Life is defined by Google as “the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death. But what really is the meaning of life? Like a shadow, this question follows us around throughout our entire life, even if we never turn around and see it. Mark Manson explains the meaning of life as a ham sandwich. He breaks it down into different sub-sections such as: What is meaning? (and other questions that make you want to punch someone in the face), types of meaning in life, how to find meaning in your life, and the trap of setting goals. The question of the meaning of life is maybe one that we would rather not ask, for fear of the answer or lack of. Some people believe we were all created for a purpose, and to reach our potential. I
believe that everyone has some kind of purpose in life and we were all created for a reason. Christina C
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A couple of years ago when I was in Mexico on vacation, a pelican tried to kill me when I was swimming. Sure it was most likely just flying over me and chilling by itself, but I thought I was going to be violently pecked to death because it kept following me. Therefore, I may or may not be slightly afraid of pelicans. In addition to being displeasing to the eye, these spine chilling and belligerent birds have been the cause of nightmares as well as the reason for my brief research on fear. Generally fears are generated from traumatic instances and experiences in your life, more often than not, budding from childhood, i.e. my very traumatic experience with the vicious pelican. So I chose to inform readers about why we fear considering that everybody has some kind of fear, whether it’s completely normal like a fear of spiders or of heights, or a weird aversion to pelicans such as myself. Although scarring occasions can cause the development of a specific fear, we also develop fear as a preservation method. We wouldn’t survive for long if we weren’t afraid of anything. We would go freediving with sharks, take up sword swallowing and attempt to reenact the countless scenes atop of moving trains in spy movies because fear (and common sense for that matter) wouldn't be holding us back. Try to imagine if humans weren't afraid of anything… our world would be in total chaos and the population would dwindle drastically. Yet, if humans had no fears, there would be no fear of judgment, failure or any mental barriers to stop someone from doing something they really want to do and that could positively impact their surroundings. Then again the world would still be in complete disarray, so I guess that wouldn't really matter or help anyways. Fear comes from imagination, we imagine what could happen, and the worst case scenarios in any given situation. For example if you are afraid of the dark, it is because you imagine something bad happening whilst in the dark, furthermore, we sometimes experience fear due to anticipation. Some people naturally have more anticipation and more imagination than others, and that causes them to develop multiple fears because they can imagine different things happening that stem from one event or thought. Imagination is a very beneficial quality to have because it makes your life more exciting and colourful, but on the other hand you may find that you acquire more fears. Anticipation is not a prime quality to possess in certain situations because then you might live most of your life in fear of what could happen, and miss out on some amazing experiences. Back in grade 8, I did a little personal research project on the different kinds of fears and why people have them because I was always curious as to why I personally haven’t experienced many situations involving fear. There are multiple ways someone can respond to a situation in which they’re nervous or scared, the fight, flight or freeze response includes the ways someone will react. Fight or flight is the natural response of humans when we are presented with an urgent or sudden act of danger, even if there is no immediate threat and someone is only perceiving something as a potential danger. Just as it sounds, “fight” is when someone chooses to confront the situation, and “flight” is when they avoid it or choose to run away. Most people aren’t aware that freeze is also a common reaction, when deciding to freeze, the person will lock up and won’t react at all. Fight or flight can be a useful mechanism, although, occasionally it isn't always a valid reaction. Half the time, fight or flight is triggered by a false alarm such as a sudden loud sound. How to cope and hopefully overcome your fears
Fear is beneficial and non-beneficial in many ways. It keeps us from making bad or stupid decisions, and from dangerous or painful experiences that could happen if we didn't have fear to prevent us. On the other hand, if we fear everything we could miss out on so many amazing experiences and most of life's many beauties and mysteries. As “Lotto 649” says, “the world is your playground”, don't let fear hold you back from the gifts that life has to offer. So live it up. Georgia F Do you ever just think about the fact that you are one in 7.53 billion. So you are essentially just a spec. A little spec among billions of other little specs on a big small spec with a bunch of other specs in some big black area with gas and dust and stuff. I don't know about you but that kinda makes me feel like nothing and totally irrelevant. But if you are religious and have faith then I guess life is just a test to see if you are worthy of going to heaven? Was that right? I personally am not religious and always had a hard time understanding religion and how heaven could be “anything you want it to be” (a summer camp leader) and bits like that. I guess I just always believed in science and evidence of evolution and stuff, maybe that's just because thats what makes sense to me . But to each his own I guess, whatever makes you happy- because what is the point of life if you don’t have happiness. So is that the purpose of life to live a happy life best you can and do your best to do good for other people? To make the world a better place, then die?
