Here is a great quotation, “Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.” The problem is, by the time you realize what this quotation means, chances are things have already taken a turn for the worse. Growing up in North Carolina, I was naïve and careless. At school, I fell into the “popular” crowd. Making friends was not a problem. To say the...

A mundane overused word that has been a staple greeting throughout history, “hello” is often the beginning to a long story. Without this word, there is no beginning to a conversation, and, therefore no personal relationship with another. While we are all taught as children to politely say “hello”, we are not taught the implications of the word. Without the word “hello,” quite simply, future interactions would cease before they begin. “Hello” literally changed my life. I wrote a letter...

Not all can say classical music appeals to the emotions. I was one of those. I believed music was closely tied to emotional expressions, but because of the lyrical content. Growing up, classical music never did anything for me...emotionally. I was ambivalent when I heard it and I never paid an extra second of attention to understand it. Everything changed when my orchestra played the last movement of Tchaikovsky Serenade For Strings. As sweat rolled down my face, I...