THIS I BELIEVE
Further Refinement on Essay: Clouds Are Sweet Like Cotton Candy
“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”-Rabindranath Tagore
As a young child sitting on a plane, I admired the beautiful, burgeoning, cotton-candy-like structures visible from my window. I shouted to my family members sitting across from me to check out the stunning cloud formations that contained familiar shapes and objects. They brushed off my enthusiasm and only thought of the turbulence the clouds were creating. I saw beauty in what others may have considered an ominous force of nature. I created my own world up in the sky.
As I grew up, I recognized how fortunate I was to have this outlook on life. Life can be whatever you make it. What may seem dark and dreary to one couldmay seem warm and cozy to another. Beauty is a matter of perspective.
I believe we can’t let the dark clouds get in the way: things like capricious weather, vexing challenges in school or sports, a heavy workload, or cantankerous people. The elements around us affect who we are as individuals, but how we let them impact us is in our control. It’s up to us to find ways to re-energize our spirits. If we are determined, we can work through almost anything. School has presented many academic challenges. It is easy to feel overwhelmed, even buried, by the demands of the academic schedule, assignments, and the pressure to excel, but I have learned to work through the pressure while finding avenues for release and enjoyment. It’s up to us to find ways toI have learned that a positive attitude will re-energize my spirits. Instead of feeling as though clouds are hovering over me and casting a deep, dark shadow over my life, I strive to remain optimistic with small rewards or reinforcements that keep me looking up through life’s struggles.
There will always be a cloud in the sky. Life is not about waiting for the right moment or the ideal condition. If we do, we will miss the beauty of the present. We can have wonderful experiences in both the rain and the clouds. Skiing, biking, running, and long boarding in the rain have been some of my most memorable moments. I vividly remember standing at the top of a mogul course during a freestyle ski competition, dripping wet from the rain soaking my clothes. I could barely see through my foggy goggles past the first few moguls of a 200-meter course. I knew that it was my opportunity to focus, dig deep, and not let the poor conditions dampen my mental attitude. Stepping outside of my comfort zone was frightening and made me feel vulnerable, but it made me stronger.
I think of clouds as opportunities to appreciate everything life provides for me each day. We can all create exhilarating shapes in our minds because life is beautiful if we have the right perspectives. I don’t let dark clouds stop me from proceeding. The time is now: the present. I choose to enjoy it. Maybe I’ll get lucky and it will rain.
As a young child sitting on a plane, I admired the beautiful, burgeoning, cotton-candy-like structures visible from my window. I shouted to my family members sitting across from me to check out the stunning cloud formations that contained familiar shapes and objects. They brushed off my enthusiasm and only thought of the turbulence the clouds were creating. I saw beauty in what others may have considered an ominous force of nature. I created my own world up in the sky.
As I grew up, I recognized how fortunate I was to have this outlook on life. Life can be whatever you make it. What may seem dark and dreary to one couldmay seem warm and cozy to another. Beauty is a matter of perspective.
I believe we can’t let the dark clouds get in the way: things like capricious weather, vexing challenges in school or sports, a heavy workload, or cantankerous people. The elements around us affect who we are as individuals, but how we let them impact us is in our control. It’s up to us to find ways to re-energize our spirits. If we are determined, we can work through almost anything. School has presented many academic challenges. It is easy to feel overwhelmed, even buried, by the demands of the academic schedule, assignments, and the pressure to excel, but I have learned to work through the pressure while finding avenues for release and enjoyment. It’s up to us to find ways toI have learned that a positive attitude will re-energize my spirits. Instead of feeling as though clouds are hovering over me and casting a deep, dark shadow over my life, I strive to remain optimistic with small rewards or reinforcements that keep me looking up through life’s struggles.
There will always be a cloud in the sky. Life is not about waiting for the right moment or the ideal condition. If we do, we will miss the beauty of the present. We can have wonderful experiences in both the rain and the clouds. Skiing, biking, running, and long boarding in the rain have been some of my most memorable moments. I vividly remember standing at the top of a mogul course during a freestyle ski competition, dripping wet from the rain soaking my clothes. I could barely see through my foggy goggles past the first few moguls of a 200-meter course. I knew that it was my opportunity to focus, dig deep, and not let the poor conditions dampen my mental attitude. Stepping outside of my comfort zone was frightening and made me feel vulnerable, but it made me stronger.
I think of clouds as opportunities to appreciate everything life provides for me each day. We can all create exhilarating shapes in our minds because life is beautiful if we have the right perspectives. I don’t let dark clouds stop me from proceeding. The time is now: the present. I choose to enjoy it. Maybe I’ll get lucky and it will rain.
Original Essay: Clouds Are Sweet Like Cotton Candy
“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”-Rabindranath Tagore
As a young child sitting on a plane, I admired the beautiful, burgeoning, cotton candy-like structures out my window. I shouted to my family members, sitting across from me, to check out the stunning cloud formations that contained familiar shapes and objects. They brushed my enthusiasm off and only thought of the turbulence the clouds were creating. I saw beauty in what others may have considered an ominous force of nature. I created my own world up in the sky. As I grew up, I recognized how fortunate I was to have this outlook on life. Life can be whatever you make it. What may seem dark and dreary to one may seem warm and cozy to another. Beauty is a matter of perspective.
I believe we can’t let obstacles (dark clouds) get in the way: things like capricious weather, vexing challenges in school or sports, a heavy workload, or cantankerous people. The elements around us affect who we are as individuals. How we let them affect is in our control. It’s up to us to find ways to re-energize our spirits. If we are determined, we can work through almost anything. I like to look at the clouds as they begin to darken as though the rain will come pouring down and wash away all my troubles. Instead of feeling as though clouds hover over me and prevent the sun from breaking through to shine up my day, I think of them as beautiful shapes and patterns causing my imagination to run wild in uplifting ways.
