College

I commented on Powerade's blog about if college is really necessary in life. Read and comment href="http://myblogbybrad.blogspot.com/">Here

Soup Kitchen

Last week, I went to a soup kitchen in downtown Dallas to do some community service work. I had never been to a soup kitchen before so I didn’t know what I was going to be doing. There were a lot of volunteers there so we all split up the jobs. Some helped serve food to the homeless, clean dishes, or greet people. Along with two other girls, I cleaned the ovens and took people’s trays when they were done eating. It was so humbling to be there because I realized that the majority of kids in college have no idea what real life is like.

What really broke my heart was when the clock struck 5pm. This marked the time when ladies, families, and children came in to eat. The children that came in had no idea that it wasn’t the “norm” to eat in a soup kitchen. They had huge smiles on their faces and enjoyed their meals. It made me so sad because one day they will realize what their circumstances are. They will realize that most children in America get home cooked meals from their parents. I hope they do not get into bad things like drugs because at least they have somewhere to go. There are other people in America that don’t have a soup kitchen to go to. They literally live off of the streets, finding food in trash cans.

Seeing this made me realize how much college students take things for granted. We do not appreciate the education we are receiving. We get upset when we have trouble with our schedules. We want the most and we want the best. I think we all need to stop for a second and realize that this isn’t life. Life is the struggle. It is getting over obstacles that stand in our way to become better people. We all have troubles in our lives but some are worse than others. We need to stop taking things for granted because we are privileged to be where we are and to have what we have.

Leisure

I am writing my paper about leisure.

In high school, most teens would come home from school and want to relax. Sitting in a desk, learning new material, and trying to make good grade was simply exhausting. They grab a snack, sit on the couch, and watch TV. Hours go by and they haven’t budged. This is how the majority of teenagers spend their free time. Watching TV, playing video games, and surfing the internet are a few of the popular choices. However, this does not help us grow as an individual. I am arguing that we need speed our free time participating in active, physical activity.

Being active is helpful in many different ways. First off, the more active we are, the more we fight obesity. America has a huge obesity problem. We overeat and don’t exercise. By doing active leisure, we become healthier which improves the quality of life.

Secondly, physical activity also improves stress management. We learn to time manage which makes us focused on our day and the tasks we need to do. Our concentration improves and the flow state is inevitable.

Lastly, active leisure helps with our emotions. The more we do active things that we love, the better our attitudes are. For example, I love to dance. In my spare time, I play a song and practice my dancing. I become very concentrated on what I am doing that the flow state happens naturally. Because dance is something that I love to do, I leave feeling great and my mood has improved.

Physical activity leads to great things in our life. The flow state is inevitable and the quality of life will greatly improve with the benefits of active leisure. We don’t need to waste our psychic energy on the TV which will hinder us from growing.