October 29

The Art of Racing in The Rain Book Review

Garth Stein shows the incredible bond between a dog and their owner throughout the book The Art of Racing in the Rain. The emotions that are shown in the book come to life and the ending will have readers sobbing. A dog is a man’s best friend, they say, and this book shows just that. Denny (the owner) and Enzo (the dog) have an unbreakable relationship that continues to grow in strength as the book continues on. 

Enzo shows unconditional love to everyone in the book which is a very refreshing factor that a reader will find. It shows the value in any relationship and how strong love can hold someone together even in their toughest times. This story proves how much joy and support dogs can bring to families in their hardest times. 

Although this book has it’s cheesy and heartwarming moments, readers will close the book in tears. Audiences will never look at a dog the same after reading this novel because of the effect it has on oneself. The compassion shown by Enzo to Denny and his family shows that dogs are some of the best living beings in the world. 

The novel was New York Times bestseller for almost 3 years and it’s no surprise that fans enjoy it that much. Many people love a good dog book because it refreshes society of how much we love our pets. Not to mention that the stories are absolutely adorable. It also allows us to get a small sense of how our pets feel about us because the book is told from Enzo’s perspective. Although the novel is about a specific dog, we can all relate the story back to our loving pets.

Enzo comes into Denny’s life very unexpectedly, but it didn’t take long for them to become the best of friends. Denny and Enzo both grew together and became a fantastic dynamic duo. Enzo was always by Denny’s side and was able to watch him fall in love, start a family, and succeed in his car racing career. 

Many good things come unexpectedly, but when Denny’s wife Eve got cancer it was neither good nor expected. Enzo was extremely supportive of Denny, Eve, and their daughter Zoe. Enzo ultimately kept the family together in their hardest time, still giving them unconditional love no matter what. Enzo was also able to watch Zoe grow up and be a big part of her childhood, which many people can relate to if they had a pet growing up. 

There are many different symbols in this novel, each affecting someone in a particular way. The most well-known message in this book is the idea of making your own destiny. Because Denny is a race car driver he has to drive in the rain. To most drivers, this can seem quite scary, but to Denny, instead of letting the rain take over his tires he takes over and wins the race. This symbol can be understood as taking control of your life and not letting anyone else change your destiny. To many readers, this is very powerful because many people today in our society struggle with taking control and making their own destiny, instead of listening to anyone else. 

The novel may just seem like another sappy dog book, but as a dog owner myself, it really hit home. This book will make readers run home to their pets and kiss and cuddle them until you can’t anymore. Sometimes people forget how much our pets are really there for us and how much they love us despite our mistakes. Dogs and other pets too are a big part of our life because no matter how bad we humans mess up, a dog will always love no matter what. Dogs are family too and this book does that fact justice.

 

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October 29

Afterlife

I have seen a lot lately on social media about if ghosts and spirits exist, so this is what I think. I am not religious, and I believe what I want to believe. I believe that when we die our soul goes somewhere but not specifically heaven or hell. I think there is a good place and a bad place and our world. Like 3 parallel universes. But my idea of these places is nothing like the show The Good Place. I believe that ghosts and spirits exist and there is much more out there and something greater than us as humans but I don’t specifically believe it is “God”. 

I truly believe I saw a ghost once, which is why I have always been fascinated by them. I remember it was late at night maybe from 1-4 in the morning and I couldn’t sleep. I was sitting in my parents’ bed when I saw a very tall dark shadowy figure against the door as you walk into my parent’s room. He was poking his head in and out and almost waving at me. You would think as a child under the age of 10 I would be terrified but I felt safe. My mom’s dad died when she was 17. I never met him but I know that he was 6’8”. I know that it was him that one night checking in on me. 

Since then, I have made my own beliefs about where we go when our time is up on this world. I think in the good place that is where we all go. People who want to watch out for their family and be at peace with their lives before and after death. Then there is a bad place, where people with bad intentions go even after death. Due to their negative intentions and inability to move on and be at peace, they are stuck in a bad place and become demons. Then there is our world which is the living. 

I believe that if you let spirits in you will find signs from them, and almost feel their emotions of a key point in their past life. The good spirits can interact with our living world whenever they want and almost turn it off like a light switch so they can be in their good place again. And in the good place, everyone is happy living in their same house from the living world and may even have a job if they would like. They are living their lives just as they would live them if they were still alive. Then in the bad world it is the same thing but instead, they are stuck in the place they died. This results in a house being haunted because the spirit cant move on. But when a bad spirit or demon tries to harm a living person a spirit from the good place can come and help them and protect them. 

