Ernest Hemingway Appreciation

Ernest Hemingway was born on this day in 1899, so in celebration of that, since this guy did give me my crazy long blog title after all ;) ,  I give you this quote:

"There is no friend as loyal as a book" ~Ernest Hemingway~

Maybe a little exaggerated, but a fair point I think!

Catriona xx

Ernest Hemingway (www.americanlegends.com)

"Those were the best days of my life..."

I'm not long back from what was a truly amazing week at Abernethy Trust Outdoor Centre, Netheybridge as part of the Rotary Youth Leader Awards (RYLA) Girls Camp 2014.

I applied for this through Stonehaven Rotary Club who, along with clubs from all across the district 1010, were sponsoring a place on the camp. After attending an interview, I found out that I was the successful candidate.

The week was aimed at developing leadership skills, and each day included a 1 hour talk from an inspirational speaker, followed by a jam-packed day of activity, with each member in the ten teams of 8 girls taking a turn at playing 'leader', and the teams competing for points overall!!

Over the course of the week, I took part in canoeing, rock climbing, assault courses, challenges, swimming gala, sports day, gorge walking, hill walking, raft building and mountain biking! As well as banner making, zumba, debating, nukem ball and more in the evenings!!

These activities pushed me both mentally and physically, and allowed me to achieve more than I knew I could. They made me change my attitude and convince myself that I CAN do anything if I put my mind to it. I cam home badly bruised & scratched, exhausted and a little sunburned, but I am extremely grateful to have been given the chance to do so many things I never normally would, without having to pay a penny!!






I also gained from RYLA something very special, and that was strong friendship! I wouldn't usually believe that you could become close and attached to girls you barely know in such a short space of time, but when you're with each other all the time, there for each other when your struggling, supporting each other every step of the way and relying on each other's skills, you quickly form a wonderful bond! I genuinely hope that some of these girls are friends for life because I love them to bits! Haha!

I'll put a few more photos below, and  I hope I've done justice in this post to what was quite possible the best week of my life!

Catriona xx

6 Month Celebration!

Just a quick post to say yaay!

I have officially managed to keep my blog running for 6 months, here's to many more posts to come!

The style and standard of writing is a bit hit and miss at the moment, but I'm grateful to those baring with me while I write about what I like and get into the habit of blogging; every view and comment means a lot :)

I (stupidly) made a promise to myself that if I managed to keep my blog running for 6 months, then I'd post a link to it on Facebook, so here goes! If you're reading this, having seen my Facebook post, welcome! Please browse through my posts and keep popping back as I hope to improve and I update quite regularly.

So for now, it's just a huge thank you and if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to let me know! xx

Roles of Responsibilty

"Working hard is important. But there's something that matters even more...believing in yourself." - Harry Potter

Badges

So today I was pretty chuffed to find out that I've been chosen as House Captain of my house at school for the next school year.

On the whole, I tend to thrive off of challenges like these, and I'm, really looking forward to getting into the role and hopefully bringing some of my qualities and ideas to it.

I've been taking on responsibilities for years, because I've always been more of a leader than a participant- I'm a wee bit too bossy and opinionated to always sit back!

I aim to do things to the best of my ability not because it'll look good on my CV, not because I enjoy being considered a smarty-pants or a goody-two-shoes, but because I almost feel as though, when given roles of responsibility, I'd be letting people down if I took it for granted, particularly myself.

For me, the one main focus is to not allow responsibility to become stress, because at that point it becomes unhealthy. Unfortunately, I'm not always the best at handling pressure, but I do put on a brave face that's convincing enough that people think that things are easier than they really are.

I've touched on a similar point before when I said that the reason I get sometimes get good grades is because I work hard for them. Well, the reason I can speak to groups is because I make myself do it, I'm no more comfortable initially than anyone else, but I challenge myself. The reason I can organize, is because I offer to do it, etc...

While I'm really pleased to have been given the Role of Responsibility I've wanted since about first year haha, I do, in this and my every endeavour, have to know when to say no to a request, when to take a step back and pass on the weight. I love it, that's why I do it, and I'm really glad that effort is recognised. Not everyone likes leading, but that doesn't make them unable to thrive off responsibility of some kind, and I reckon its a pretty crucial, and enjoyable skill.