Happy December!

Minutes: December 1, 2011 

Pat, Andrew, Ali, Laura, Remi, Elizabeth, Katie, and Angela were holding down the fort tonight.

Remi brought delicious Butter Finger cookies. Nom.

For our “icebreaker” we watched Lady Gaga’s new video for “Marry The Night”

If you want to watch it, click the link! Warning: it’s 14 minutes long so if you have a paper due tomorrow, you probably shouldn’t watch. Actually, you should probably take this opportunity for a study break. Also, it’s Gaga, so this video is not for the faint-hearted. http://perezhilton.com/tv/Lady_GaGa_Marry_the_Night_Official_Music_Video/?id=1c446dcfbbb97&autoplay=false

For our Christmas CD Exchange with Pittsburg State University (It’s actually in Kansas) we are going to include one favorite song from each of us. Go to the Google Doc and fill in your song of choice.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjckG0Q3hzR0dDJlVjRCVE5CdnkwcUEwRmxDMWdadWc

We will have a table on the mall next week for TWLOHA Day. (Perhaps inside because there’s currently snow everywhere.) It will include Fears vs. Dreams. If you aren’t familiar with this campaign, watch this video: http://www.twloha.com/blog/new-video-fears-vs-dreams-1

Please sign up for the table using the Google Doc. Yay for Google Docs making life easier!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjckG0Q3hzR0dHl2REx5R0lvWV9GdlRvVndSWHRoT0E

Don’t forget about the Christmas party and Secret Santa CD exchange next week, December 6^th. Let’s make some awesome CDs for our fraaands!

We sporcled…a lot. Subject matter: Celebrity smiles, word ladders, Harry Potter. Sorry, you had to be there. Sporcle for even more procrastination! Do your homework too though, kids.

We completely forgot to do Highs and Lows…preposterous, I know.

Of course, one of the Harper workers yelled at us to leave. We just like each other, okay?! Gosh.

Sorry if those were annoying minutes, guys. I’m sleep deprived and hopped up on drugs from being incredibly ill. 

An Actual Meeting: We Got Stuff Done On Time

 

In attendance: Karissa, Laura, Elizabeth, Andrew, Liz, Jordan, Katie, and Remi

 

Discussed face shapes

-then puppy chow

 

When should we have TWLOHA Day? (we make our own National Awareness Days)

-We can mix it with Fear vs. Dreams

Fear vs. Dreams

What's your biggest fear? What's your greatest dream?

• Like Roe v. Wade, it's going down in history.
• With headless photos
  • To be displayed at the spring event.

• White board with colored markers

Dead Week: Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

December 6th-8th 11am-3pm

 

Christmas party and CD secret Santa on the 6th of December

 - New people were put on the list, This is going to be exciting guys!

 

We are doing the Mixed CDs with the rest of the U Chapters, also.. This is happening.

• We will choose our favorite songs from the cds made for each other and will be putting them on one CD for the other school.

 

Then Highs and Lows

We got finished up before we got yelled at to leave. The desk workers should be proud.

 

We missed Patrick because we LOVE HIM!!!

 

A member of TWLOHA is trying out for Glee:::

Thegleeprojectcasting.com/auditions/view/3290361

GO LIKE HER AUDITION TAPE! It's a touching story and a good song, and we all listened very intently.

 

Peace,

 

Katie Watson

Panda Guts are Irrelevant

Minutes: November 3, 2011

Pat, Katie, Angela, Liz, Laura, Ali, and Claire were present.

We googled fun things like “google gravity” (I’m feeling lucky), “do a barrel roll,” and “tilt.” Try it!

We watched a couple videos of the slam poet Anis Mogjani, who we will be going to see next week instead of having a meeting! So meet at the Skutt fireplace next week a little before 9:00

Check out the videos we watched:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATC5OGh3adg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u--_-tyuejc

We discussed the articles Pat emailed us. Here they are again if you lost the links.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/23/epidemic-mental-illness-why/?pagination=false

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/aug/18/illusions-psychiatry-exchange/

We picked names out of a panda, yes that’s right, for the Secret Santa Music Exchange. Each of us will make a CD for who we picked with whatever music you’d like. If you weren’t at the meeting, don’t worry you can still do it!

We ended the meeting with highs and lows.

