Reflection Paper

Carrie Fisher once proclaimed, “Stay afraid but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually, the confidence will follow.” I had to learn the hard way that confidence does not show up ready for you to utilize, just as the quote says. You have to put yourself out there and the confidence will develop. In the seventh grade, I joined the beginner band and chose to play the flute. Beginning band was far more terrifying than my twelve-year-old self imagined it to be. I learned that each student would have to perform in front of the class for a weekly grade. Even worse, the one other flute player next to me had already been playing for a year and I constantly compared myself to her. Later in that semester, this girl and I were talking and she said to me, “When we first started, I thought you were going to be the worst player in the band!” I was completely baffled that this girl, who had only been playing for a few more months than I had, would have the audacity to say that to my face. I did not understand that, at the time, it was okay for me to not play as well as she could. I had only been playing for a few weeks at most after all. Twelve year old me took it to heart and I felt like I was two inches tall. Sadly, that was not the last negative interaction I had with that girl. She stayed with me all throughout middle school, where she made fun of me for making last chair in eighth grade, and overall, put my

Everyone has to grow up eventually, some just tend to take it better more than others, it could be the fear or gaining more responsibility or the fact that getting older means that your parents are too and with your old age comes their time to go, the fear of not being ready or prepared for what life has to offer you and you being on your own to find out

Everyone matures somehow, even if it is only a small change. However, people mature differently. Some still act childish by the time they're in high school, and some already act like adults by then. The director John Hughes and the author John Knowles realized this, and adapted this idea into their work, both having a character that represents the carefree days of adulthood and another that represents the seriousness of adulthood. The movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and the novel A Separate Peace both have characters that are best friends that can be considered allegories for childhood and adulthood.

A teenager is someone young whose age is between thirteen and nineteen. Being so young around that age originates the appearance that your life is carefree and jovial, but there’s plenty more than just that. With all of the stereotypes that teenagers are under, we ask, What really is a teenager? Teenagers are under so many different types of stereotypes growing up, which are seen in movies, television shows, books, social media, etc… Every preteen looks forward to their teenage years and everything that's going to happen in that period of time, but there are consequences that aren’t shown in the entertainment system. For me, the hardest thing about being a teenager is the sudden change and being afraid of it. It all happens so quick. BOOM! There it is. As a teenager, I, myself, didn’t know that this “change” was going to result. It passes to you, but you never knew that it ever did occur. There are small steps that later lead to a big step. It can start with anything. Again, reflecting back at the stereotypes that teenagers are under, known to be careless and rough, we suddenly have a more brave and reckless tone to everything that we do.

We are all different in unique ways that make us who we are. Life comes in all shapes, sizes, colors, and orientations, and yet the only thing we, as a society, see is what makes up the best of these. So many people believe that being “different” is not acceptable in the world, and because of this, people deny themselves who they are and live in fear. I sadly found myself in the same situation, afraid and alone.

There is a point in every teenager’s life where they have to take a moment to sit there and think, if only for a moment, “Oh dear God, I’m an adult.” Some approach this point too early while others will have this epiphany too late. It all depends on what the person has gone through and the experiences they have had growing up. For me, I didn’t realize that I was growing up until I started my first job at a family fun center. Working in that rundown arcade, I hated it, yet it was honestly the beginning of what I would call my growing up phase. My family was the coddling sort, so there weren’t many times where I was allowed to go out and be around people who I didn’t know until I reached the age 16. First taste of freedom, first pay check, and the first feeling of legitimate pride for myself that I had, all of that led to me growing into a young woman as opposed to the little girl I once saw myself as. From then on, I started to develop a sense of responsibility and independence I loved.

I sat on a short bus with 10 other kids I barely knew, tired, hungry, and dreading the next week. Shivering in the cool April morning air, I wished I was anywhere else in the world. The beach with my friends for spring break sounded nice or somewhere else warm where my alarm would not wake me up at six every morning. Yet with every mile marker we passed, the more the unsettled feeling in the pit of my gut began to dissipate. Eight hours and a very small dinner later found me unrolling a sleeping bag on a tile floor, grateful simply to sleep. As I closed my eyes that night, I asked God for two things — for the energy to get through the week and for this mission trip to be worth it.

My education has had its ups and downs throughout the years. All the way up through eighth grade I got straight A’s and never really got into any trouble. Being a freshman, it was my goal to stay that way. I didn’t know how hard it would be being a freshman but I would soon find out as I continued my high school career.

