My favorite scientist is Sylvia Earle. A noted marine biologist, Earle has broken barriers for both her field and women around the world. She started and ran multiple companies along with holding the title of Chief Scientist at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. It is because of her perseverance and dedication that Sylvia Earle will always be an icon to me.

Last year, my family went to Estes Park, Colorado for Christmas. While we were there I was able to experience the beautiful Rocky Mountains. To capture this moment, I climbed out on a cliff by a scenic overlook and captured this awesome picture!

Throughout most of my life, I have been wary of other people. Everywhere I go, my mind convinces me that everyone is either a bully or a threat. I call it being cautious, but my therapist calls it having social anxiety. Either way, it puts a real damper on going to school and being surrounded by people. When my peers come into the classroom and see me sitting by myself in the back of the classroom, it's not because I enjoy looking strange, I just am genuinely terrified of interacting with new people. Unfortunately, that does limit the number of jobs that I will consider possible for me. Recently, as I pondered a life outside of high school, I thought back on the amount of crippling anxiety that my life had produced. It was then that I decided I would not go for an endless desk job, and I would live as much as I could. I may not warm up to new people easily, but I will have fun in my life! Right now I am pursuing a career in marine biology, and I am excited about this new future. As I shape my life, I always, in the back of my mind, have my anxiety talking to me. Through this unique, and careful perspective, I hope to change the world by showing people how you should not let, what people consider a fault, hold you back from your dreams. There is always a way to make your life a pleasant one, and being a misfit just gives you a more exciting perspective on your world.

My little Goldendoodle Goose loves to run around outside and it shows! @orions_3rdstar

I have no idea where I am. Walk with me. What's going on? Please help me. Those were all sentences I had to say to anyone who would listen to me. It would start slowly, a small, annoying, buzzing feeling in my head, but by noon it would progress to a sudden blackout and I would panic as I found myself in the nurse's room with no memory of ever leaving my English class. These small blackouts happened for around a year and with each one, I became more and more desperate to make them go away. I was terrified that in the chunk of time I could not account for, I would either hurt myself or someone else. Unfortunately, the doctors I visited did not seem to share the same concern. From interrogating me about my nonexistent marijuana problem to giving me medication that either did not work or just increased my problem. It was at this point that my perception of what it means to live took a sharp downward spiral. Before my blackouts, to live had meant to have a great career, be with your family, and be successful in this world. Now that I could barely go through the day without wanting to scream, to live meant to just go through your life from the time you are born until the time you die. Birthdays are just resting points to the final destination and everything else is just a coincidence. Around the time my perception plummeted, my family moved and I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety which was not the biggest shock in the world to anyone who knew me at that point. At that same time, we went to a new Doctor's office and it was there that we finally received an answer as to why I could not account for periods of my day. I have a condition called Acute Confusional Migraines. After that countless EEG's, and blood work that my old doctors had put me through, to hear that it was a type of migraine was a huge relief. I was not dying, I did not have seizures, or anything serious. All of this spun my perception to the positive side but then caused me to think deeper. Before, I had been focused on just my future career. It was probably one of the reasons why I had anxiety and migraines. If I thought about just how amazing life in general, could be instead of focusing on a specific plan, that frees up so much more of my time to stress less. And that is when my perception shifted for the last time to show that, while it is a good idea to have goals in mind, you do not have to obsess over them. Sometimes the dreaming is the best part of it.