Event Planning-The TWLOHA Way

Minutes for 27-10-11

In attendance: Patrick, Karissa, Ali, Laura, Jordan, Elizabeth, and Katie

We started off with everyone’s favorite dog breed, Corgis were popular.
As a side-note, Sour Punch straws were a great choice.

We signed thank you cards that actually didn’t say “thank you” on them.

We are doing the Out of the Darkness Walk in the spring- This is happening.
Patrick brought up planning more events.
                -Acoustic Night (Spoken, word, open mic.) (Mime.)?
(The freshmen amaze us; furthermore, we talked about tricks that we would like to see the jogglers do.)
When? Tomorrow Night, Jordan says… or not.
-Night attendance in McGloin in winter was a consensus.

As for other events: Red flag events (placing a red flag in the ground for every suicide through a 24hour pd.
                : Thanksgiving events: What are you thankful for? With a Poster campaign?
                : Fears vs. Dreams in Skutt with pictures.

Discussing the picture made to make Patrick feel loved last year. This made Elizabeth laugh squeakily.

For the Event::: Fears vs. dreams AND TWLOHA Day—Boom. EVENT! November 13th in Skutt, we have a table for this already!

The “Flock of Birds” came out after Ali finished her Mountain Dew, which got another squeaky laugh from Elizabeth.

Then: High and Low… highS and lowS.

Patrick said this was a VERY important thing:::
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

Minutes 10/6/11

Minutes: October 6, 2011

Andrew, Angela, Katie, Liz, Remi, Juliana, Nicole, Claire, Jordan, and Pat were present.

For the icebreaker we answered the question, “If you could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would it be?”

We finished making our t-shirts for the Telling Your Story event…yaayyy!

Here’s the information for the event one more time. Get excited for tomorrow!

Telling Your Story: A Night of Music and Conversation

What: A night of music and conversation

When: Friday October 7^th from 7-11 p.m.

Where: Skutt Ballroom

Minutes 9/29/11

Minutes: September 29, 2011

Pat, Karissa, Katie, Angela, Jordan, Jared, Liz, Andrew, Dr. Ozar, Laura, Nicole, and Juliana were present.

We attempted to go around and say our favorite Disney Channel Original Movie for the icebreaker, but we just kind of yelled some out and made fun of them :)

UChapter Values

So far we talked about courage and community.

This week we talked about sensitivity:

Understanding our ability to hurt others.

Understanding what it feels like to be hurt.

Familiarity with the ways people are often hurt.

Willingness to try not to hurt others.

We didn’t have much discussion because we were so excited to do the next activity…

We made our t-shirts for the Telling Your Story event! They are super duper neat. (If you didn’t finish your shirt we will finish them next week.)

Here are the words we chose:

Poetry – Pat

Words – Jordan

Community – Andrew

Sisters – Elizabeth

Laughter - Jared

Family – Angela

Draw – Nicole

Music – Karissa

Service – Juliana

Nature – Claire

Trust – Anne

Writing – Laura

Friendship – Katie

We decided that Andrew, Jordan, and Elizabeth will talk at the event. The rest of us will get the chance to tell our stories during mingle time.

We still need to figure out who will be at the table on the mall next week. Here’s the link to a Google doc so you can sign up for times!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjckG0Q3hzR0dGVrMnpQY3BOeXktSkZ4b2xsbi0teVE&hl=en_US

We ended the meeting with highs and lows.

Last Week's MInutes! 9/22/11

Minutes: September 22, 2011

Claire, Katie, Laura, Kate, Nicole, Juliana, Liz, Andrew, Karissa (briefly, feel better!), Angela, Pat, and Jordan were present.

We did an icebreaker with the infamous question volleyball.

Telling Your Story Event

What: A night of music and conversation

When: Friday October 7^th from 7-11 p.m.

Where: Skutt Ballroom

Monday, October 3^rd we will have a canvas on the mall decorated with our words, and students will be invited to add their own words to the canvas.

The night of the event, Christian Meyer, John (Karissa’s beau), and Hilary’s brother (Pat forgets his name) will be playing!

In between artists someone from our group will go up and share part of their story. We will be wearing a word to describe our story on a white t-shirt, explaining how that word plays a part in our story.

Afterward, we will have mingle time and an opportunity to share our stories with those who ask if we didn’t get up in front of everyone to speak.