I believe that to live a life worth living, you have to have purpose. With your purpose you will find the motivation to fulfill what needs to be done to feed your purpose and to keep it relevant and alive. If you stop working for that purpose it will die as any other living thing would without care. Be it big or small, if it matters to you then that is all that matters. For myself, I have always know what I was interested in and I hope to be able to do those things in my life. By doing those things I believe that I will find my true purpose in life- eventually. Today I chose to do what makes me happy and to do what needs to be done so that I will be able to do what I have always dreamed of, even if that means doing math and physics and even sometimes homework. Maybe tomorrow I will be given a choice, one that could alter my life plans and will make me totally rethink my purpose- but I am sure that these choices and opportunities must happen every day. I believe that life can have purpose; if you are truly living life. But if you can't find purpose find meaning. Maybe the meaning will give you purpose, or the purpose meaning. Or maybe it’s just all the same... It is safe to say that everyone complains at least once a day. It’s human nature to seek more than we are given; to some extreme, this quality embedded in us creates deep greed. Everyone wants private yachts and Bentleys, even if they have perfectly functioning Kia cars and comfy economy plus seats on a plane. People tend to get so caught up in the whelm of materialism that has been brought upon most first world countries, that they get blindsided from the simple stuff that they should be more than grateful for. A memory foam mattress and pillow, along with a plush blanket and central heating on a chilly winter night is a privilege that we are granted on a daily basis, though seem to regard as normalcy and a life dependent necessity. The disregarding of such privileges demonstrates how UNGRATEFUL we are for all that we have. I guess the emphasis put on the fact that kids are starving in Africa is not enough for us to value the luxurious lives that we live in comparison to millions. Last month, I traveled to Ludhiana, Punjab, located in the northern India, to volunteer at a hospital. I had only traveled to India a few times prior to this trip, and hadn’t traveled to this particular city in over a decade. When you google the city “Ludhiana,” you will find that it is the largest industrial city in the state of Punjab. As expected the architecture and the overall city development was sub-par to a western city. I arrived at the hospital and found it to be a safe and clean medical institution that put holistic patient care before money. What made me reflective of the luxurious life that I live were the patients whose cases I got to work on, and the families behind them. On my first day in the Paediatrics Unit, I got to meet Golu, a four year old patient who had a fever of 102 degrees F and a haemoglobin level of 1, which resulted in a low white blood cell count. After running a few tests, we discovered that he was anemic and had Thalassemia Major. Later that day, two residents and I spoke to his mother and got consent to complete a Bone Marrow Aspiration (a blood sampling procedure) through which we could run further tests and see if his disease was genetic. The mother carried Golu to the Procedure Room and waited directly outside the door with her younger daughter. Golu’s family was rural; his parents were illiterate and simply wanted us to do what we deemed fit to save their son. Over the days following the procedure, I would periodically check on Golu and track his progress; he appeared to be getting stronger everyday. On my last day at the hospital, word was that Golu was to soon be discharged. Alongside our attending, the residents and I met with Golu’s father to discuss his son’s recovery plan and discharge, also suggesting that his daughter complete a blood test to detect pre-Thalassemia. Thalassemia isn’t something that goes away on its own; it requires frequent blood transfusions, and to cure the disease, a bone marrow transplant is needed. Golu’s father admitted that the family didn’t have enough money for Golu’s extended procedures and the tests for his daughter, in fact, barely enough to pay the flat hospital fees. The next day, I got on a plane back to Vancouver and never found out what happened to Golu and his family. I constantly relive the time during Golu’s initial procedure when I sat with him listening to “the wheels on the bus” as an attempt to distract him from the procedure and stop his crying. The sad reality is that people can’t afford to treat their sick children, leave alone put