Four Lessons Learned About Happiness from Being Cinderella

1. Successfully improving at something is far more satisfying than already being great at it. For the first couple of months of rehearsals, I had to really work on being softer and more gentle when I danced. According to my dance teacher, I looked too strong to come across as a vulnerable character like Cinderella. It's funny, because I had thought that acting the character would be easy for me, but it took me a long time to really get into it. But in retrospect, I'm glad that I didn't have everything down and perfect right from the start. It was much more fulfilling to be told that I was finally softening up and starting to feel the part.

2. Invest in the people you're with. Building them up will build you up. This year, I got to partner a great, perpetually cheerful guy, and I got to spend a lot of time with all my crazy, amazing friends at dance. The whole production wouldn't have been half as much fun if it hadn't been for the people I was with. We all laughed together and encouraged each other about our various dances, which really helped to ease any tension there might have been and to make the environment more pleasant. While we're all here because of our common interest in dance, if we had only focused on dance and ignored each other, we would have missed out on the whole point.

3. Do what you love and love what you do. Do the things you enjoy and the things which make you find fun and meaning in life. And if you find yourself doing something you do not like, find something to like about it. There's always a bright spot, even if it takes a while to find it. As Night at the Museum 2 would have it, the key to happiness is doing what you love, with the people you love.

4. Smiling makes everything easier. And a lot less awkward. And a whole lot more fun.

One of My Favorite Places in the World

In March, my parents went up to New York to pack up my grandparents' house after they both moved into nursing homes. I stayed at the home of one of my closest friends for the week, which was a very fun experience. I, being a homeschooler, did school while my friend went to high school, and I kept her company in the evenings while she did homework. Her mom (who fed me very well) and I talked about various things throughout the day. I loved being at their bright, cheerful, eclectic house, which I tell them how much I like every time I go over. Here are a few pictures so you can get a feel for it.

The living room, with a few of its decorations (above and below).

A display in the basement. My friend's mom painted the picture. Check out her website, www.katerinasdesigns.com.

My friend loves cats, hence the awesome painting of tiger eyes in her room.

Again, the living room.

FREEDOM

Yesterday, I unsubscribed from the Official SAT Question of the Day emails, and it was one of the best feelings in the world. After two weeks of preparation and a week of taking practice tests every day, I am done with all things related to College Board - at least until next year's PSAT. I am left with approximately 45 days of school to cram into 11 days, before I start summer classes at the local community college - but nevertheless, no longer having to worry about the SAT is great.

I rolled out of bed around 6:45 yesterday morning and entered the cafeteria of the high school about an hour later. Being homeschooled, I have to say that being in the cafeteria was a weird experience. I don't think I've ever been surrounded by so many high schoolers before. I didn't know anyone and consequently felt rather lost, until we were all separated into our various rooms. Three hours and forty-five minutes later, I think I would have screamed if I had seen another critical reading section. But overall, it could have been a lot worse. I loved the sentence in which you were supposed to find the grammatical error that began with, "The loyalty of British families to certain brands of toothpaste..."

Anyway, after having taken five practice tests and attempting to write halfway decent essays for them, I thought I might post a few of said attempts. Here's the first one:

Assignment: Do we need other people in order to understand ourselves?

We are all human. That means that we are all essentially in the same boat. We have all laughed and cried, had good times and experienced tragedy. While our experiences, goals, tastes, and circumstances may be different, underneath we're really very similiar, and there are many ways we can learn from each other.

Can you count the times you've gone to other people for advice on how to deal with a certain situation? Most likely, you chose someone with experience in that situation. Before taking this test, I talked to several people who have taken the SAT to find out how they felt about it. I often talk to my parents or sister when I need advice in various areas of my life. Whenever I do something new, chances are high that I know someone who has already been through it. In this way, we can learn from each other.

Another way in which other people can influence us, whether consciously or not, is through the way they react to things. My best friend is an amazing listener and a peacemaker, and I've learned a lot by just observing her. My godmother is almost perpetually cheerful and possesses the desirable quality of being able to smile through any circumstance because of her knowledge and firm belief that God is in control. We can look around us and see characteristics we want to be known for personified in others, and then apply those qualities to our own lives.

Finally, we can learn from the way other people percieve the world and its possibilities. The pessimist can look at the optimist and realize that he needs to lighten up; the optimist can get a good dose of reality from the pessimist. The organized can teach the unorganized a few lessons, and, in return, can learn that a little mess is okay here and there. We can help each other out and open each other's eyes by sharing our personal perspectives on life.

We have a lot to learn from other people, if we would take the time to do so. We need each other not only to understand ourselves, but also to understand the big picture and the wonderful, crazy world we live in.