The locker room is silent, but why? We are less than two hours from Massabesic High School’s first playoff appearance and everyone is sitting in silence; everybody is playing with their lacrosse heads, anxiously stringing them for the third time today. Why are we not excited? Why are we not blaring music? Why are we not jumping up and down, acting like idiots like we always do? I am pacing around the locker room and walking in and out, with the occasional stop at the bathroom to make sure I am not going to throw up. We have spent way too long rebuilding this team to throw the season away now. There are two aspects to being on a sports team that are not captured on the field but have a huge impact on winning: how everyone is acting in the locker room, and how we warm up when we take the field.

From Brothers, Cousins, Uncles, Grandparents, and dear friends, I come from a line of servicemen. Whether it is Firemen, Policemen, Marines, Army soldiers, all of these men were impeccably brave. Even though some without combat, I still believe what they did takes an attitude not much people have. While observing them all throughout the years, I noticed how much being a part of their branch means to them. Though they knew, I had no idea why they valued this so much. My brother, 18 now, will leave for the Marines June 26th, this means giving up his whole college life and a small, but important, portion of his life. When he gets back he will no longer be a growing young man. When he finally returns home, he will be the age of around 23-24. And still why do they all do this.

The Medieval Era was a time dominated by belief. People lived with such great superstition and fear of God. Many people were focused not on their lives her on earth, but rather their life after death. During the Renaissance people became more humanistic and focused more on their lives in the moment rather than their afterlife. We can see these changes of Ideas by studying the works of Saint Anselm of Canterbury, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Thomas a Kempis, and Caesarius of Heisterbach from the Medieval Era and compare it to the works of Marsilio Ficino, Leonardo Da Vinci, Niccolo Machiavelli, and Desiderius Erasmus of the Renaissance period we can see a very particular change in worldviews.

As a typical teenager, I have gone through countless amounts of experiences and challenges in my life. The decisions that I have made in the past has given me two separate outcomes, and these outcomes influenced me positively and negatively depending on the environment given. As I grow older I commence to cerebrate that my life is getting harder and more challenging due to the pressure emanating from parents and school. The challenges give me motivations to work even harder until I achieve my goals, and dreams in life. Every stage of life starting from toddler to teenager to adult and then to old carries the permutation of both happiness and sadness. While some people feel delighted of talking about teenage years, some cherish their adulthood, even old age. During my current time of magnification and individuality, I have experienced a rapid amount of changes in physical and noetic attributes, which has influenced my life, dreams, relationships, and overall ecstasy.

Within my time in Child Protective Services, I had experienced a consistent amount of lying, which to me was a new experience. I was forced to adapt by listening to, two almost completely different stories, then pick out the similarities, and fill in the blanks. There were several times when a couple would lie for one another but have stories so far off that it was obvious neither were being truthful. We also had a family rehearse a story so that all of their stories did match one another’s but the injuries and marks were not consistent with the story at all. I do not tend to lie often because I found early on that honesty really is the best policy and I have always been my friend and families safe haven so no one has ever felt the need to lie to me as much as I experienced with CPS. I had to break my trusting habits and listen to everything as something that I will be investigating later to ensure it was the truth. In the training I was encouraged to read people or at least give it my best attempt. Investigator Samuel Nunez was extremely talented in this aspect and consistently quizzed me to ensure I was gaining the skill. There would be numerous actions one could do, or even different tones in their speech, or even switching their speaking patterns that he would be able to notice and predict why the change occurred. I found that when one is too trusting when investigating they would often look incompetent at the end of the case. Often times this is before a judge when one

Bang! The gun goes off and your life flashes before your eyes. It’s the moment I realize I need to focus in on my body’s effort and concentration to finish the course that lies before me. I’m thinking about the race most of the day and preparing mentally for what challenges can occur along the course. Could I fall and sprain or break an ankle? Could I get overheated and sick? I’ve ask myself these questions while running Cross Country for six years. But, nothing can really prepare me for what’s ahead when I’m running. When that gun goes off and everyone starts running, it’s a totally different environment. My dedication and pride got me through coming in last for four years of cross country. I learned this exact lesson as journeyed my way to each finish line, making me stronger each time.

When I was around seven, I learned a valuable lesson of listening to your parents. Even to this day my parents would bring up that time to warm us not to do anything dumb. Whenever I am near the water, it reminds me of the stupid game that my brother and I used to do.