I don’t believe fully in reincarnation but I think that when we die part of our soul is left behind. Like it breaks off and then finds a new person to inhabit. Even though I am not religious, I do believe that everything happens for a reason, but no one makes that reason or has our lives planned out for us before it happens. But I do think that somehow someway the small part of the soul will find its way back to it’s loved ones through its new person. Maybe that’s why it’s called a soulmate. Not only do both souls connect in a way it has never before, but the soul that broke off is finding its way back to a family member. Then with their soulmate and the broken off soul, the person feels whole again. Yes, they will always miss the person that died but they will always feel like they are together with their soulmate. 

I believe that there is more than just our universe, and it is much bigger than us. But in the end, everything will be alright because everything happens for a reason.

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October 29

Accepted Into My First College

I just got accepted into my first college and it’s making this whole college thing so much more realistic. I’m so excited but absolutely terrified to leave my family. My mom, brother and I are so close and we have such an unbreakable bond. I know things won’t change between us but I don’t want to not be around them. But I know I have to leave them to figure out who I am deep down.

It sucks to say but I need to be independent because after college that is what my life will be, full of independence. That means in the real world, I will have to kill bugs and actually make my bed. I can’t even describe how much I will miss my family but I know when I come home and surprise my family they will be so excited to see me.

I’m really nervous about making more friends in college because I’m not the best at picking them. The amount of people who have screwed me over and the number of toxic relationships I have is really sad. I am excited and nervous to meet new people because then maybe I will socialize with more mature people who don’t annoy me. I am terrified that I’ll be all alone though because I get a lot of anxiety around people I don’t know. I just feel like they are all staring at me and judging me. 

I want to go to a college that has an equestrian team because I know that riding will keep me sane. I have been riding since I was 5 and I don’t remember a time when my life wasn’t surrounded by horses and competing. It’s my therapy, I can lose myself in the sport and just ride. It has always helped me cope and I know it will help with my transition into college. It might get a little stressful but I know in the end it will be beneficiary. 

I know I should be more worried about what colleges I get accepted into, but how will I know which one to pick? My mom has always told me that it is a vibe you get when you walk on campus. My dad is more about the financial aspect of college but he’s a financial planner so there is no surprise there. 

I almost feel like my dad doesn’t want me to leave. As much as we struggle in our relationship, I don’t think he wants me to go. Maybe because he is thinking “oh wow she’s growing up” or it’s because some wounds have not healed yet and he knows it. Maybe college will be good for us. We will be separated and it will make our relationship a good one. I want him in my future and that can only happen if our relationship heals. 

First semester has gone by so fast, and I know second semester will go by even faster. I have a nervous excitement in the pit of my stomach, but in the end, I know everyone will be okay. My mom and my brother will be supportive, I will have riding, and I can get lost in my school work and love for marketing. I know it might feel weird making friends but I think it will be easier than I’m making it sound. I’m excited for college and the rest of my life to start because this is where the fun begins. 

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October 18

The Power of Anxiety

Everyone is watching me, judging and talking about me behind my back. I bounce my leg up and down fast to get some of my nerves out, but it never works. I walk fast through halls and don’t make eye contact. Big groups of people scare me. I try to clean my room and I don’t know if I should start with the clothes on the ground, make my bed, or the empty water bottles on my nightstand. Everything is overwhelming and I don’t know what to do. My food is not allowed to touch and if I go to an Italian restaurant and the menu is in cursive I get stressed. The more things that give me this feeling the more I shake and my eyes begin to water. I can’t breathe. My chest gets tight and I can’t move. My anxiety has taken over and my reality is gone. 

I have always had very bad anxiety. It controlled every aspect of my life and dictated what I would do and who I would interact with. I felt like I was hiding every day from being myself because anything I would do gave me anxiety. Sometimes I would isolate myself and other times I would have an attitude as a defense mechanism. I tried to hide my feelings so no one would know what I was struggling with. My anxiety would get so bad that I would cancel plans last minute because I was scared to go out and be around a bunch of people. Many people told me that my anxiety was not an excuse and I should stop blaming my problems on it. When people say that, not only does it hurt but they don’t know what it is like. People without anxiety don’t know what it is like to be a prisoner to yourself. 

