Throughout my life both my school and parents have communicated the importance of helping people that are less fortunate than myself. I had worked at fundraisers, contributed money, and partook in sponsored walks, but not until I traveled away from home to a small village in Costa Rica did I really witness the true results of my help. A family friend had returned from Africa after spending the summer helping out at a orphanage, after listening to her passionately describe the experience, I wanted to follow in her foot steps. Liza was thirty and traveled alone, but being a teenager there were restrictions to where I could go and what exactly I could do. Refusing to wait until the age that would allow me to copy Liza’s itinerary, I researched planned trips that would allow me to gain a similar experience. After quite a bit of googling, I came across a site, http://www.globalworkstravel.com. It was a dream come true! The Global Works team offered  trips to different countries like Costa Rica, Zambia, Nicaragua, Thailand, and China where they had organized community service projects.

After considering which service project I found most interesting, I chose to travel to Costa Rica where I would help to build a new school house. After driving about seven hours, we arrived in a small village tucked away in the country side. When we arrived I was introduced to the family who generously offered me a bed in their home. On my first night in Costa Rica I helped the mother prepare dinner as they family and I got to know each other with my limited Spanish vocabulary.

The following day the real journey began as the rest of the team and I visited the school house. The school was a small room with limited space for the thirty or so children that crammed nearly on top of each other. I immediately felt guilt for taking advantage of the facilities provided in my own school. I understood how the small space limited the opportunity for these children, as they were clearly uncomfortable and not in an environment where they could flourish and explore academics. Over the next four weeks, we worked to build the children a new school house that would be bigger with new stools, tables, and black board.  For hours we mixed cement, and piled bricks on top of the ones we had lay the following day. Seeing how our work made the children excited gave me a feeling I had not exactly experienced while fundraising. I felt important that my work was responsible for putting a smile on a child’s face.

For anyone else who was in the same situation that I was in and is looking to have a similar experience, I strongly suggest Global Works. Without them I would not have been able to gain the same feeling that Liza had described to me two years ago. There are a series of global issues that Global Works address and on their website you can explore the different ways that you can help. I am thankful that I had that opportunity, and even went to Spain the following year for another project!

My best friend Denise and I have had some really fantastic, enlightening conversations over the years (she lives in Colorado so we have weekly phone dates), but the past few conversations we’ve had, have been REALLY incredible…

She is pregnant,with my GOD-DAUGHTER!  And with this, she has shared with me how she has become less and less tolerant of people, places and things that have been less than a positive feed for her life.  “Interesting…”, I would tell her because over the past year, I too have become less tolerant of the same.  Perhaps it’s getting older.  Perhaps it’s that life is too short.  Perhaps it’s about realizing what takes priority in ones life.  Whatever it is, we both agreed that there were seriously toxic forces in our lives that needed to be removed asap!  Once we did that, our lives had become so much better, so much healthier and so much more peaceful.  It was not the easiest process, but it was one that had to be done.  I thought that I would feel badly about ridding toxic forces from my life, but to my surprise, I didn’t feel badly at all.  In fact, once that was done, I had more room for positive people and things that have enriched my life in more ways than I could ever imagine.  Denise agreed.  It was so very refreshing and comforting to share this same thought process with Denise because I (we) realized that life is about quality, not quantity.  Get rid of people, places and things that bring you down.  Spend time at places and with people who will compliment your life and make it more beautiful.  Once I (and Denise) did this, we realized how much WE have control over our happiness.  My ‘disease to please’ attitude is long gone and I’m a much happier person for it.  That’s why I truly cherish the amazing friends, family, clients and gifts that I have.  I don’t take any of that for granted and I will always be grateful for those that make my life as wonderful as it is.

With that, I asked Denise if she would like to share her ‘out with the negative’ journey in an article.  So, here it is.  Enjoy.  It’s beautifully written and I really believe this will make a strong impact on your life.

~EAH

Reaching the Top of the Mountain: The Glorious Freedom of Letting Go

By Denise Powell

How begins the daunting task of letting go? Many of us find ourselves explaining a situation that we feel trapped in to another, only to hear the over simplified solution, “just let it go.” For the lucky few, expecting that kind of immediacy in the process may be easy. For most, the seemingly endless process of letting go of whatever haunts us as individuals is a constant feat with a series of steps forward, fall backs, and epiphanies along the way. The acceptance itself that we need to cut something out of our lives can take months, sometimes years, to fully internalize.

Begins the tireless uphill trek with a 50-pound pack strapped to your back. Bring plenty of water, a dry shirt to change into, as you will encounter rain, a flashlight, as it will get dark, and a flask of Jameson. Luckily, there will be passers-by on their way back down from the same place who can offer you a piece of wisdom, and an extra pair of socks. These are the people who will help get you through. Be humble, and take what they offer you, no matter how small. You are not alone.