We are working on getting the event in Student News and putting up flyers. (If you would like to distribute flyers around campus, they will be in Pat’s Kiewit mailbox.) If you’re in another organization, please try to make an announcement about the event. We will also be making a Facebook event.

We need to decide who is going to go up and talk. Email Pat if you’re interested and give him a general outline of what you would like to say. We will be making t-shirts at our meeting next week.

Also, Dr. Ozar (our moderator) should be coming to our meeting next week!

UChapter Values

Tonight we discussed community:

Life lived together.

Sharing the whole of who we are.

Working, playing, eating, learning.

People who really know you – to know and be known.

To care for others and allow them to care for you.

We discussed what community means to us. Some thoughts shared were…

All of us here together is community.

Community makes you who you are, influences you.

Real community is a place where you can be who you really are and not hide any aspects of yourself.

Community is people supporting you.

Sometimes we need space, but a lot of the time we need to be around people even if we’re just being quiet together.

After Trauma, Teaching Hope

We discussed this article: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/17/resilience.after.trauma/index.html

It was about staying positive in hardship.

People who have this mindset, even if they experience a tough emotional time, bounce back quicker than other people. Further, they will have a greater appreciation for life after that rough period.

When this method was implemented in universities, rates of depression and emotional instability dropped.

This might be a good way to help others suffering with depression.

We discussed how counseling is an evaluation of your worldview and an effort to change it to a more positive worldview.

Pessimists are more likely to struggle with learned helplessness. This is an easy downward spiral to fall into.

We talked about how so many military people come back with PTSD or brain injury. Maybe this is a good way to deal with this rather than just admitting them into a hospital setting. However, some people may think going through this program makes them seem weak or they just don’t want to put themselves in a vulnerable situation so that is a challenge.

We discussed how important it is to have support systems. (Like TWLOHA!)

Finally, Pat told us that we will be having “share your story sessions” in the future. If you’re interested in sharing your story, send Pat an email, and he will set up a date with you.

We ended the meeting with highs and lows.

Minutes 9/8

Minutes September 8, 2011

Pat, Lanaia, Laura, Jared, Madeline, Sarah, Remi, Katie, Angela, Liz, Jordan, Ali, and Karissa were present.

Since it was our first meeting, we did an icebreaker to help get to know everyone. We each took three dots (as in the candy), and each dot meant you had to share a different thing about yourself. Red was a fear, orange was somewhere you want to visit, yellow was a career aspiration, green was something you envy, and blue was a quirk about yourself.

Side note: Jordan earned her blue belt in Taekwondo tonight! Woo!

Pat showed us a prezi he made about TWLOHA. It was awesomeness. To learn more about TWLOHA visit http://www.twloha.com

TWLOHA has a specific set of values that are important to us. Today we chose to talk about courage.

Courage: Facing fears that keep us stuck. Raising your hand for help. Breaking the cycle of shame. Fighting a stigma that feels like a giant. Getting help for the first time. Asking a difficult question. Helping, not fixing.

Upcoming Events

Out of the Darkness Walk

When: Saturday September 10^th at noon

Where: We will be meeting at Deglman circle at 11:30 and walking to the event together. (It’s close; don’t worry.) Wear your Creighton TWLOHA shirt if you have one.

DIRECTIONS TO REGISTER (Please register before the event on Saturday.)

Go to http://www.outofthedarkness.org

Find participant/team search in purple and type in “TWLOHA Creighton UChapter”

Click on our team and then “Join This Team”

Telling Your Story: A Night of Music and Conversation

When: Friday October 7^th from 7-11 p.m.

Where: Skutt Ballroom

The theme will be “Telling Your Story.” A week before the event we will have a canvas out on the mall with bolded black words on it that represent a part of each of our stories.  (Note: we want to focus on positives; things that have helped us through hard times.) Students will be invited to add to the canvas with words describing their own stories. The night of the event, we will be wearing white shirts with the word we chose bolded in black across the chest. We will have a band playing, and then a few of us will get up and share part of our stories. Then we will have a period of conversation where others can share their own stories and ask us more about ours.

To prepare for this event, we need to take care of a few things.

Jordan volunteered to look into pricing and places to get the canvas.

Some ideas for musicians: Nick Stukel, Mike Rios, Christian Meyer, Hillary’s brother, John Darwin, Jozef Pavnika. We will be emailing them to ask if they’re interested.

