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Recommended: Overcoming adversity
***Flawless
“The reality is, sometimes you lose. And you’re never too good to lose. You’re never too big to lose. You’re never too smart to lose. It happens, and it happens when it needs to happen. And you have to embrace those things.”- Beyoncé Knowles
We all have dreams and goals and we all work hard to achieve those aspirations. But sometimes, we simply lose and losing happens to everyone, even to Beyoncé Knowles. However, Beyoncé has given insight on how she accepted defeat and her insight help me to continue to dream and work hard for their realization.
Like Knowles, I, too, have experienced a crushing defeat; my story begins ten years ago .For the past decade, I have learned to play and consistently play the piano. Every week came a lesson entailed with scales, sight-reading notes and techniques. Then almost everyday, my parents made me practice for at least thirty minutes every day to hone my skills. The years pass and I have participated in my teacher’s numerous showcases; I was joined among several of her other students performing songs for our parents and close relatives. Up until my sophomore year in high school, these showcases were the extent of my public pianist career. That spring my teacher urged me to participate in my first ever NYSSMA Evaluation Festival, which would be hosted at Chaminade High School. Subsequently, the judge dubbed me as a Level 6 performer (the highest division possible) with a solid score of 94. With this in mind, my instructor urged me to aim higher: we were going to enter into a formal and serious piano competition next year.
As a budding performer, I was very intimidated but very determined to overcome this challenge placed before me. Of course, as a teacher, my instructor told me w...
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...me Grammy award-winning girl group, Destiny’s Child. Her quote on her acceptance of crushing defeat inspires me, to not only refine my pieces further and audition for another competition, but to also be content in my external and internal flaws. As Knowles has stated there is, “beauty in imperfection,” and acceptance of failure is necessary for growth. Hearing her say those words really awakened me to reach for my goals again and I am currently in the process of auditioning for another competition.
Since hearing Beyoncé’s quote (and her album), I have learned to see light in imperfection and to live fully and happily because life is short. There is no time for moping in defeat; we need to embrace defeat and welcome it into our lives. And this is what brings happiness and contentment.
Works Cited
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIv1z6n3Xxo {Beyonce quote}
There are many inspiring quotes in, "I Beat the Odds" by Michael Oher, but one especially stood out to me. In the beginning of the book, Michael discuss his life in Hurt Village and describes how hard his life was he says, "The odds are stacked against you, but you can't let that be an excuse, you have too much to promise to let the odds beat you. It can be done. I beat the odds"(13). This quote made it really clear to me that I shouldn't let someone break me apart or tell me what I can and cannot do because of how I might look, this quote tells me that I can do anything I set my mind into doing. I will also apply this to my life by not making excuses if I can't do something, I will use this knowledge by doing anything that is a challenge,
Angelou passed away on May 28, 2014, leaving us with the message of never give up. To keep living, keep striving to keep moving on. It appears as if some women are inspired by others, as evidence by a life well lived. Ms. Angelou’s message is echoed throughout her life as stated.
What started out as a hobby transformed into a passion for an art form that allows me to use movements and expressions to tell a story. Whether I’m on stage in front of an audience of just friends and family, hundreds of strangers and a panel of judges, or the whole school, performing over thirty times, has helped me build lifelong
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”
Performing or public speaking of any kind is difficult, but that difficulty can help to build confidence. Fine arts gives students the ability to perform and build confidence with their own support team of people who do and love the same thing. Not having to perform alone and knowing that everything possible has been done to ensure a good performance helps performers be confident in themselves and in their abilities. “Puneet Jacob, former choristers and current assistant conductor, says kids are often afraid to perform because of fear of failure.” (Lefebvre) The more a person faces their fear, especially when they do well and the fear is disproved, the less afraid he or she will become. When students work on music or a play for months on end, they become much more confident in themselves and what they can do than they were when they first began.
On December 13, 2013 Beyoncé - who was named by the Time magazine as the most influential person of the year 2014 - unexpectedly released a self-titled visual album that went viral on the Internet, that is, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, and sold 828,773 electronic copies in three days becoming the fastest-selling album in iTunes Store history. After the release of the album the artist posted coupe of videos where she was walking her fans through her songs and music videos in the album explaining what was intention and the idea behind each song. In one of those videos she speaks about how she was looking for some videos on feminism on YouTube, and when she saw a TEDx video from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie talking about feminism, Beyoncé decided to use it for her new single – Flawless - as in her opinion the music and the Adichie’s video suited very well with each other. By the end of the explanatory video she talks about ‘imperfection’ and embracing one’s imperfections, which she links to her another single Pretty Hurts. This song features the issues of sexual objectification of female bodies and the culture of perfection where women are valued only for their beauty. In another explanatory video she talks about owning her sexuality and body, especially after her pregnancy. As she explains it was her joy and her confidence that allowed her to show her body to the public. In the video she mentions that she is very well aware of the fact that she is showing her body, and that she is doing this partly for other women as well to empower them, and give them an example that you can own your body and your sexuality, even after body goes into a lot of transformations during pregnancy.