There will always be a cloud in the sky. Life is not about waiting for the right moment or the ideal condition, because you’ll miss the beauty of the present. Life is full of difficulties and barriers; happiness is just a matter of how you navigate through them and view the experience you are having along the way. You can have wonderful experiences in both the rain and the clouds. Skiing, biking and running in the rain have been some of my most memorable moments. Stepping outside of my comfort zone is sometimes frightening and makes me feel vulnerable, but in most cases it is fulfilling. Sometimes it is fun to live life on the edge and get caught in a storm or maybe get your hair a little wet. After all, the movement of clouds represents the passing of time. Time is fleeting. Don’t waste it.
Think of clouds as opportunities to appreciate everything life provides for us each day. Create exhilarating shapes in your mind because life is beautiful if you have the right perspective. Don’t let dark clouds stop you from proceeding. The time is now: the present. Enjoy. Maybe you will get lucky and it will rain.
Project Reflection
For our ‘This I Believe’ project I was required to write an essay based on a core belief that explains who I am as a person and explains my personal philosophy, or what I think is most important in life. In order to get our ideas flowing, as a class we created a list of our beliefs on the board. We had discussions about what we believe about America and what our personal philosophies are about life in general. Later we were given an assignment to write a credo. This assignment required us to create a statement that describes the belief we chose to share. This credo was narrowed down to 250 words. This assignment helped build a strong topic paragraph for our ‘This I Believe’ project. This assignment helped us focus on skills we should be striving to use in our essay such as: narrative coherence, communal relevance, and authentic voice. To get a good understanding of a ‘This I Believe’ essay we read excellent examples of essays written by writers from all over the United States.
In order to decide on a topic I created a list of my five top core beliefs. With each core belief I wrote down as much evidence and as many stories as I could use to back up each belief. Then I chose the core belief that would be most intriguing to write about. Throughout this project I grew as a person because in order to fully express my core belief; I had to spend a lot of time reflecting on it. Looking back at my essay I am really proud of how I portrayed my personality throughout the paper. After refining many different drafts, I finally came to the final product. I am really satisfied that I could use my unique outlook on clouds in the essay in a way that is effective and relates to many different people. I tried many different techniques to get the reader eager to read more from the introduction.
The task of creating an essay with 500 words or less was challenging and taught me to write concisely and not include anything that was unnecessary. Writing meaningfully and effectively by supporting my ideas with evidence, creating a metaphor that connected to all readers, choosing my vocabulary carefully, and refinement was really important while writing this essay. I was continually was faced with new challenges I had to preserver through such as: using correct grammar, relating everything back to my belief, and using a metaphor in the right way so that it was easy to follow and understand.
If I had more time to refine my essay I would have included a specific event where I didn’t let obstacles bring me down in the essay. However, since it was limited to 500 words I had to use my words wisely. I think that this would have added to the essay in a good way, but having the challenge of keeping my words to a limit caused me to decide otherwise. Also I would have to take out some of my examples or stories that make my essay express who I am and back up my belief nicely. Some goals as a writer are to be able to demonstrate common uses of language throughout paragraphs and sentences.
Participating in this conversation has helped me grow as a person because I have learned to clearly express my belief about life. I think that this is important for everyone to express and reflect on their beliefs. Expressing your beliefs can change the way others look at things. I personally think it is imperative to always have a positive outlook on things. My essay is all about how you look at things and your perspective of things. I used clouds as an example for daily obstacles we are all faced with each day but have to make it through and continue on with our life. By looking at things in an optimistic way, it has helped me stay happier as an individual and helps me look for the beauty in objects or life around me.
In order to decide on a topic I created a list of my five top core beliefs. With each core belief I wrote down as much evidence and as many stories as I could use to back up each belief. Then I chose the core belief that would be most intriguing to write about. Throughout this project I grew as a person because in order to fully express my core belief; I had to spend a lot of time reflecting on it. Looking back at my essay I am really proud of how I portrayed my personality throughout the paper. After refining many different drafts, I finally came to the final product. I am really satisfied that I could use my unique outlook on clouds in the essay in a way that is effective and relates to many different people. I tried many different techniques to get the reader eager to read more from the introduction.
The task of creating an essay with 500 words or less was challenging and taught me to write concisely and not include anything that was unnecessary. Writing meaningfully and effectively by supporting my ideas with evidence, creating a metaphor that connected to all readers, choosing my vocabulary carefully, and refinement was really important while writing this essay. I was continually was faced with new challenges I had to preserver through such as: using correct grammar, relating everything back to my belief, and using a metaphor in the right way so that it was easy to follow and understand.
If I had more time to refine my essay I would have included a specific event where I didn’t let obstacles bring me down in the essay. However, since it was limited to 500 words I had to use my words wisely. I think that this would have added to the essay in a good way, but having the challenge of keeping my words to a limit caused me to decide otherwise. Also I would have to take out some of my examples or stories that make my essay express who I am and back up my belief nicely. Some goals as a writer are to be able to demonstrate common uses of language throughout paragraphs and sentences.
Participating in this conversation has helped me grow as a person because I have learned to clearly express my belief about life. I think that this is important for everyone to express and reflect on their beliefs. Expressing your beliefs can change the way others look at things. I personally think it is imperative to always have a positive outlook on things. My essay is all about how you look at things and your perspective of things. I used clouds as an example for daily obstacles we are all faced with each day but have to make it through and continue on with our life. By looking at things in an optimistic way, it has helped me stay happier as an individual and helps me look for the beauty in objects or life around me.