During my undergraduate degree, I learned an important life lesson about caring for others. While studying for the final exam with my fellow classmates, a few of the students legitimately obtained a copy of the previous year’s final exam through a friend.  These students didn’t let anyone else have access to the previous exam, or its answers; rather, they kept it for themselves.  They thought that by not sharing this special information with other classmates, they would do better on the exam. They were focusing on their individual success, at the exclusion of their fellow classmates’.

How do you connect with people who seem out of reach?

After writing the post last week, I have gotten inquiries about how a person can begin being seen and making their presence known. I get asked this question regularly, as I have connected with beautiful people from around the world. With all of them, we started as strangers; through developing the courage to express our thoughts, we built a connection.

As you know, I love sharing stories of people who have impacted my journey.  I was saddened to find out that a beautiful soul, Zach Sobiech, lost his battle to cancer yesterday.  Zach was only 18 years old when he died but in his short time he embraced life to the fullest.  His passion for life, love of others, and contagious joy touched my heart as well as those of many others. His legacy will live on.  As Zach said in his documentary, "It's really simple, actually, just try to make people happy."

I'm so excited to share with you a new web show that Jacqueline Boone (from 6 Months to Live) and I are starting. I met Jacqueline through WordPress and an awesome friendship was born. We did our first episode yesterday of our new monthly web show called:

Therefore, today I'm happy to feature Cameron Von St. James and his FAMILY as part of my Profiles of Perseverance  series. To this family every day is family day, as they know how valuable it is to be together. Cameron initially reached out to me and wanted to share his family's story, which he called "Living with Cancer." After I read it, I had to ask Cameron to also share his pieces of advice about overcoming obstacles. His writing moved me to tears, as many in my life have been affected by this disease.  As you will see below, the Von St. James family is beautiful and perseverant. Hearing their story shows how important social support is in overcoming obstacles. Thank you, Cameron, Heather, and Lily, for reminding others what is important in life! 

Have you ever been so excited about an idea that you want it to develop and to be shared with others? Yet, you are unsure of how to do it. I have a solution, and it isn’t rocket science.  One of the best ways to develop your idea is to REACH OUT and connect with others.

I was in that boat about a year ago when I first started my blog.  Seriously, I thought only my friends and family would be reading it but I was eager to meet new people and start discussions.  Since I was new to the blogging world, I was a bit naive; I thought, “I’ll write great material, and a community will immediately develop.”  Boy was I wrong! I should have realized that building an online community is the same as building an offline one – it takes time and effort to develop.

Over the last month, I have been focusing my posts on perseverance.  I think it is such an important quality to possess and is essential to life. I have asked individuals to share their stories on how they overcame obstacles.  One of my loyal readers, Sarah L., wrote the following message on what perseverance means to her.  It is such a strong message, and I'm so thankful she reached out and shared with us. Thanks :)

I was sitting by the ocean this past weekend, and was rather pensive.  I find that when something hard happens in life, the event can often become one's main focus.  Sometimes you can magnify the event, so much so that it can seem to occupy most of your thoughts.  However, sitting by the water made me realize that there are so many things in this life to be happy about!  All you need to do is to shift your focus and remember all the reasons why you should be happy!

I am a strong believer that goals should be written down.  It is easy to set a goal (i.e., have a mental plan), but I think it is more effective to have the goals some place where you can refer back to them in detail.  I find if I have my goals written down somewhere, they provide me with a greater sense of accountability. Therefore, since spring is here and bathing suit season is just around the corner, I thought I would share a plan for getting back in shape.  Since many think their stomach is their problem area, I thought I would focus on strengthening our cores.  Check out the detailed plan below.  You can use this template for detailing any goal you wish to achieve.

My name is Kelsey Goodwin, and I am a people photographer. Arianna has asked me to share my story, because when you pursue any passion, its path is sure to be discouraging at times. I'm going to reflect on those times, the "lightbulb moments" I've gained as a businesswoman and how the support of those around me has always shone brighter than any setback.

Luckily, I had the chance to watch Ellen (aka The Ellen Degeneres Show) today. The last segment featured two guests and the host – all empowering stories of perserverance, hope, and inspiration!  

Ellen had Justin Bieber and his new artist, Carly Rae Jepsen, on her show.  All three individuals are examples that if you work hard, persist (or “Never Say Never”), follow your passion, overcome setbacks, and don’t let the critics take you off path: you can achieve your dream!

Each of these three celebrities had a different story and setbacks, but each let their times of struggle build their character and improve their inner strength.  Most importantly, they haven’t let their setbacks change who they are. 

I’m Sharon Hughes; from Perth, Western Australia.  I was raised in a large family (the eldest of 6).  We had a relatively adventurous life, growing up on the road – Dad was with the circus until marrying Mum, then he drove long haul trucks around Australia, with family in tow. We were often left with carnivals, the circus, acquaintances or our maternal grandmother, if dad and mum couldn’t take some or all of us with them. Unfortunately, because of dad’s mental illness, he was violent, so the adventures were often marred with sadness. I stuttered severely from the time I could speak, this meant constant taunts from fellow students and teachers at school, not to mention always being the new kid (due to moving around so much).  We went to over 20 schools around Australia (apparently).  I was taunted by dad, teased for stuttering and all sorts, my self-esteem sucked.