • See a tucan in person
  • Pet a panda
  • Be in a flashmob
  • Get hypnotized
  • Drive a Classic VW Van
  • Take my mom to the Ellen Show
  • Collect a postcard from every continent
  • Fly in a helicopter
  • Go to an Indian wedding
  • Learn to ice skate
  • Host Thanksgiving dinner for my entire family
  • Live by the ocean
  • Go ice blocking
  • Have a meal with Paula Dean
  • Get married to my true love
  • Walk my daughter down the aisle