The two articles Barba Graham and Brooks’ both have a common connection. The connection is that most successful young people don’t look inside and plan a life which lead to worry and anxiety. They look outside and find a problem “which summons their life”-D.B. What Barba meant by look inside she was talking about her passion but she had no plan with life so she didn’t know what her passion was so Barba just went with what felt right for her. Graham didn’t realize the outside till she faced a problem of her having a child: Barba had no real job, no one to take care of her child, kept moving because she wasn’t comfortable, and freedom was captivity. Barba quotes “It had taken thousands of miles and one child for me to understand that the quitting I took for freedom was much of a trap as the social conventions were trying to escape. Now, Barba is thankful that she knows has time to spend with her family and glad she came to the understanding that people were not holding her back and that relationships make life better. For an example: in Brooks articles “Epidemic of worry” and “It’s not about you”, Brooks gives an example of a classification pattern into 2 categories good and bad and it is about educated class anxiety which means too many options (Barba Graham had too many options and got lost) and no convictions. Also, grads hear about “Limitless possibilities” which takes place in serious adult hood and trying to let yourself down and in fear missing out Barba takes action upon this: she was quitting and jumping around so she could never get settled and make a plan for her life, she made very unwise choices that lead her to a problem and didn’t know what path to follow, also wise taking care of clay. In Brooks’ article it quotes “Most of us are egotistical and are self- concerned most of the time, but it’s nonetheless true that life comes to a point only in those moments when the self dissolves into some task. The purpose in life is not to find yourself. It’s to lose yourself” this is a great explanation on Graham and how she feels about life. I found it very significant how two different authors Brooks’ and Graham article can go upon each other which Barba being the one going through the struggling life and Brooks’ explaining those kinds of people with examples. It was very interesting to me that these two authors made a connection between their articles.

In the article “The epidemic of Worry” by David Brooks He mentions that “This modern polarized America, worry seems to come in two flavors.” The two “flavors” that are mentioned by Brooks are the worries in America and the anxiety (there are 2 types the good “concrete anxiety” and bad “the dark side.”) that people face with the election around the corner. A major problem Brooks states “Anxiety is coursing through American Society. It has become its own destructive character on the national stage.” The definition for worry is-your awareness of the present and your ability to what’s around you right now. Generally, when you hear the word “worry” it’s related to the fear of missing out on something, and the dizziness of freedom. Statics show that because of the upcoming election more than half of all Americans are very stressed.

      These two “worries” play apart in my friendships. I had major anxiety coming to college. A major part of the anxiety was worrying about how am I going to have new friends and meet people. Also, leaving all my friends that went to high school with me was a major struggle of fear. I was a part of my high school volleyball team for 4 years. I grew a strong relationship which each athlete on my team. Another reason why I was worried was because, my best friend and I decided to go to different colleges. She decided to go to Texas Tech and is a member of a sorority. Knowing that she is 443 miles from me is sickening to think because she used to be two minutes away from me. Also, I got worried about our friendship not cause the distance but because she was joining a sorority and I knew she was going to find the right one for her and have the best sorority sisters but that’s when I got worried about our friendship because, I didn’t want anyone else to be compared to our friendship. She is like a sister to me we hung out together every day and know everything about each other. Coming to college was a hard transition knowing I wasn’t going to have my best friend to experience it with but, we both are happy with where we stand today and faced our fear of meeting people. We both have met so many new people that we are so thankful that god placed them in our lives and our friendship will not be broken no matter how far we are from each other.

blog#7- free write

The thing that happened to me in high school that pretty much changed my life was,

When I was 6 years old I started playing volleyball. I started on a developmental team to learn the fundamental skills then I became dedicated and committed to play club volleyball and school ball this was a year round sport. To do something repeatedly you have to actually love that certain thing and I loved volleyball it was my hobby. Playing volleyball taught me how to understand the real meaning of a team player not just playing for yourself, a good attitude, and being coachable.

My Freshman and Sophomore year of high school I played year round ball. I was a member of my select team and my high school team. While high school season was over we went into off season where we trained to help us get stronger and quicker for the next prior. This is when club volleyball starts, with this being said I barley had any free time or a social life. I had practice Monday through Thursday on the weekdays then on Friday after school I would head out of town for whatever tournament I had that weekend. This was a major factor of helping me balance my time management with my homework and studies knowing that I didn’t have a lot of time to complete my work.

  Volleyball got to be very stressful knowing that I had to start applying for colleges and my grades didn’t stand where I would have liked them to. This is where I had to make a huge decision in my life. I quit club and school ball at the end of my sophomore year club season. Also, I had decided whether or not I want continue my future and play college volleyball or not. It was tough for me knowing that I played this sport for 10 years and I loved the game but, playing year round definitely puts so much pressure on you doing the same thing every day it just got old. The more competitive it got the more it became a job to me because I would want to be the best athlete I could so would do private lessons before every practice to help me reach my goal. But like rowe said “This is where many people face confusion in life and don’t know what the best path is for them and leads to fear.” With that quote my whole junior and senior year  that was the only thing on my mind wondering if I should have stayed with the sport or did I do the right thing. In conclusion, this was a major decision on my life quitting volleyball knowing I could have had an experience playing college ball and could have lead me to great things in life. By quitting volleyball, I had time to focus on my studies and to get my gpa and class rank up for college and it gave me a social life on the other hand when I played volleyball I felt like I had no freedom it was just volleyball day after day.