We brainstormed some ideas for snacks, which we will be getting through Sodexo.

Jared volunteered to make some flyers to get the word out.

We also brainstormed ideas for our bold words to describe our stories. Some examples are: dance, singing, friendship, books, etc.

Finally…

We had sharing time! We talked about our Labor Day weekends and ended the meeting with Highs and Lows for the week.

Hope to see you all on Saturday and at the meeting next Thursday!

Minutes 4/7

Caitlin, Biz, Milana, Liz, Katie, Hilary, Andrew, Elizabeth, Pat, Karissa, Ali, and Angela were present.

Karissa brought our awesome new t-shirts! Please pay her if you have not already. The shirts are $15 and you may pay with cash or a check made out to Karissa Carrillo. (P.S. The shirts have the TWLOHA story on the inside!)

Next we held elections. Congratulations to our new officers!
Co-Presidents: Pat and Karissa
Vice President: Milana
Secretary: Angela first semester, Katie second semester
Treasurer: Hiladrew…Andrew first semester, Hilary second semester
Historian: Elizabeth

We played Heads Up 7 Up, but instead of 7 people we had 3 so I guess it was Heads Up 3 Up?

The UChapter Tumblr blog is doing spotlights on Uchapters. Next week we will answer some questions about our chapter and take a group picture to submit.

Also, Milana is going to bake a “To Write Love On Her Cake” cake to celebrate Patrick’s internship with TWLOHA this summer! Yay Pat!

As usual, we ended the meeting with highs and lows.


As an addendum! I, Elizabeth Johnson, being the new Historian. Am posting here from now on. YOu're welcome :)

Minutes 3/31

Minutes 3/31

Pat, Caitlin, Milana, Angela, Hillary, Katie, and Liz were present.

We discussed Katy Perry’s marriage to Russell Brand. Some members approved while others did not. Milana thinks he has “too much eyebrows.”

Then Pat played “Peacock” by Katy Perry and proceeded to dance.

Caitlin, Liz, and Milana played with balloons, and it was highly entertaining.

Ok, on to the actual meeting…

Pat talked about elections, which will be next week. Send nominations to him via email. (The positions include President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Historian.)

The meeting next week will be in Harper in the normal room. We will probably just do elections next week and that’s all.

Tonight for our meeting we attempted to make Postsecrets, but ended up just making signs and such. Yay!

We ended the meeting with highs and lows.

Minutes 2/17

Milana, Caitlin, Liz, Hilary, Pat, Andrew, Katie, and Angela were present.

We started off the meeting very “Rude!” (not really, but it’s fun to say)

Pat talked about the new newsletters every UChapter will be getting monthly. He will send it out in an e-mail.

Some news: Denny from headquarters is stepping down from the UChapters director and Holly is taking over. He got into grad school to get his Masters in counseling…yay Denny!

Pat talked about the TWLOHA Street Team. If you belong to the team you can promote TWLOHA and get points, which are like store credits and you can get free stuff! Yeah stuff! Go to http://towriteloveonherarms.fancorps.com/headquarters/groups to sign up! (Make sure to let Pat or Karissa know your user name so they can send it to headquarters.)

We watched a video from headquarters about the TWLOHA Intern Program. It’s a really awesome opportunity. Watch the video to learn more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dILAUKV9Kus

We went over some constitution updates from headquarters. We talked a lot about headquarters today, as you can see.

Oh hey, another thing from headquarters. It’s called the Laude Program. It’s a point system designed to recognize chapters who actually do stuff. We can get points by having programs, fund raisers, benefits, tabling, having a committee, having a Facebook or Twitter page, and enrolling members on the wiki page. Chapters can also be nominated for Chapter of the Year, Chapter Member of the Year, etc.

Hilary told us about an unfortunate suicide that recently happened in her hometown. She thought she would just bring it up because it’s relevant to our club. Even though you didn’t know him, please keep his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Pat attempted to hand out the notes for Project Positivity this week, but it didn’t really work out. Monday he was sick and Tuesday it was really windy and the notes kept blowing away. Sad day. So we still need to hand them out! We think it’s best to wait till it gets warm again because more people are on the mall.

We discussed starting to have dues to help raise money for the Purpose for the Pain event (to pay for the sound equipment) and the TWLOHA tour coming in the fall.

