I Am A New School

On August 13th, 2016 my family and I started a new life. We were forced to relocate from Southern California to Prosper, Texas for my dad’s job. When I moved I knew absolutely no one. It was extremely hard to move away from my people that I have been friends with for almost my whole life. It was even harder to say goodbye to my grandma and my brothers. Finding new friends and adjusting to a new city in a new state was very difficult. On the first day of school, I was extremely nervous, because I didn’t know anyone.

Whenever I have a horrendous day, Chloe is always there. Getting a low grade just produces more urgency to get better grades and to study and put time into everything. Friends all rely on each other, and without some members, nothing is as exciting. It is fascinating to see the difference that you have made in my life, and without you here I am deeply saddened. It opens new doors, and I realize that seeing you will be more amazing after extended periods of time. The school year is going great, Chloe is continuing to make others happy, and the neighborhood is at rest for now. I cannot

Some people argue that happiness helps make good decisions because happy people strive for the best result. David states, “[Positive emotions] help build vital social, physical, and cognitive resources that lead to positive outcomes and affiliations” (124). David points out that with the right amount of positivity, people make good judgments. The author acknowledges that happiness can have benefits, but she states that too much happiness could hurt human development because the mind does not consider the consequences of an action. Julie Norem, a psychology professor, points out, “’If you’re a pessimist who really thinks through in detail what might go wrong, that’s a strategy that’s likely to work very well for you’” (qtd. in Wallis). She explains

Just recently, I found out I was moving to another state. Knowing I have to leave everything behind was awful. I was halfway through eighth grade, starting the second semester, and I was doing great. My grades were all A’s and I was happy there with all my friends, Amber, Marianna, and Makayla. Our house was decent, my sister and I both had our own rooms anything I would ever wish for. My dad had been promoted to another job, where he was going to get paid more than what he was currently earning. It was an amazing opportunity for my family. I was glad for my dad, but I still felt bad for myself.

I have some news for you… You’re not going to like it”. The hardest thing for me yet, is trying to fit in. So, coming home to a parent saying we’re moving was amazing news, I couldn’t be happier. But, moving school districts was going to be a very hard obstacle to maneuver around. One year later, coming home from work, my father came up to me and told me he got a promotion in his job. I was thrilled for him, after that he told me we have to move again, this time to Texas. This is not what I had in mind, however, I still was happy for him and expected myself to accept the idea of making more friends in a different state.

It is always easier to find a tactic or a solution to a problem than finding a tactic for being happy. To me, I always prefer if there is a large, looming problem over my characters head because I can use it as an undertone. Where as if I am to be a role that is pretty dang alright with their life it is hard for me to find a way to add more depth. When I am put in the second situation, I feel that I have to dig deeper to find what makes my character tick or unhappy, even if it is just the little things in life. As a human being, even when we are fully happy, there always is something that can be wrong, even if it is just worrying about getting the laundry done. I have gotten caught up with the easiness of portraying an “always happy character” and not worrying about their underlying problems. Bad news is wonderful because it is easier to be brooding but good news is harder to find the depth behind

Although this was taken seven months ago, it feels as if it was just yesterday that my sister, Cortney, began a new stage in her life. She is no longer my bedroom neighbor just a hallway length away. The bathroom that was once shared is now only occupied by me, that bedroom next to mine remains vacant, and I am officially an only child -or so it seems. It’s crazy to believe we are already teenagers. As children, we got along much better than average siblings. We never fought, always shared clothes, and even shared friends despite the age difference. As time went on, we grew closer; making it even harder for us to be separated from each other long term. Next thing we knew, it was August 24, 2015, the time had come that Cortney was graduated and moved on to bigger and better things. My family took two cars over two hours away to say our goodbyes. Despite the fact that we did not want

“Choose to be happy.” This is what mom has always said, since a very young age and still to this day she tells everyone. For so long, it was just “mom talk”, those things your mother says that is supposed to make you stop and think. Yet, being too young, dumb and full of it, to really understand what she means. Curiosity emerges and suddenly there is a need to understand what it really means to be happy, what constitutes Happiness? So follow up with some research, entering the bookstore, gliding in and out of the rows and rows in the self-help sections are others, asking the same question. What is happiness? Where does it come from, are we born with it or do we make it happen? Happiness is but a belief, an idea, a theory; but theories,

Never did the thought of being apart from my family cross my mind, especially the thought of being apart from my sister. However, the words did not hit me until two weeks later when I started missing my sister. To be on different sides of the world brought me what seemed to be an endless melancholia. We had fallen so deep into our daily routines of not seeing each other throughout the day because of our academic schedule, that seeing each other at night in our shared room became our special place. Our cocoon of shared laughs and late night studies. That cocoon soon became lonely once she left, I could only ever imagine how she must have felt, in what seemed to me worlds

After reading your article Happiness and Its Discontents, I have decided to define my own personal happiness and what it means to live a robust life. Living a robust life means something different to every individual as no one person can define happiness or success as a single entity. However, I do think individuals are able to determine their own meaning of contentment by analyzing the different components of their lives. When reading your published work, I could not help but notice how you spent a majority of time discussing the negative effects of happiness. Generally, when an individual thinks of jubilation they correlate it to positive events, but you seemed to gloomily depict happiness as an emotion that yields despair, thinking happiness is a forced emotion which must keep societal standards. You mention if people have mental health concerns, such as anxiety, in order for them to live a robust life they must create and display a pseudo personality to

Have you ever had your best friend in the whole world, who is like a sister, move to a whole different state? Well, if you have then you know that the feeling is horrible. It’s very sad and sometimes it can be depressing which makes it hard to deal with. It’s hard to know that Emily and I can’t just do the things we used to do because she is so far away. We can’t just hang out whenever we want to. Emily has always been my sister, by blood or not, it doesn’t matter to me.

The last time we talked, I informed you about my family vacation. I am cognizant that you have traveled to countless locations across the United States; therefore, I anticipate what you will think of the decision we have reached. Not only that, I am excited to pass on information regarding our semiannual vacation to North Carolina. Additionally, I have heard of several changes in your life, including a new job and a new car. This is phenomenal news that I am pleased to hear.

So after long contemplation, I came to the conclusion that I was in charge of my happiness. That it for me to decide when my life succumbed to darkness. And although I couldn’t control the hands of my clock reaching twelve, I could welcome them with content. And that’s when I began to really live.

My response, “Your daughter will always remember the time that you spend with her, and it is wonderful your attending school.”

As the end of the night approached us, I couldn’t stop thinking about how many mixed emotions I had about starting a whole new chapter in my life. I couldn't wait to go to college, meet all new people, get a degree so that I could start my career path, but I knew that meant I had to say goodbye to my two best friends, who were moving several hours away from me. This was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do in my life. We all cried a little, and then made promises to keep in touch, and then we were off into the real world! I was very happy to be at this point in my life, but I was scared deep down inside.