As the internet would say it, "a philosophy of life is an overall vision or attitude toward life and the purpose of it" (Thomas Oppong).

I am currently a senior in high school and my final assignment was to write my own philosophy of life. While I was staring at my computer screen, not knowing what to write, I decided to watch a TED Talk of Sam Berns: "My Philosophy of Life". Berns told the story of his life and explained the lessons he has learned. I finally knew what to write about.

So what makes up someone's philosophy of life?

A philosophy of life is made up of cornerstones, whether you have one or several. Cornerstones are important qualities or features on which you philosophy depends or is based.

I have three cornerstones.

My first cornerstone is that determination is the key to success. I related this to the time I won the Pennsylvania State Cheerleading Championship. We had won my freshman year, but got runner-up my sophomore and junior year. I wanted to make my senior year the best one yet. I pushed my team. I pushed them to practice hard, to not give up and most importantly, to want it as bad as I did. My leadership and determination not only led us to perform perfectly, but we won the state title and we set the record for the highest score ever.

That was the best feeling in the world and I truly felt that all the hard work had finally paid off.

My second cornerstone is that love is endless. This is about my grandfather, who passed away about eight years ago. He was my favorite person, my best friend. He knew how to make me laugh and how to put butter on my bread the way I liked it. One day we got a call that he fell and needed surgery. I was young and I was not worried because I thought he could get through anything. Unfortunately, he went into cardiac arrest and did not make it. I was devastated. He loved me so much and I loved him. I did not want to stop loving him, but I thought to myself, how could I love someone who was gone?

A month after he passed, my grandma and I were taking a walk in the park and we saw a butterfly and it kept following us wherever we went. It was a monarch butterfly, orange and black. Those were his favorite colors because he was a Princeton University alumni. I smiled and I realized that he will always be there no matter what and that my love for him and his love for me would be endless.

My last cornerstone is that I do not take anything for granted. I remember complaining about having to go to school, having to do homework, having to go to practice. All of a sudden, these things were taken away from me. COVID-19 took over and from this I realized how much I miss going to school and seeing my teachers. I also realized how much harder it was to learn from home. And on top of that, prom was canceled and graduation was postponed. All I can remember is the day they said that we were not going back to school, I broke down. After all of this, I will never take anything for granted again and I am going to cherish each moment.

I think that is important for everyone to know what their philosophy of life is because without it, we end up with no path and we will not know the importance of the decisions we are making.

I've shared my philosophy of life, so what's yours?