We decided to have a To Write Love on Her Arms Day on March 16^th. (The day before Lady Gaga…ahh!) Milana is making the Facebook event while I’m typing this. We will have a table on the mall so people can write love on their arms.

Acoustic Night will be March 31^st. If you have any ideas for artists or want to help in any way, let Pat know. (PatrickMiranda@creighton.edu)

We ended the meeting with highs and lows. 

Minutes 2/10

Meeting Minutes:

Pat, Katie, Elizabeth, Caitlin, and Milana were present.

We shared some laughs and watched a music video by our very own Elizabeth on youtube. (youtube.com/lizmo21)

We then read Karissa’s post on the blog about the truth in the statement “Life goes on” then discussed and shared.

Caitlin’s birthday is 3/14 and Pat’s birthday is 3/17… (see the connection?)

Event planning

TWLOHA day (people write “love” on their arms and happiness ensues).

Wednesday, March 16^th  (The one day of the week after spring break that some people might not be hungover… email Milana for more details on this logic. milanajordan@creighton.edu)

Then we “ch-ch-ch-choo”-ed

Pat did the Single Ladies dance… then he kicked a field goal and it was GOOOOOD!

Acoustic Night! (Thursday, March 31)

(We’re working on getting artists for this)

If you have any suggestions email Pat (patrickmiranda@creighton.edu)

We watched this lovely video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv3tadz5Q3o)

            -Then we got distracted watching “related videos”

We watched the Youtube classic “End of ze world”

We watched the Bed Intruder Christmas Carol song

 We discussed our ringtones and how epic they all are

Follow the leader on the mall… ‘nuff said

Life Goes On.

Life goes on.

Three words that are hard for me to believe sometimes. Last year I thought I had finally gotten my life in order. My depression and anxiety were under control. My good days were outnumbering the bad for the first time in quite a while. Then my luck turned. My best friend and last serious boyfriend died in a motorcycle accident 2 days before I was supposed to return to Omaha from Fall Break. October 23. I’ll always remember the day. At the young age of 20 a life was lost and a part of me was lost with him. I got lost in my grieving for so long that my grades and friendships suffered. I cut myself off from the world because I didn’t think I could go on without him. I was convinced I would never feel anything again. I believed that that this pain, loneliness and feeling of hopelessness would never leave me.

Then my friends started slowly wading into the deep pool of pain I had created for myself. Inch by inch they led me out. Day by day they showed me how much of my life I was missing. Hug by hug they showed me the love that still surrounded me. Laugh by laugh they reminded me that life goes on. I have been blindsided by loss again this year and put back on the path to that pain I know far too well. And once again I was reminded that life goes on. I’m still here and still breathing. I am still loved and I can still love. There is so much more of my life to live.

I’m lucky to have friends that are brave enough to reach out to me and remind me of everything that is good and lovely in this world. I have friends that play beautiful music. They play songs that reach out and remind me of all the passion surrounding me. I have friends that can make me smile, laugh, and cry simply by being courageous enough to string word after word into a moving passage. Friends that know when to listen and when to talk. Friends that aren’t afraid of my pain. Friends that can calm me down and bring me back to reality when I lose sight of everything but myself and my pain. Friends that love me enough to answer my calls at 2 in the morning no matter how much they have going on in their own lives.

I’d like to thank them for being brave. I’d like to thank them for staying around. I’d like to thank them for loving me when I can’t find it within to love myself.

Every now and then we need to rely on people. Trusting doesn’t come easily to me. I’ve been hurt so many more times than I’ve been helped or than I’ve healed. Every tear I shed because someone wasn’t there to comfort me makes it that much harder to trust someone the next time I’m hurt.

I have realized that life goes on. We’ve all heard it so many times that sometimes we can’t see the truth in it. It’s true that sometimes we fall and break. Sometimes we feel like we are walking this Earth alone. Sometimes we are so far in the dark that we forget light exists. We are so deep in our loneliness that we forget that other people exist, and care about us. We fall so deep into our struggles that we lose hope.

Never give up. Even when it seems like there’s nothing to be found in the darkness, there’s always hope and love. Even when it seems like you’ve been losing an awful lot, remember that you always have your friends to lean on. 

With hope,

Karissa

2/3/11

TWLOHA Minutes 2/3/11

Pat, Katie, Elizabeth, Milana, Caitlin, Angela, and Hilary were present.

