It has crossed my mind many times just how much each topic I have written about in the past five months have related to each other.
As I considered this, I often wondered if connecting the topics together would result in a bigger learning opportunity and teach me more about each topic.
For those who don’t know, so far we have talked about courage, creativity, gratitude, hope, and finally change. At first, when I was looking at each of the topics I was going to write about it didn’t seem as though any of these would cross over into the other categories.
But as I started writing each topic, I noticed how I would learn something new about the month before. I started having so much of these thoughts that I decided that I would dedicate a post to connecting these topics together.
WARNING: Long post ahead.
Having the Courage to Create
After writing about Creativity, this was one topic that I kept on thinking about.
When we create, we have to take a part of ourselves and put that into a piece of art or a story, or anything else. Sometimes as we do this it becomes a struggle of motivation and having the courage to create something that we put our heart into.
I remember my high school English class. We had an assignment to be a part of a mock trial. We each got to pick a role in the trial and be that person for a whole day and at the end, the jury would decide whether the person was innocent or not.
When I heard of this assignment, I knew I wanted to be the prosecutor or the defense attorney. I actually wanted to pick what side I was really passionate about, but when the time came for me to choose, I found the two spots taken. I was so disappointed.
To make this even worse, the night before I had told my dad about this assignment and how I really wanted to be the defense attorney. He took this as a learning opportunity and taught me how to make a great case from both sides so I could do both if needed.
So after doing all this work, I was going to be one of the witnesses. I was bummed that I had done all that work since I had put my heart and soul into it.
But after the initial day had passed and I ended up using all of my notes because the actual defense attorney didn’t do his homework, I realized that no matter what role I played, I had fun anyway.
(If you want to explore this topic more, I would recommend this article that you can read here.)
Creativity Causes Change
Have you heard about what Mark Zuckerberg has done with his workers?
About a year ago, I listened to Zuckerberg’s sister give a speech about innovation and creativity in the workplace. Apparently, Facebook hosts a day where they allow their workers to work on one thing they have always wanted to create for 24 hours.
While some create things that could work with their job, others write stories, build robots, and do anything else they can think of whether it works or not.
This has created a change within Facebook, where sometimes, their workers actually create something useful for the company. This creative spree creates change whether it is for others or for themselves, even if what they create is completely useless.
I personally think that was a great idea. I know that I often spend too much time on social media or on other tasks that don’t relate to what I really want to do, which is write.
Imagine what we could do if we just spent less time on distractions and actually did something that could create a drive for change.
I recently saw pictures from a fashion show where the designer created pieces that basically told people to get off their phones. I wondered if the designer’s work ever got people talking about how much time we spend on our phones.
I’m sure there are more meaningful, creative projects just like this fashion show. There are creations that cause change and give people inspiration to create more things that then change the world again. I have enjoyed seeing what people have created to help change the world for the better.
(Just as a note, there is more I wanted to say on this matter, but I feel like Medium Corporation does a good job of this so you can read more here.)
Gratitude Will Give You Hope
During the month that I wrote about hope, I interviewed an amazing woman named Becky. During the interview, she talked about how she thinks gratitude leads to hope.
Becky said, “I feel that hope is to view the world with eyeglasses of gratitude.” She is right in thinking that the two are very closely related. When she said that, I immediately wanted to talk to her about the hope and gratitude and how they are connected.
“I was reading the Sermon on the Mount one time,” she said. “It was talking about ‘blessed are the peacemakers’ and I looked at the footnotes and it said that peacemakers meant contentment.
“It opened my mind because I thought, ‘it’s true’. Contentment to me is tied to gratitude. Because when we are living in this world of so much materialism there is a lot of focus. And we need to have a roof over our head and food in our bellies.
“I feel like we are content with what we have and are grateful, you know? I look at some people that have hardly anything and they are some of the happiest, content people.”
Becky is a naturally hopeful and grateful person, but she also shows just how closely related both of these topics are.
If you aren’t grateful for what you have or the people around you then how are you suppose to have hope?
Taking time to have gratitude will make you more hopeful and I think it is one of the best connections that I have made during this journey since the start of my blog. T
Change Leads to Hope
Sometimes I feel like the world is a horrible place.
I go to school, go to my classes where I learn that the media is always trying to trick us, and how people are trying to deceive us on a day-to-day basis, and I stop thinking about how good people are and can be.
One day I was walking on campus and saw an exhibit about racism. The exhibit had information about people like Martin Luther King Jr. and others such as Rosa Parks. Seeing that, I started to feel a tiny bit of hope.
I felt hopeful about how much we have changed as a world, and after I saw that exhibit I started to think about how much better it can get.
How many people in the world have a yearning for the world to get better, do you think?
If there are people like that, then I am one of them.
Ever since I was little I have asked myself why people can’t love one another. Every time there was someone who hurt me or someone who decided to hurt someone else, I asked that question. I just wanted more than anything in the world for people to love others and care for them.
After a while, I started wondering if there was anyone out in the world who feels the same way. A person who just wants to see a neighbor serving their neighbor. A person who sees someone in need and helps no matter what. A person who sees the hate and wishes for there to be love instead.
After seeing that exhibit I know there is. If a person can stand up for what they believe in and can create a change in the world that will make it a better place, I know that that person is like me.
And that gives me hope.
We, as the world, have come a long way to get to where we are and I hope that we can all learn that with great steps for change, there is going to be hope. Hope that the world is a good place, and that it can still get better.
