Post #7 - Extra Credit - Creativity

Post #7 – Extra Credit – Creativity

                Creativity is a very important aspect of life.  Without it, people would not have a way to express themselves.  Creativity comes in many different forms.  Some people draw, and are able to create masterful works of art.  Others may find that they are able to achieve the same thing using different ways, such as working with clay, paint, or other forms of artwork.  I have seen people that use the actual items that they are trying to create to make their own.

                One such experience was with my oldest brother.  He always wanted to own a hot rod truck.  After years of searching for the right one, he finally settled down and bought a 1949 Ford truck.  After many hours in the garage working on it, he finally got it running.  It was never a pretty truck, but it was well on its way.  He was absolutely crushed when it was wrecked while hunting that fall.

                I have seen several other examples of personal creativity.  Some have been cars, while others were either sculptures or crafts.  I personally chose to express myself both through words, and through arts and crafts.  I used to be a very outdoors person, however after my car accident I found that I was having a lot of problems physically.  I wasn’t able to perform the activities that I enjoyed, so I had to learn other ways to express myself.  With the help of my mother, I learned how to crochet and how to make beaded artwork.  I still use those skills to this day.

                Another way I have found to use my own creativity is to express myself through my works, both in class and outside of class.  I have found that I have a knack for working with computers, and I have decided to make that part of my college experience.  If I have to use them, I might as well use them to the best of my ability.  I have also started sharing my experience with others who are having problems that I have already learned about.

                Overall, I would have to say that being in college is a good thing for me.  I am learning a lot of new skills, which only add to my creative personality, and result in greater opportunities for me.  I am looking forward to the future, and making plans on settling down once I finish school.  I have a goal in mind and I work towards that goal every day.

Post #6 - Accidents

Post #6 – Accidents

            Accidents happen.  Some are horrible tragedies while others are just minor inconveniences.  Growing up, I always thought that if a person got hurt they had it coming for some reason.  Later in life, I learned that isn’t always the case.  Sometimes good people get hurt because they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.  This was the case with myself.

            Back in November of 2000, I was in a very bad car accident.  I broke my back in two places, and wound up not being able to work for quite some time.  For a long time after the accident, I kept wondering what I had done to deserve what had happened to me.  I sought professional help for depression and multiple suicide attempts.  Only after coming to the reality that I had done nothing to deserve what happened, but rather that it was an accident, was when the recovery process could truly begin.

            Every day I have problems with that injury, but I have to fight through the hard times to be able to enjoy the good times.  One lesson I learned through that ordeal was that I needed to slow down and learn to enjoy life a little more.  At that point in my life, I was doing what most people my age were doing.  Drinking and partying all the time seemed to take the majority of my days.  Only after having my life flipped upside down did I learn to appreciate what I have and work for the things I want in life.

            My current goal is to earn a college degree and start working again after almost 5 years of living on a fixed income.  One thing that was taken from me in that accident was the freedom to work in the field that I love.  I love working on ranches and taking care of animals.  Due to a broken back, I can no longer perform the duties of that job, so I have to return to school and learn a new skill so that I can accomplish what I have set out to do.

            People say that living on a fixed income would be nice.  I know I did.  However, after living on that little amount of money every month for the last 5 years, I have come to realize that while it is nice to be able to do anything you want, it is really hard to enjoy all the time I have because I can’t get out and do anything.  This is the reason that I have made a decision to return to school and earn a degree.  I want to have the financial ability to enjoy all that life has to offer.

            I was a very lucky person.  I could have wound up in a wheelchair for the rest of my life.  Honestly, I don’t know why I am not in one.  I wake up every morning thankful that I can stand up and walk around the house.  I never imagined I would be feeling this way at the age of 35.  My advice is this, don’t take anything for granted.  No matter what you have, who you are, or any other circumstance, life can take away a lot of things, and when it happens, it takes a long time to recover from it.

Post #5 - Deadlines

Post #5 – Deadlines

            Deadlines are very important in life.  Without them, nothing would get accomplished in a timely manner.  Deadlines are faced by everyone, every single day.  We face them at work, school, and at home.  Some deadlines are productive, and others seem to be more annoying than anything else.  Deadlines are important because they establish when certain projects or aspects of life need to be finished.  At school, deadlines are the due dates for assignments and projects.  At work, they can be anything from times of the day to certain days to get tasks done.  At home, deadlines come into play when paying bills, cooking meals, and establishing bedtimes for children.

            A personal experience with deadlines at home happened to me when I was teaching my children what time they should be in bed.  I have always been a night owl, so going to bed early is not an option for me.  Trying to teach my children that they need to be asleep by 9:30 pm during the week and 10:00 pm on weekends was a chore for me.  My children would hear me moving around the house after they were told to be in bed, and then they would wake up and come out to see what was going on.  Through this experience, I have learned to make an example of myself for my children.  I started going to bed earlier than I was, and my children saw this and started to go to bed at the right time.

            I would have to say that facing deadlines with the mentality that they are just tasks that need to be done by a certain time or day has helped me through life.  I don’t think of the deadlines as anything bad, but rather I challenge myself to see if I can accomplish the tasks early, and get everything right the first time.

Post #4 - Transition

Post #4 - Transition

                We all go through times in life that require us to face change.  With that change comes a transition period.  These times are never easy, regardless of how many times a person goes through them.  For example, I grew up in foster care and was placed in 14 different homes and 5 different state run institutions in a 6-year period.  Even with all those changes, the transition period is never easy.