We worked on decorating boxes for Project Positivity. We will put the boxes in the residence halls and invite people to submit positive notes. Then we will hand the notes out on the mall on Valentine’s Day and make people smile. (Note: We will not be presenting this event as being connected with Valentine’s Day even though it will be on Valentine’s Day.)

Oh, and we ate yummy snacks :D

Minutes 1/27/11

TWLOHA Minutes 1/27/11

Pat, Karissa, Hilary, Elizabeth, Angela, Katie, Soko, Jimmy, Jared, and Irsa were present.

Highs and Lows about our breaks was the icebreaker.

Pat read the latest post on the blog aloud.

We had some discussion time and talked about what a new year means to us. We mentioned that a good way to think of a new year is a fresh start, but how that can sometimes be hard.

We talked about New Year’s Resolutions and made some if we didn’t have one.

Soko: I will sleep eight hours every night.

Karissa: I will be more honest with myself, and trust others with how I’m feeling.

Pat: I will try to find something bigger than myself.

Hilary: I will not get caught up in work and try to be more social.

Angela: I will live more in the moment and not unnecessarily worry about the past or future.

Group Resolution: We will support each other and our community.

Goals for the Semester

Purpose for the Pain Event

Red Flag Event (see the minutes from December 2^nd for details)

Fundraising – Hilary had the idea to have an event where vendors would rent a space and we would also charge a small fee for admission. Karissa thought maybe we could get other organizations on campus involved.

We are working on flyers to put around campus.

PEAC has given us the responsibility to bring an Out of Darkness Walk to campus.

Karissa talked about the wiki page. An e-mail will be sent out with the information on how to access the page. We want to try to start using it more.

We talked about possibly having a Valentine’s Day event. An idea was to put boxes at all the front desks and have people write positive notes and submit them. Then we would hand them out on the mall to make people’s days a little brighter. We decided to work on this at an upcoming meeting.

Where do we go from here?

This is a new year filled with all the possibility of new beginnings. New hopes and new dreams, new goals and new resolutions. This is the time of year that we can be hopeful. Something has to go better this year than last year. Still, a new year brings with it negatives too: new failures, new disgraces, new screw ups and new crazy. So, where do we go from here?

Forward. We go forward. But how?

Courage. Courage, friend, and we'll be okay. In the words of Satellite, "We've got to find a way to love again." While we have the chance, let's love again. Let's learn to love each day and its possibilities. Let's learn to love each other. Let's learn the importance of not being alone, and the support of community. Let's learn the magic of finding passion and doing something we love. Let's learn to move forward, to stop dwelling on the past and just live.

It's hard, I know. Trust me, I know. I know what it's like to wake up and feel like the weight of the world is on top of you. I know what it's like to be heading to the door and have a wave of panic rip through you without consideration for how well you were doing that day. I  know what it's like to sit on the floor in a ball, rocking back and forth as if the motion will somehow make you forget the emotion and the tears streaming down your face. I know. And I know you know. But, we can't give up. We can't let our demons win, because we deserve to live. We can do this.

Courage.
And we'll be okay.

with hope,
pat

Happy New Years

New Years is a time of joy for most. For others it can be the hardest time of year. I've experienced both types of New Years, but every year I am reminded of the same things. I am reminded that although a new calendar is being put up, the pain and heartache of 2010 will always remain. The mistakes I made and regrets I have do not disappear with last year but do indeed carry over to this new year. The friends I have made will (hopefully) remain and the friends I lost will most likely remain lost. A new year does not entirely wipeout the past. However, with the new year comes new possibilities and new hope. I am able to look forward to the experiences 2011 will bring my way, whether they be happy or sad, constructive or destructive. I can hardly imagine the adventures and friends I will discover. This is a time where I can recognize and work on my faults. A time where I can also recognize and expand on the good inside of me. I can fix, alter, and grow. I have hope that this year might be better than the last. Hope that I can grow into a bigger and better person.

Hope. Maybe that’s what New Years is really about. Hope that a new year will bring something better than we’ve had. Hope that there is something better out there. Hope that we haven’t seen all that life has had to offer us just quite yet. This hope is what keeps me going at the end of the day. Hope is the light at the end of the tunnel for me.

So Happy New Years. May you keep your resolutions. May the next 12 months be filled with bigger and better adventures. May you meet people that help you grow. May you have hope.

With hope and love,

Karissa