Jen Gradl

A-Team Member

I grew up in New Orleans, and when I was 12 Hurricane Katrina hit and destroyed my house. We pretty much lost everything. I don't have many baby pictures anymore or my two childhood stuffed animals, Snuggles and Stripes. I don't have my baby blanket or all my Disney movies on VHS.

When we lost everything, it really took a toll on me. We had to relocate to St. Louis to live with family for awhile and I had to change schools multiple times throughout that year. I remember crying a lot and people pitying me for my loss and handing me money all the time.

It was a rough year for me. I ended up losing most contact with my friends because everyone ended up scattering across the United States and my dad stayed down in New Orleans, so he was 500 miles away from me.

But I never would have made it through that year without my mom. She told me that things can always be replaced but people cannot and things are just things.

While that is something that is obvious, it really helped me cope through my situation. Yes, I lost everything but slowly everything we once had--a house, clothes, furniture, etc., was replaced, but just with a newer, better version of the old stuff.

A lot of people lost loved ones during that storm. I only lost things and when you have that perspective on life, it makes the little things not seem so bad. I think we all take a little too much pride in our materialistic things. We want the best clothes, the best car or even the best grades, but in the grand scheme of things, do they really matter that much?

There's the saying that you don't really know what you have until it's gone, and I couldn't agree more with it. Once you lose everything it makes you realize how unimportant the little things are in life.

So now I live my life with the attitude of knowing that things can be replaced, people cannot. I focus my life on the people around me that I love and try to better my relationships and love for them. Because one day we will all be gone and we won't be remembered for the things we had, but instead of the memory people had of us.

If you're reading this, realize that the small things in life are just small things. I think once you can fully understand and have that attitude, you'll live a much happier life.

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Agathe Pompon

A-Team Member

When I was studying graphic design in France, I had a class about conceptualization for advertising. The professor told us that the main key to success in advertising was to take another perspective on a product. Basically, it was to think outside the box to get ideas that would surprise the viewer and mark his mind with the brand. We then learned how to use this method not only for advertisement but also for our graphic design work -- so much so that it actually affects how I think about everything in life now.

Perspectives can change everything about how we view the world. There is nothing that can't be thought of differently, and it's important to remember that consistently. Whenever something bothers me I put on my advertisement hat and try to find another perspective on it. For example, if I feel sad, I visualize myself, then I visualize myself in my house, then in the city, and up and up until I see from space. At this moment I am just a point on the point that is earth, and you're going to tell me that what another very small point told me has importance? Not anymore.

It does not even have to be realistic as long as it makes sense. Like if you break up with someone, it means that if you meet that actor you love from that show tomorrow, you're free to act on it. (Hey, why not? There is a probability it could happen.) If your friends make plans without you it doesn't have to mean they don't like you, it's probably that you have over-estimated how close you were to them and you can decide to fix this or not. It is much more efficient to think that every problem has a solution we have not thought about yet. You are not bored, you have the opportunity to become a specialist in French movies from the 60's. See, it works with everything!

Some people are so narrow-minded that it becomes scary. They think the world has only one way to be and there are no other ways it could be. It is not always easy to come up with alternatives to what we know, but it gets better with practice. So I am not sure if that is the best advice I ever got, but it sure is useful: Change your perspective!

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Alex Frisby

A-Team Member

As a senior in high school I was scared to death to move away from home for college. I had it set in my mind that I was going to stay at home and attend the community college that was about 20 miles away. While there's nothing wrong with that, my parents had other thoughts on the matter.

When I told my parents that I wanted to stay at home, they immediately disagreed. Both of them had stayed at the community college when they were my age and didn't end up going further. They wanted me to move away to grow and learn and, frankly, to get away from my current boyfriend. After several hours of discussion it was pretty set that I would be applying for universities and moving the next August even if I was less than thrilled.

Change is and always will be somewhat intimidating. The fear of the unknown is one of my biggest fears. However, that conversation and piece of advice that my parents gave me that day will forever impact the rest of my life. Moving to Cape helped me grow out of an immature high school relationship I was involved with for way too long and in turn I met the person who would unknowingly introduce me to my future husband.

I also would have never gotten through the public relations program as fast as I did if I would have stayed at community college because my first semester at Southeast I declared my major. In turn, I wouldn't be graduating next month.

It's funny looking back at how frightened I was about moving. My entire world has changed since that time three years ago. Now I am preparing to move four hours away from home instead of just two, I'm getting married in six months and I'm entering the real-job world. I'm still afraid of the unknown, but it doesn't worry me as much as it did then. I hope that's because I've matured and have learned to trust that I can't control my life like I tried to back then. If I want something, I go for it and it's made my life so much more rewarding.

Out of all this the most important lesson I have learned is I need to always listen to my parents! They know me better than anyone else and have my best interest in mind. I am so incredibly thankful for how they have pushed me throughout the years to go outside of my comfort zone.

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Maurice Burns

A-Team Member

The best piece of advice I've gotten comes from Nick Offerman, known for playing the iconic role of Ron Swanson on NBC's "Parks and Recreation." During a Reddit Ask Me Anything, Offerman was asked how to deal with indecision and Offerman replied, "DON'T TREAD WATER FOR TOO LONG, LEST YOU CRAMP UP AND SINK." As someone who struggles making the most trivial decision, this answer resonated and rang true. So many times my indecision ended up crippling me and ended up bringing the exact scenarios that I had spent so much time trying to avoid. A lot of times the best thing to do is go with your gut and stand by your decision. In that situation you may risk the possibility of failing, but if you do you'll gain a valuable lesson and at least would have made the decision you wanted.

I think this is also important because when you go with your gut and make the decisions you really want to, it makes it easier to get invested in your decision. Another piece of advice given by Nick Offerman--this time through the lengendary meat-eating, mustache-wearing Ron Swanson, is to "Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one." This is also great advice because when you don't make decisions based on things such as the wants of others, and not your own, it's hard to fully invest yourself because you're not truly interested. When you make decisions based on your gut and throw yourself into your choices you can give it your all because you've chosen to throw yourself into it.

When trying to prepare and weigh out options when making decisions, it's easy to let your own indecision cloud your judgment. This is something I've experienced as a soon-to-be graduate. As I grow nearer to approaching uncertainty, I will continue to think back on this advice when making decisions and make decisions based on what I truly desire because even if I fail, I will have learned a valuable lesson and that is better than to have never tried at all.