Some people say anxiety is not an excuse and that people should not blame their problems on their anxiety. Lauren Jo Sypniewski made it very clear in her article, Stop Using Your Mental Diagnosis As An Excuse, that people need to stop using their mental diagnosis as a way to get out of things. She says, “Every person possesses free will or agency or the ability to make choices or whatever you’d like to term the phenomenon. This means — shocker — that you are in control of your life and the actions that set your life in motion”. Well — shocker — it’s not that easy. You can’t just wake up and be like “oh I’m not going to have anxiety today because well, I just don’t feel like it”. Or even look at something and think about something that gives you anxiety and say “LOL screw that!” No that’s not how it works. Over time you can learn how to deal with anxiety and other mental health problems but you will never be able to move on with a snap of your fingers. 

If things are going great and your handling everything that would normally give you anxiety really well, something could trigger it and bring you back to the starting line. I have become much better at controlling my anxiety instead of letting it control me, but every once in awhile it gets really bad to the point where I’m canceling plans and trying to get out of going to school. I have pushed myself to go out and socialize with people even though people are what gives me the most anxiety. Sometimes it works and I have fun, but other times it’s too much and I break down as I’m heading home. 

Mental illness does not have a button that you can press to make it turn off. It takes time to learn how to overcome it. Anxiety is an excuse because why cause yourself to have more anxiety when you can take your time to learn how to control it in your own way. Saying that mental health is not an excuse is easy for someone to say that doesn’t have any issues. Society needs to be more empathetic for those with anxiety because they don’t know what it is like and how much we struggle. 

There have been countless of times my friends and family have told me that my anxiety was not a big deal and that I just had to get over it. When they said that, it made me feel like I had to hide this terrible thing about myself. Now I only talk about my anxiety to people I really trust because I’m scared of how others will react. I have been burned by criticism about my anxiety from others, and I would never wish that on anyone else. I wished everyone was more understanding and supportive for years. I know that if I had more support systems I’m my life for my anxiety growing up, it would not have been as bad as it once was. 

How will criticizing someone’s anxiety make it better? Let me tell you a little secret. Judging someone’s anxiety and telling them that it is not a reason for something will not make it any better. People need to be more supportive of those with anxiety because an unnecessary opinion will not decrease their anxiety. If our society was more understanding of anxiety then maybe fewer people would have anxiety problems. 

The article It’s OK to Have Anxiety, explains how having anxiety is natural and something that should be embraced. Michael Hendrick says, “It’s OK to feel like you’re about to explode from panic and it’s OK to have to leave a situation if it makes you uncomfortable.” Removing yourself out of a situation to stop yourself from having anxiety is okay. Why would someone go to a party if it will just give them anxiety rather than them having fun? We are only in this world for so long, and life shouldn’t be filled with anxiety controlling you. But until you learn how to cope with anxiety it is okay to back out of plans last minute if it will decrease your anxiety. 

Anxiety is very difficult to live with. Many people don’t understand how it works or the feeling. There are many obstacles that will increase someone’s anxiety, and it takes time for everyone with anxiety to learn how to deal with it in the best way for them. So instead of judging and pushing people with anxiety, people need to be more empathetic. Try and put yourself in their shoes and help them through their journey of control over their anxiety. It just makes anxiety worse when someone says “get over it” or “it’s not that big of a deal, your fine”. 

Instead of making people feel alone and ashamed of their anxiety and any other mental diagnosis, we all need to show more support and help them. The more we embrace anxiety and other mental illnesses, the more we can help people struggling in our society. The more understanding people are to anxiety, the quicker someone can learn to control their anxiety. People with anxiety will no longer feel alone. They will feel like others care about them even with a mental illness. Society’s empathy can help people process their anxiety. Empathy and support can save someone from their anxiety. 

As bad as my anxiety is, I am grateful for how it has molded me into the person I am today. I am extremely paranoid, but that makes me think before I act much more than someone else. I have grown so much with my anxiety, and I have learned how to control it. I have such a great support system for my anxiety and I know that I can count on my family and friends to get me out of my head. I sympathize with those who are struggling alone or with others. It is okay to have anxiety and it is okay to struggle and be afraid of it. Anxiety is just another feature in us that makes us human. 

 

https://suindependent.com/stop-using-mental-diagnosis-excuse/

https://psychcentral.com/blog/its-ok-to-have-anxiety/

 

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