them through school and provide them with three nutritious meals a day. Financial inability is the cause of many patients leaving the hospital untreated, having signed LAMA (Leaving Against Medical Advice) forms to be discharged so that the hospital would not be held accountable if anything was to happen to the patient beyond the facility. Due to illiteracy, many patients and their families were unable to comprehend that certain diseases were fatal. However, these patients would come into clinics and seek medication to take home instead of hospital admittance and treatment, because among the 28 million people living in the state of Punjab, almost 9% live below the poverty line. Patients would rather their diagnosis and a round of medication instead of scans and procedures because they couldn’t afford to put themselves up in a hospital. What this experience taught me was that you can build nicer malls and construct new highways, but in no way will this “development” help sick people that can’t afford medical treatment. Education is costly, especially in third world countries where it is less accessible. To get a sustainable job, you require an education. To pay your bills you need a job. How is a kid like Golu supposed to get an education, and later on find a job to support himself and his future family, when his household’s income is going entirely to not even fully funding his medical treatment? The cycle is never ending. Be grateful of what you have, because the vast majority of people in developing countries can barely make ends meet. Eliminate the materialism from society and reflect on the basic necessities that we take for granted every second of everyday, because kids like Golu can only dream of them. Janeva S The whole anxiety thing is something i have struggled with for a while now. I didn't even ever know what somatization was till i experienced it for myself head on. About a year and a half ago i first experienced somatization for the first time waking up feeling paralyzed from the waist down was something that was quite alarming for me and my parents. Who would have thought that not talking about what was going on in my life and struggling to find balance could have resulted in this. Somatization is when the production of recurrent and multiple medical symptoms with no describable organic cause. Somatization basic symptoms are: -nausea -abdominal pain -fatigue -headaches Conversion disorder ( more severe and sudden onset of debilitating symptoms) -paralysis -blindness -numbness -loss of speech -deafness Children's hospital was nothing new to me unfortunately for most of my grade 10 and 11 year i was in and out that counts for a lot of hospital apple juice and the best ice chips down the hall from my room. The thing is what can you do this was the hardest part physiotherapy and cognitive behavior therapy could only do so much. While my stay i learned about a program called music heals every day i would just wait till it hit four o'clock so i could go hang out with the music therapist that helped me overcome my problems through the love of music. This is also the charity emily and i are doing are service project on because i believe kids with somatization and any type of sickness should experience this for many reasons. The I of the Storm The difference between me and you is in my mind an artist is painting a picture So crazy and abstract that my arms, legs, feet and toes are beginning to convey the concept in the wrong way as if two artists are in a grand battle, fiending to paint the next Mona Lisa Since other people can not see or touch anxiety They believe it to be unrealistic You battle your fears, hopes and dreams in a constant 24/7 cycle and mix that with everyday life it is like a town Getting hit by the raging wave of a tsunami and expecting it to leave it dry And sometimes you get stuck in the impact zone and it tosses and turns you until you can’t breathe, gasping for air but eventually you will have to ride the wave again until you learn how to cope with your own personal storm And I finally come up for air The waters are clear and still I have learned to duck under the impact zone Although the waves may still come I now know, not to surf in a tsunami The poem above may not look like much but this was definitely a huge step in the right direction for me. I was never really able to explain how i felt until this grade eleven English project when i could express myself through poetry. Anxiety has definitely helped shaped my life for the good and bad , but i am a strong believer in things happening for a reason and it has definitely made me see life in a different way.
Marika Lyszczyk |
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