...take the outcome. As Audrey Hepburn once said, “For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.” Keeping that in mind, no matter what kind of competition you compete in, the effort that you put out should make you a more rounded and fulfilled individual. Our attempts, no more what direction we pursue, should help us to become the person that we want and strive to be. We always must keep in mind that although we do not win every time, our attitude in the outcome demonstrates what we feel on the inside. Accepting loss humbly is a strong character trait in anybody, and hopefully we can express that when we are caught in those situations. So anyone considering pageantry, remember that winning the crown is not necessarily the most important aspect.
Motivation provides the driving force for direction and persistence toward a defined goal. Beyoncé has a high need for achievement that motivates her to keep working on new material. In an interview with MTV Beyoncé said, “I am a workaholic and I don’t believe in no. I don’t believe in I need to sleep” (Lepore, 2011). She has earned many awards, honors, and accolades because of her determination to be one of the greatest performers. In the last five years, Beyoncé has used empowerment as an essential motivational key to continuously progress in her craft. In 2011, Beyoncé fired her manager of fifteen years and she began to take full responsibility for her creative and financial obligations. From this experience she has become self-determined and has a high influence on her career path (Lepore,
“It’s up to you to make your life. Take what you have and stack it up like a tower of teetering blocks. Build your dream around that.” – Cheryl Strayed
Failure is something in life that everyone is afraid of. Failure is apart of everyone’s life at some point whether it’s in a sport, at school, or even just a part of daily life. Failure can be in taken in two ways, one; you can take the failure in as a challenge and push to strive better and never want to fail again, or two; take failure in bad and not want to try harder and just give up without after failing once. Some of the richest or even successful people in life have had failures. The famous basketball player Michael Jordan, when he was a sophomore he tried out for the varsity basketball team and didn’t make it. But if it wasn’t for that failure in his life he would of have never tried his hardest to end up becoming one of the best NBA players in history and have one of the most successful shoe brands. That’s just one of the many successful people who had failures in life.
Many people learn many different life lessons throughout their lives. Whether it’s from reading a book, watching a movie, or living the experience yourself. Many life lessons can be taught to people through several different things. These include, but are not limited to, hard-work, getting a job, playing sports with a team or by yourself, and achieving your goals. I have learned many life lessons through many different things. Three of these life lessons are never give up, it’s not over ‘til it’s over, and that there are two types of pain, physical and regret, and only one fades with time.
Personal Narrative - My Dream I picture myself center stage in the most enormous and fantastically beautiful theater in the world. Its walls and ceilings are covered in impeccable Victorian paintings of angels in the sky. A single ray of light shines down upon my face, shining through the still, silent darkness, and all attention is on me and me alone. The theater is a packed house; however, my audience is not that of human beings, but rather the angels from the paintings on the walls come alive, sitting intently in the rows of plush seats. Their warmth encompasses my body, and I know at that moment that it is time to begin.
My strong interests in music, good food, and the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom may seem broad, but they are the essentials for my aspiration in life. These passions are the incentives of how to be a happier and more successful person for me to become.
It is the start of a new year and I thought I would start a journal chronicling my daily experiences. Tonight we decided to go to the local F.O.P. lodge to a New Years Eve party. We had a pretty good time but what happened later that evening is something that I hope I don’t forget for a long time to come. Still fresh in my mind was the conversation Angela and I had on Christmas night. She was hinting that she wasn’t sure if she wanted to be in a serious relationship this soon after the breakup of her previous one. If that wasn’t hard enough on Christmas she also was to ill to attend my brothers wedding with me in Madison Indiana . To add to all the confusion in my head, on my way home I stopped and got her a rose and a “happy New Years” balloon. She seemed quite touched by the gesture but also visibly troubled by it. I asked her if she was ready to have a good time tonight and she said “I was but now I don’t know.” Now what in the world does that mean! I tried applying all sorts of significant meanings to that statement but in the end I decided to just let it go and let events unfold as they would. Fast forward to 2 minutes before midnight. Angela is an absolute goddess, she is very beautiful and one of the nicest, sweetest woman I have ever met, but she is not one given to affection, especially public affection. Well at 2 minutes till she laid a kiss on me that lasted well after midnight. She absolutely blew me away!! The rest of the night was nice, we went to a couple more clubs but that moment is burned into my memory. Everything else paled in comparison. I don’t know if it is possible but I think I kissed her with my heart as well as my lips. I have heard of your “minds eye”, but tonight I found my “hearts mouth”.................
Without Melba Sandberg's prodding I never would have risked playing the viola. Her persistence, which upset my comfortable world, was really a challenge to believe in myself. Before this experience I had often shrouded myself in the security of the familiar. Mrs. Sandberg's enduring, sometimes obstinate confidence forced me to confront the boundaries I had placed on myself. She taught me to embrace a challenge rather than shrink from it. I learned to trust those who believe in me, and I learned to trust