Up Close and Personal

  There’s nothing I hate more than trusting another object to keep me from plummeting to my death. It doesn’t even have to be a dangerous height and I still get nervous. This isn’t one of those small fears either, like being afraid of sharks or spiders. I’ll start sweating and my heart pumping if I ever get put somewhere too high. The thing is, it’s specific situations that really scare the bejesus out of me. Either I’m on the very edge of a very tall cliff, or I’m on a manmade contraption that doesn’t have enclosed rooms or solid ground. I can be on the 100 th floor of a building and be fine or look out over a valley on a tall mountain with no worries. This fear has been with me my whole life, but I never truly acknowledged it until the day I climbed up the watch tower in eastern Illinois for the first time. The tower didn’t even look that tall from where I was standing on the ground, maybe 20 stories or so. It looked relatively sturdy too with four big metal legs with tons o...

               I’ve entertained the idea of getting a flip phone. I glorify the stories my dad tells us about the days when he would entertain himself by playing basketball with his friends till dusk instead of scrolling through social media. Then I think of all the things that I would be missing if I didn’t have my phone. How would I take photos? Use Discord to text friends? look up something on the internet? I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make the switch. With a flip phone, I would still have all the essential functions that come with a normal phone: texting and calling. However, I would gain hours of free time throughout the week that I’m no longer using to scroll on Instagram. It would also limit the number of distractions that pull me away from finishing homework and most importantly I couldn’t hide behind the screen when I’m around other people. At my job as a lifeguard, we would get breaks every hour and a half or so. I despise...

  No cell service, no civilization, 50-pound pack and miles to walk. This is what my family does for fun. Thunderstorms, sweltering heat, and hordes of mosquitoes are just a few of the pleasantries I’ve experienced on these trips. Camping has its highs and lows, and yeah, sometimes lying on a beach in Hawaii sounds comfier, but I love being out there. It’s a sanctuary from the distractions of everyday life for my family to spend time together.  At home there’s always something more to do: clean your room, respond to emails, go to soccer practice, finish homework. These days, only once a week everyone in my family is around to sit at the dinner table together. Out in the wilderness all the responsibilities disappear and without phones, checking emails, texts, or social media is out of the question.                As a kid I didn’t notice the freedom camping brings, mainly because I didn’t have to. I could...

“Be kind whenever possible, it is always possible.”   - Dalai Lama             A piece of paper with those words hangs on our refrigerator, peeking out behind other pictures and artwork that’s been hung over the years.             That’s the motto I try to live by, but as long as I am still driving, I don’t think I can ever achieve that level of kindness.         There’s something that happens when it comes to driving that I can’t help but think and act a little cruelly towards the other drivers. As if the barrier created by the cars is enough to let my true thoughts and actions show through. However, i n my day-to-day life I give people the benefit of doubt. Yeah, they might have been a little curt, but we all have those days. I do my best to make other people’s lives a little easier so they can have a more enjoyable day. So, it's a bit ...

As a kid I always envisioned that I would have lots of kids, so they could have a big family like mine. It’s like this whole little community right at the tip of your fingers. For me, my family’s my doctor, tutor, party partner, therapist, entertainment and basically my most valuable resource. At the center of it all are my parents. They’re the ones that have kept us sane through the years and made sure we shaped up okay. One of the most monumental injuries I got as a kid was when I busted my chin open. We all had gone to a park and my brother Ethan, my sister Eve, and I had discovered that if someone stands in the middle of the seesaw and pushes down by shifting their weight while two other people sit in the designated seats you could get it going extra fast. We got it going so fast once that I lost control of my body and came slamming down on the handlebar with my chin, giving myself a sizable wound along with a chipped tooth.  My mom, calm as ever, brought me home, made a quick ...

                 It’s a thick band, around one cm wide, polished gold and so clean that you can see your reflection on it. Love over fear . Those are the words engraved in capital letters along the outside of the ring.                When I first saw it, it made me cry despite my best efforts not to. It wasn’t anything too special, just a 20-dollar ring, but it made me so happy to have it. My brother, Ethan, had gifted it to me because of our shared interest in a brand called Seek Discomfort. The saying love over fear comes from their motto that the best adventures in life come from discomfort. Ever since I heard about this brand, I have been conscious about making little effort to get out of my comfort zone and trust myself. Now that I had the ring, I felt the urge to do something big, something to mark my commitment to a new confident me an...