                With every change, a person faces many new obstacles, such as finding a new job, moving into a new place, moving to a new town…the list goes on.  Every time a person faces change, the transition period is right after the change.  For me, the transition period has never gotten any easier.  There are always new things that have to be learned or done.  For instance, when I moved to Helena, I had to find a place to live, register for school, and get everything set up so that I could live here.

                Some changes are good ones, and some are bad changes, but one lesson is true…change will make a person into someone that they need to be to achieve their goals.  Every change I have faced in life has made me stronger as a person and gave me the strength to face more challenges.  Granted, the transition period is rough, but sometimes, it is worth the trouble.  Sometimes, the reward is greater than the struggle.  When I was placed in foster care, I didn’t know what was happening.  I was only 8 years old.  The police came to my school and said that my sister and I had to go with them.  What came after that was a complete shock on both of us, and we had to learn how to survive in that new situation.

                The lesson is this, no matter what life throws in a person’s path is able to be overcome.  It’s up to the individual to figure out the right path to take.  Never give up, because the visions a person dreams about can be possible in their life, they just have to work for that every single day.

Post #3 - Adventure

Post # 3 - Adventure

            I chose to write about adventure because I feel that I have been on a very long one since I moved here to Helena.  I used to live in Missoula, MT and was looking for a change.  I wanted to get away from Missoula and away from my family there, and be able to discover life on my own.  To put it simply, I wanted an adventure that I would never forget.  I have since found that adventure by moving to Helena.  I ended up meeting a very wonderful woman and she wanted me to come over to visit her, which came right at the time that I was seeking a change, and I came over to Helena to visit her.  I ended up liking it over here so I ended up moving over and starting school here instead of in Missoula.

            I have found that some people get bored easily with their surroundings, and when that happens, it is time to make a change in life.  Personally, I feel that moving to Helena was the best move I could have made.  I am pursuing my goals, and I have a very wonderful woman supporting me every step of the way.

            For some people, the term “adventure” means getting out and doing something that they have never done before.  For others, it can simply mean a new start in life.  For me it was stepping out on my own and getting away from the people that were telling me that I wasn’t good enough for them.  I have led a very hard life, and so I tend to think a little differently than most people do.  When someone tells me that I am going on an adventure, I think of a trip out to the woods or maybe a fishing trip.  When other people hear the same thing, they may think of an exotic trip to the Amazon, or traveling around the world.  An adventure doesn’t have to take a long time, or cost a lot of money.  An adventure just has to have three ingredients, which are friends, memories, and fun.  Sometimes, an adventure can be simply one person going off on their own and finding something that they may like.  My personal adventures usually include a trip to the river with my fishing pole and tackle box.  Come to think of it, today would be a really nice day to get out there and see if I could catch anything.  I think I’m ready for a small adventure.

Post #2 - Family

Post #2 – Family

Family means a lot of different things to different people.  For some, family means those that raised you and invested their time in your life to teach you what you needed to learn.  For others, family means those that are directly related to you by blood.  For me personally, I feel that family can mean both at the same time.  I have blood family that I will always have, and then I have close friends that are more like family than friends.  I also have adopted family that have taken me in when I needed help, and they took me under their wings and took care of me.  The best part about family is not who makes up that family, but what they are wanting for your life.  My blood family has always been there for me.  I know that I can always call them for help or just to talk about what is going on.  My adopted family is there for me when my blood family can’t be.  I know that they are not my true family, but they have invested time and effort into how I turned out, and that means a lot to me.  Another aspect of life that I didn’t know about until I was 14 years old is called a step-family.  I never fully understood what it means to be a step parent, or to have a step parent.  I finally came to that realization last summer when I became a step parent to a wonderful 5 year old boy.  I found out that the term step parent doesn’t truly exist.  It’s only a legal term.  I found out that when a person becomes a step parent, the child or children involved don’t think of that person as a step parent, they think of them as either mom or dad.  You don’t just become a step parent on paper, you have to put the time and effort into those children just as you would if they were your own kids.  That’s what happened with my childhood, and I was very thankful for the man that stepped up to raise me when he didn’t have to.  I still call that man my dad.

Post #1 - A Little About Me

Post #1:  A Little About Me

Hello, my name is Martin White.  I wanted to share a little about me.  I grew up in a small town in northwest Montana, and didn’t have a whole lot of close friends due to where I lived.  Growing up, I lived all over Montana, and when I turned 18 I moved back to Missoula.  I spent 17 years there and moved to Helena to be with a very good woman.  I have always wanted to get a college degree, and I have that opportunity here at Helena College.  Back in 2000, I joined the Marine Corps.  I completed basic training and was sent home to set my affairs in order before I was to be deployed.  While I was at home I was involved in a very horrific car accident which resulted in me being hospitalized for almost 6 months, and spending another year and a half in a wheelchair.  I was in and out of the hospital several times during that time, and I was also told that I would not be able to walk or do anything with my life.  I have made the decision to prove everyone wrong, and so far I have accomplished that.  My main reason to return to school after all this time is because I find that I cannot survive on what I am making right at this time.  I want to earn a degree so that I can prove to myself that no one has the right to tell me what I can or can’t do with my life.  I have a decent support network behind me, but I don’t need their support to make my dreams come true.  During my spare time, which I don’t have a lot of, I like to make custom beaded projects and also make blankets.  While I was in the wheelchair, my mother taught me how to use my mind to create things from basic items.  I have taken this knowledge and turned it into a way to supplement my income.  For me, returning to school is more than just earning a degree.  My ultimate goal with school is to get as much education as I possibly can, and then use that to better my life.