I remember, in high school, we were tasked with an assignment to write on the importance of electric cooperatives for a writing contest. The contest was, unsurprisingly, hosted by our local electric cooperatives (or electric company for those who don't know what that is) and the winner would get an all expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C., our nation's capital.

Something most, if not all of us youngsters, rarely seem to hear is how we still have time to achieve our goals in later stages of our lives. And it seems strange, but it almost feels as if everybody is in a hurry to make it to the top these days. I guess I should know, because like the majority, I shamefully feel the same way. Not because I'm a simple sheep following a herd. But purely because I fear that I will not make something of myself if I sit around and wait. So I cram in far too many sleepless nights and I work until my heart screams for me to stop. When really, all I need is for somebody to say to me, 'Hey, buddy. You've still got time'

It's the absolute strangest thing when you wake up every morning and you grab your coffee and you get ready for work everyday because you have bills to pay, you have a career in mind, and you desperately need insurance to see a doctor for that weird rash you got the other day. It's a strange time for those of us who just graduated high school because we spent the last 12 or so years in the comfort of our parents' homes and sitting behind a desk at school. Some of us are more prepared than others for these stressful years ahead, but some of us weren't as prepared as we thought we were.

I'm either going to empower the f*ck out of some people today, or make myself very unpopular—either way, that's ok; this needs to be said.

Since I was a little girl, I’ve always had this crown.

If you look at the definition of wellness, according to the definition on Merriam-Webster, it is “the quality or state of being in good health, especially as an actively sought goal.” While the definition states that you must be in good health, I beg to differ. Everyone thinks that wellness is always about being in tune with yourself. I think the best time in your life is being the person who you don’t know, and this could be both in good health and not so good health. While the word health is being thrown around, this can mean both mental and physical. And while this idea can sound extremely negative, this can also be extremely positive. If you are someone who does not handle conflict well and one day, you can are in a situation where you would normally run away, and you stand up for yourself, this is a situation where you are not following the normality of your life. Being who you are is a statement that does not help anyone get further in their life. At any age, do we really know who we are? At 12, I wanted to be a nurse or a doctor. At the age of 20, I want to be a psychologist. In seven more years, I might want to become an accountant. There is nothing wrong with your life going in a million different ways. When I started college, I wanted to right away to go through school, get my associates, my bachelor's, my master’s, and end up with a Ph.D. Life is not about checking off a list and saying that’s how your life is going to go. You might be reading this and thinking, “Why am I listening to this woman talking about wellness and being who you are?” Let me tell you, my friend, I have a lot of credibility in success and failure. Over the course of my school career, I have had many different failures and successes. I strongly believe that failures are something that can be the driving point for some people. Everyone will have events in their life that shape them into who they are. I have always been successful, even though sometimes in my life that I was not always well. I also think success is a word and idea that can only truly be defined by the individual person. One person might think getting an office job is the definition of success, while another would thank that graduating a two year community college is a huge success. Both are very valuable in their own ways, and along the way, there was a person who failed or didn’t know who they were at the time. These things matter because wellness and success do not always have to go hand in hand. The takeaway from this is that you need to think of yourself first. Be selfish. Take the success and take the failure. You become a new person every single day, and in a perfect world, your mistakes would not matter. While there are a lot of times that you cannot change the things you have done in the past, you can always make better choices that can change your future. Make sure you gauge your wellness and figure out if you’re in or out of tune with yourself, and see who you like best. Always look towards what can help you achieve the best version of you, and you will see where your wellbeing is. Even though the definition of wellbeing will never change, I think we as a society can change how we view it and what it means to the individual.

My name is Louis. I hope that as you read this article you find some form of inspiration from it. Let me get to the basics, I’m a 33-year-old musician and television producer who recently began a YouTube channel with my best friend based on gaming. When I was born, it didn’t seem likely that I would have done any of the above mentioned; in fact, college didn’t even seem likely in the eyes of many (especially during my early high school years)

I don't know about other countries, but in Australia, we love a struggle story.

Have you ever been judged by people because of your past? Do you feel condemned or guilty because of the mistakes you've made? If so, this is a story for you:

The expression "win or lose" is pattern language used by industrial society. The Narrative is to work, work, work. Competition and work are the approach in the industrial mindset. Work to get ahead, work harder than others, all work and no play.

Seriously, the last two generations are heavily criticized for being extremely lazy. Yes, in many ways, the Millenials and Gen Z are very lazy compared to their preceding generations. Some of this lazy behaviour developed by the two latest generations is not all their fault. A lot takes in effect when it comes to human behaviour, as many know. However, the progression of laziness in the human being as a race is very disturbing, and it needs to be stopped.

Life, that precious gift that so many have yet to appreciate. Personally speaking, for the first 11 and a half years of my being, I took it for granted. Although I had attended the funerals of several relatives, all had been much older than me. So, I quickly developed the idea that only older people were dying. It sounds naive, but I didn’t really know any better and never asked any of my elders. Then, shortly after my 11th birthday, and a few months before my 12th birthday, reality hit me twice when two well loved young people in my family passed away five months apart. The first was the death of one of my favorite female cousins, who was just 16 when she passed. This was devastating to me because I looked up to her as more like a big sister. And to this day, her death remains a mystery to me because I don’t understand what happened to her. At least five months after losing her, while still trying to learn to cope with her loss, my oldest, and only maternal, brother lost his life while to safe another. This was truly devastating for the entire family, especially so soon after losing another young family member. And as our family began to deal such great losses, I heard an elderly family member say, “It’s sad. But that’s life, one day you’re here. Next day you could be gone.”