Choose Happiness

On our last meeting before spring break, we had a chance to just unwind from the first half of the semester by learning more about each other through an activity. For this activity we made cards and on the front wrote our names and things that described us. We drew symbols and wrote words about our personalities, clubs we are in, things we like, etc. Afterwards we shared what we wrote with everyone. I thought this was a great way to learn more about people we might not necessarily have met if not for the LEAD program. It was interesting to find things people had in common, or that were unique to them. The second part of the activity we did was writing in everyone else's cards a positive message to them. This made me realize that even though we learned a lot about everyone during this activity, I still don't know as much as I would like about everyone in the group. It was nice to read the messages from everyone as I was riding the bus back home to Minnesota. I like these cards because sometimes comments are unexpectedly perceptive about an individual's personality. They also make you realize that you have a lot more people supporting you than you know.

 After reading the article "10 Ways Happy People Choose Happiness" I can see how it applies to people in their every day lives. Happiness is something you choose by the ways you conduct yourself and your attitude in different situations. I can readily identify with a few of the main points, especially because I see myself as a fairly happy person. I do carry out some of the main points, but there is always room for improvement. I plan to focus on the first point, "be the best you can be" because I sometimes compare myself to others. This is a bad habit that I know will not help me continue to meet my goals. I need to focus on what I can do, rather than what others can. I will also try the 6th step "take care of my body" by eating more fruits and vegetables and going to work out more often. I believe this will help me focus more and become a healthier person both physically and mentally. Finally, I am going to focus on "choosing to embrace the next step in your life" because I have both followed this advice and gone against it. The quote that really resonated with me was
"Never let success get to your head and never let failure get to your heart. [..] And don't forget, a smile doesn't always mean a person is happy right now; sometimes it simply means they are strong enough to face their problems going forward." I have some times taken failure extremely hard and let it discourage me. I plan to persevere when I fail at something and make sure to learn from my mistakes.

There are various things that make me happy in life. Most are the little daily things like a kind act for me or another. I enjoy sun and warm weather, thunderstorms when I don't have to go anywhere, and rainbows. Going on adventures with friends and catching up with old friends is really fun. I enjoy hiking and camping, being in nature. Being with my sister always makes me happy, especially because we don't get to see each other on a regular basis.


To be honest, I haven't thought much about the upcoming projects we have. The e-portfolio, I will admit, I haven't actually started making it. I am really excited to create one though. I have started to think about the style and format of it. I have also decided that I will put on papers from various classes to show my diverse range of writing. I will also put on key experiences that I have had outside of classroom learning. This will show how I learn through experiences too. For the final project we have, I think it is a good idea to have footage of when we interact with the students from the Empowerment Pipeline. I think it might be nice to have each of us talk either about something we learned from the LEAD program or quotes on leadership.

For spring break I went home to Minnesota. I saw family and only one of my friends because most of them have spring break this week. I got to catch up on my sleep; I slept about twelve hours every night! I also was able to eat good food, my favorite was the ribs I had. The second weekend of spring break I went to Milwaukee where I visited my sister. We went out for food and did some shopping. This was probably the highlight of my break because I love the time I can be with my sister. I was also able to see two friends who attend UW-Milwaukee. The trip was a nice chance to catch up with all of them. When I came back to school on Sunday I went out for food one last time with my friends Cheryl and Karina to a Chinese/ Korean restaurant. The food was fantastic and it was a nice way to end spring break 2012. For the summer I plan on applying for more jobs at home and possibly applying for internships. The money would be very helpful for tuition and the experience would be extremely valuable.