Draft for "This I Believe" Script

This week, I will use my RCL blog to showcase a draft of my "This I Believe" podcast script. Let me know what you think in the comments down below!

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I have dealt with stressful situations before, but none quite like this. As my seventeen year-old self sat on the high stand, staring out at the sweltering public pool waters I guarded daily, I can recall thinking that I was going to need to apply more sunscreen for the day. Just as I reached over to rub my burning left shoulder, I noticed something not quite right in the water. There was too much splashing in the deep end. As I looked on with more scrutiny, I noticed a kid about ten years old struggling to stay afloat in the churning water. As a rule of thumb, I began my countdown from ten before deciding to jump in or not, because children often like to splash and fake drown.

My pulse began to race as I reached the halfway mark of my countdown, and my mind began to frantically recall my training as I prepared for the leap. Shaking, I suddenly realized that I was letting fear and nerves control me. I promised myself, right then, to let the fear run its course, but only for the next three seconds. After that, I needed to make a decision. When the three seconds were up, I kicked the fear out. I knew exactly what to do. I exhaled, stood up, and jumped off my stand.

After diving in and returning the child to his frantic mother on the side of the pool, I sat inside the lifeguard house and replayed the whole event in my head. More importantly, I recalled the sense of calm and energy I gained once I shut the fear out. After my first save as a lifeguard, I grew increasingly more confident throughout the next three years, and I was able to make more difficult saves while never shedding a second thought before I acted.

I have always been a strong believer in self confidence. Being confident in stressful situations can help calm my nerves, and it allows me to think clearly. For me, self confidence is not about being cocky; rather, it is about believing that no matter what, I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. My mom used to remind me of this phrase all the time as a child, and I truly believed it. After years of carrying this idea, I find confidence somewhat easy to find during my every day actions like taking tests, participating in sporting events, and performing musically. In fact, I often find myself performing better under pressure than during a private practice session.

Conversely, there are still the occasional events in life that throw my stomach for a loop and cause my palms to become sweaty. In moments like these, I recall that first save I ever had and I begin to count down slowly from three. After three seconds, the fear and nerves have had time to make their presence known. After three seconds, I am clear to think and ready to act accordingly. After three seconds, I am free.

I believe in letting the fear in.

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Riveting Ideas for Exciting New Blogs

Choosing a Topic is Half the Battle

When writing about a specific topic, passion for the subject is an important factor in the writing quality and conviction. At this stage in the writing process, as I seek out new ideas to expand upon, it is important to remember that choosing a topic is half of the battle. Specifically, for challenges such as writing about intimate beliefs, choosing a topic I feel strongly about is going to help me generate thought provoking content in the future. Consequently, I will utilize this week's RCL blog to explore ideas for my "This I Believe" podcast and Civic Issues Blog, and to filter through the most interesting and beneficial topics for me to write about. 

Two Ideas for my "This I Believe" Podcast:
To hold beliefs is to be truly human. In my opinion, deep rooted beliefs is what makes each individual unique from one another while also drawing everyone together. Beliefs allow us to express our innermost ideas with others when revealing our own, and stretch our boundaries when pondering other people's beliefs. For this week, I plan to express several beliefs of mine that I feel strongly about and believe would be an excellent source to share with others.

Currently, I am investigating two ideas to utilize for my "This I Believe" podcast.  Firstly, my belief in myself interests me due to its challenging spin. My belief in myself is not meant to portray arrogance or cockiness, but it is merely meant to indicate a belief that confidence is necessary to keep a positive attitude and achieve difficult goals. My second idea for my "This I Believe" podcast is my belief in isolated time in thought. Normally, I would consider myself an extrovert; however, there have been several times in my life where a lack of self reflection leads to me losing who I would really like to strive to become. Both of these blog ideas would allow me to share my personal journey to reach these beliefs and showcase how they have impacted my life.

Two Ideas for my Civic Issues Blog:

Civic issues plague many current day institutions and subcultures. The effect that civic issues have on political parties in the United States is an example that I am interested in. More specifically, I would like to uncover how party politics plays into American democracy and how civic issues have caused change over time. After taking AP U.S. Government in high school, I believe that this topic would allow me to utilize my prior knowledge to jumpstart deeper into the subject matter and generate more thought provoking posts.

In addition, I believe that current day education suffers from many civic issue controversies, and that continued improvement of this institution has the ability to reduce major problems such as poverty and illiteracy. In many cases, laws regarding public schooling have a direct impact on creating civic confrontations over concepts like affirmative action and liberal art budget cuts. If I were to chose this topic, I would want to cover how these areas of discussion generate argument and investigate ways these may someday be overcome.

Image Credits:

Photo provided by Bruce Aldridge
Photo provided by DonkeyHotey