Connor Manning - A New Phenomenal Discovery

Hey guys!

For me, as my sister put so very nicely, finding  new YouTubers is like how other people find new TV shows and this week, thanks to this article, I think I've found a real gem - Connor Manning.

From the article, I wanted to watch this guy because he was described as mature and that's honestly something I value in the YouTubers I watch. I can't always stand comedy but I love inspirational videos that give me more reasons to move forward with my life and keep striving forward to become a better person and find the thing I want to do.

Connor's videos really put things into perspective and they're very good explanations and daily inspirations so I would highly recommend that you watch his videos. One of my favourite videos of his that I've seen so far is this one called 'Finding Your Passion' and it just reverberates what you know is true but you need articulating. I'm going to write a more detailed post on why I love this video so much on my daily inspirations blog so check that out but yeah, enjoy him! In hindsight after watching another one of his videos and thinking this all over, I realised I love his videos because I think a lot like him and have gone through a lot of things like him and that just makes his videos all the more meaningful because I can relate to them and I hope you can too.

In a way, I'm glad that this is a shorter blog post but thank you for reading it anyway and I hope that you guys have sources of inspiration in your lives too! If you have any that you'd like to share, leave them in the comments! I do try and write some things that have inspired me on my side blog so if you use tumblr or Bloglovin', go follow it and perhaps we can become inspired together!

Have a wonderful week and a belated Happy New Year to you all! I hope this year is the year that's the best of our lives so far :D

'To This Day' - Inspiration

Hey guys!

Today a certain Rad Haggis off of YouTube tweeted out this inspirational video from vimeo. And despite the fact it feels like sometimes there are many representations of depression and bullying, this one really struck home because of the way it was portrayed, as anyone who's ever felt alone or felt like a misfit.

The metaphors and the art that are used in this video are just phenomenal and even if you've never felt that extreme of emotion, like myself, or if you've ever felt alone, even if that was for a few moments, or an hour, you'll be able to relate to this video.

The typography and the way things move around is just beautiful and the message and the way the man who voices the video speaks really strikes home, especially seeing as though he can go from sounding quite calm to shouting. It really affected me and I would strongly recommend that you watch the video, if not for anything else but just for the experience.

As the video is around 7 minutes long, I can't quite include everything in the video myself but the main message of the video is that if you feel like no-one's on your side and you feel like you've finally got to the end of your line, always remember whatever kept you going for so long? Which part of your brain convinced you that all of the names and the disappointments were wrong? Why did you not believe them for so long? Why did you keep trying if you're going to give up now?

Always remember why they were wrong.

It also really focusses on the effects of your words on other people, how names can stick and how they can impair how a person sees themselves for the rest of their lives. It feels like it's easy to say that you're calling someone a name as a joke but the way you make them feel isn't always going to be something you find out though it may plague them for years and years and years.

I hope that you guys will enjoy the video as much as I did! Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below and I shall hopefully speak to you soon! :)

An Inspiring Blog Recommendation and Life Lessons

Hey guys! I hope that you're all well indeed!

As you can tell from the title of this post, today I wanted to recommend to you a blog because despite the fact I am ever so good at rambling on about YouTubers I love to watch, I haven't really touched on normal bloggers as such. This blog is Marc and Angel Hack Life and I honestly find it one of the most uplifting blogs to read, especially when I'm having a down day or if I feel like taking some advice from people who know how to put it in the right words :)

For example, I'm just about to read their recent post '16 Reasons You're Succeeding in Life (Even if You Don't Feel You Are)' and just from the title, you can see that their posts are made to make you appreciate everything that you have and where you're headed on this little journey that we call life in spite of how you might be feeling at that precise moment. It's truly wonderful and awesome to know that you might get more upliftment and advice from reading a blog post than watching a video simply because it definitely feels like you can fit in more detail into posts than you can on videos. That, in my opinion, is because reading takes less time than watching, especially seeing as though it would definitely prevent YouTubers from having to talk at a million miles an hour too :) That isn't to say that YouTube videos aren't good sources of upliftment and advice too! :)

