{"id":65,"date":"2012-08-28T15:11:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-28T20:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/?guid=1dc2dca253e7a7e65d3dc6605cdc0820"},"modified":"2012-08-28T15:11:50","modified_gmt":"2012-08-28T20:11:50","slug":"introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/2012\/08\/introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"<br \/>\n<style><!--  \/* Font Definitions *\/ @font-face  {font-family:Cambria;  panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;  mso-font-charset:0;  mso-generic-font-family:auto;  mso-font-pitch:variable;  mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}  \/* Style Definitions *\/ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal  {mso-style-parent:\"\";  margin:0in;  margin-bottom:.0001pt;  mso-pagination:widow-orphan;  font-size:12.0pt;  font-family:\"Times New Roman\";  mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;  mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;  mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;  mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;  mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;  mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;  mso-bidi-font-family:\"Times New Roman\";  mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page Section1  {size:8.5in 11.0in;  margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;  mso-header-margin:.5in;  mso-footer-margin:.5in;  mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1  {page:Section1;} --><\/style>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cI just don\u2019t want to fall!\u201d the terrified six-year-old screamed at her mother. The other children had walked easily and briskly across, with mini-Olympic dismounts, but the little girl had reached an impasse. Stuck at a dizzying height, the simple task of finishing her way across the beam was like asking her to cross the Atlanta skyscrapers outside on a tightrope. <\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cJust take a deep breath,\u201d her mother said calmly. \u201cKeep your balance, and keep going.\u201d <\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\">The word \u201cbalance\u201d probably doesn\u2019t much to a child, and probably didn\u2019t mean much to me as I sobbed hysterically in front of my curious classmates, but when that clutching paralysis of an impending fall set in, I knew I had to make a change. My movements didn\u2019t have to be drastic, but I had to do something to not plunge 3 feet onto the mat in front of everyone \u2013 the ultimate defeat. Even when a child starts to lose their balance, they know to realign. I was lucky enough to always have someone encourage me to try in the first place.<\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\">Although my gymnastics career was short-lived, I\u2019ve loved performing on life\u2019s proverbial balance beam from an early age. It started out with a fear of crossing and falling in front of others, but I gained confidence from my parents and teachers as I discovered my basic skills: reading, writing, and people-pleasing. (\u2018Rithmatic? A gentle gust of math is enough to knock me off a sidewalk, but I\u2019ve learned to accept that.)<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">&nbsp; <\/span>A social butterfly and bookworm, I started to flit across playgrounds and cartwheel through libraries, always encouraged to make more friends and try new things. From track to musical theater to Spanish to student council, my range of interests grew as I reached adolescence. I didn\u2019t want to just do the most activities \u2013 I wanted to be the best at all of them. <\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\">Incorporating new movements into my routine led to inevitable falls, and many of the most painful were caused by outside distractions. Watching a parent suffer an addiction made me not ever want to even get back up when I fell, but mentors, my mom, and a-wise-beyond-her-years younger sister pushed me to take those deep breaths and hoist myself back up. <\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\">When I entered high school, I started to see the value in balancing other people and not just my own achievements. I took great joy in mentoring middle school girls, giving them the same advice my mom did when I was scared \u2013 hold your head high and keep going.<span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">&nbsp; <\/span>Helping other girls cross the beam, especially when I\u2019ve felt the same grips of falling what feels like hundreds of feet, is still a particular passion of mine. <\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\">Entering my senior year at Vanderbilt, I feel strongly about the routine I\u2019ve worked on for years \u2013 I\u2019m currently in the groove of maintaining philanthropic efforts through my sorority and job experiences at two children\u2019s hospitals and Teach For America. I love my academic pursuits, the relationships I have with professors, and late night study sessions. Lifelong friendships and family give my balancing act a spark without which would make all of my flips and twists lackluster. Trips and stumbles happen every day but I have people in my life who tell me to keep doing my best. <\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\">So much for me is on the line right now as I approach graduation, and the little girl scared of falling is starting to get anxious as she peers down to the mat and those watching her every move. Even though I can handspring from a test on the rhetoric of social movements to a charity event to a night out with friends, I fear the disappointment of everyone (including myself) if I don\u2019t go for higher scores with more complicated routines. Training, practicing, studying, planning, applying, moving, flipping, flying \u2013 overwhelming. <\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\">However, when I start to get too focused on what the judges out there are thinking, I remember what my mom said: \u201cKeep your balance and keep going.\u201d I\u2019m beginning to realize that even if I\u2019m not perfect, showing the people I care about that they are the most important thing to balance in my life \u2013 even if I fall \u2013 is a feat worth its weight in gold. <span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"mso-spacerun: yes;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"MsoNormal\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"blogger-post-footer\"><img width='1' height='1' src='https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/3218445874415745839-6491579152337207399?l=heartofblogging.blogspot.com' alt='' \/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>                 \u201cI just don\u2019t want to fall!\u201d the terrified six-year-old screamed at her mother. The other children had walked easily and briskly across, with mini-Olympic dismounts, but the little girl had reached an impasse. Stuck at a dizzying&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/2012\/08\/introduction\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1011,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1011"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/my.dev.vanderbilt.edu\/artofblogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}