My uphill journey began carrying a baby. Not on my back, but in my belly, as I am days away from delivering my first baby. Not surprisingly, imagining another being entirely dependent on me altered my view of the world and my place in it. At first, I thought I could still live practically the same life I had lived before including exercise and working 3 jobs. Saying “no” to things was never my strong suit, as I have battled the need to please everyone and that was more important than doing what I instinctively felt was right. I was the product of overprotective parents who made a lot of decisions for me at an early age. When I felt the baby kicking inside of me for the first time, I became worried about all the stress I was under and that it was somehow transferred to her. I began to resent those in my life demanding my energy in various ways. I wanted to push them all away, to build a barrier around my growing baby and me.

Something had to give. I had no choice but to let go of the people and things in my life that were not serving us. I did not want to leave the door ajar anymore. I needed to cut my losses once and for all in order to really let my new life in. Over time, with practice, my tolerance of staying in a relationship or situation that was toxically stealing my precious energy while it could/should be spent on more important things that would lead to authentic happiness, started to dissipate. It was not an easy transition and it did not take overnight. Sometimes I still deal with conflicting thoughts and question if I am living the way I am meant to. Dealing with setbacks takes constant monitoring and subsequent action.

My motivation in letting go was the impending birth of my child. My wish is to raise a strong-minded young woman who trusts herself and can make hard decisions early on, not listen to those who seek to take advantage, while respecting that she is an individual with her own views and instincts.

Sometimes we need to sacrifice being well-liked for self-honesty. It’s too easy to lie to ourselves, to go with the flow as not to provoke confrontation. The reality is that if we had the courage to face the awkward and uncomfortable scenario of conflict, we would find a shortcut to the life we are meant to live. It’s time to get tough. Stop mulling over our grievances too long, move forward, and stop being so nice to people whom take without giving back. It’s imperative to follow our individual catalysts, as long as it’s not destructive, to open ourselves up to making an enemy or two in exchange for self-honesty, because not everyone has our best interest at heart.

Take the trek uphill, even if in the dark. Remember, you are equipped with a flashlight and the rising dawn of the sun every new day. The journey home is all downhill.

The sound of a remote but familiar voice brought an expert in image to a country desperate to rebuild its own. Nigel Barker, one of the worlds most renowned photographers, knew the unmistakable tone of Julia Salvi’s words. Then again, long before they belonged to the creator of one of the most important music festivals to date, they belonged to “Mrs. Salvi”, the mother of one of Nigel’s close childhood friends.

Today, Nigel Barker is much more than the main reason why women all over the world, myself included, are devoted to ANTM. He’s a published author, filmmaker, photographer extraordinaire, and master of all that is visual, and even some things that are not. But above all, he is a man of passion, a great humanitarian, and a gentleman as there are few now a days, in the full and literal sense of the word.

He landed in Cartagena without knowing what to expect. But his presence in the festival was validated by his undeniable fashion expertise, his love for music, and his social activism. And on these three pillars, the schedule of his short visit was carefully built. He was welcomed to Cartagena with the benefit concert for the Granitos de Paz Foundation. “Driving into Cartagena at dusk and seeing the walled city for the first time was breath taking. Then seeing a harp virtuoso perform in the beautiful chapel of this amazing hotel was like arriving in heaven”.

But music is much more than just a passion to Nigel Barker. It serves as a definitive element in both his life and work. He uses it to provoke his subjects and evoke from them whatever emotion he needs his images to portray. He reaches out to the soothing chords of a classical piece to mitigate the stress that being an innocent victim to his lens can sometimes cause. In other instances, he’ll turn his studio into a rhythm and rhymes party to the beat of hip hop to extract the vivacious colors of joy. And he’s seen Jack, his 6 year old son, open up and exude confidence while playing his guitar. “Music moves people and that makes a photograph come alive”.

The reason for his visit to Colombia extended far beyond being a special guest at Ana Urrea’s runway show (Los Matices del Alma – The Colors of the Soul), and now, Nigel Barker has become a discoverer and admirer of one of the world’s best kept secrets: the beauty of Colombia.

“This country is geographically gifted, but it’s beauty, and most importantly, the heartbeat of the city – are its people”. This is why, when asked how to change the country’s image, he insists that the work has to be done from the inside, out. “Beauty comes from within, and a nation is just the sum of its People”, he states, and he believes that as the Colombian works to provide for its citizens and improve their conditions and their way of life, the rest will simply fall into place.

“Rarely have I fallen in love with a people and place so quickly”, he tweeted while waiting for the airplane that would take him back to New York. He left with a new found mission as ambassador and spokesman for the truth behind Colombia, and vowed to return soon to see what other treasures are hidden amongst the various geographies of this beautiful land.

By: Yolanda E. Ossa-Eslait