Anyway, I digress; the last post of theirs that I read was entitled '11 Old-Fashioned Relationship Habits that We Should Bring Back' and I really took some lessons from this. For example, one of the listed things was learning how to apologise without adding on an excuse because that, arguably, isn't an apology; it's an excuse. I was also quite bad when I was younger at just sprouting out apologies when I'd done something wrong in the hope that it would make everything better but I think that it's important to realise that you'd rather not apologise if you know you're likely to repeat what you've done because then your word is meaningless and that can be truly detrimental to trust within a relationship. This personally really hit home because in spite of the fact I don't do it as much as I did when I was younger, I think we're all culprits of this sometimes and it's really something I want to improve on this summer :)

Another tip they gave was making sure that when you're spending time with another person in any sort of relationship, that you make sure that they have your undivided attention, away from electronics and also away from time constraints, to some extent. Obviously this isn't possible all of the time, it just means that you can give that person all that you have to offer without feeling like you're holding back from them and that's really important when you want to build a strong foundation in any kind of relationship. Spending that quality time is what makes that relationship strong and as it feels like electronics are becoming the norm in social interactions doesn't necessarily mean it's a good reality.

These are some of their posts from their page on Bloglovin'

These are just two tips that I got from one of their posts and I hope that some of you guys are as inspired as I am from their tip! They've even written a book so please do go and check out their blog which is linked here! (Their book is advertised on the right-hand side of their blog)

I hope that your week's are going splendidly thus far and I hope to speak to you guys soon!

An Inspiration of Mine: Zach Sobiech

If you guys haven't heard of Zach Sobiech before then I would strongly suggest that you watch the following two videos because I can almost fully guarantee that you'll cry.
Go on, please, even if you're not one for 'inspirational' videos, it'll still be something to watch :)

If you don't have the time to watch the videos, here's a written version of parts of the video I loved and what I learned from it :) Zach is a 17-year-old boy who was diagnosed with a rare type of bone cancer during his late teens. He was told that he'd either have life saving surgery that would take out his left leg and part of half of his pelvis which, would mean he'd not be able to sit up, or he would die within 6 months to a year. He chose to live his last few months to the best of his ability and these videos just explore how much he touched the lives of everyone around him.

A friend of his at school said 'He's just a person that you can trust will be smiling.' Some of his other friends said that he helped them put their problems and complaints into perspective, that a bad day wasn't really as bad as they thought :) This is just one part of how he touched other people's lives. For me this little snippet is so good because it's not great spending more time feeling down because of your day rather than enjoying it and having someone who can remind you of that is just amazing and I wish I could do that for my friends :)

He was a best friend to his younger sister and he was just a person that would make you feel better just by being in his presence.

He was just a joy to his parents and made them proud with all that he did and he was really kind and compassionate. He inspired his class mates and made them feel good about themselves. He would never put other people down and in the first video his Mum talks about how they went to watch a basketball game together. She made a comment about how one of the players was running funny and he replied with a list of things that the same player had done well. That in itself is really inspirational, to not be satisfied with putting someone down but making sure that they are praised where it's due. His mum said 'He's always been very empathetic and compassionate.' It really shows that we shouldn't be happy at the expense of someone else's dignity, that we should celebrate them and through celebrating each other, be happy :)

He was described by his eldest sister as 'happy, always smiling.' and I think we all need to spread the joy, we hear it all the time but there's so much we can do and all we've got to do is take that step :)

His eldest sister also said: 'Zach is a testament to the fact that everything's okay when you believe in something greater.' I don't know whether it's easier or harder to be in Zach's situation and to have or not have faith in something greater though with me personally I would definitely say something greater because it would help you realise that everyone goes through something different and because Zach was such an amazing person, he had a harder test. God wanted to be reunited with him :)

His youngest sister said: 'Well, I've got to live life, like well as if Zach's going to die tomorrow.' The odd thing is, it's the same for most of us because we don't know when we're going to die and I guess for them it was easier to have that reminder in front of them but if we live with that mentality, maybe we can experience the same richness that the Sobiechs experienced knowing that time was precious. It made beauty so much more beautiful and moments just that much more precious.

His brother said: 'It's imperative that we stick together as a family because we've got to make it through, as a family.' It just shows how much support is important, whether you be going through something as life changing as the Sobiechs or just the normal flow of life, you've got to stick it out for your family because you can't choose your family :)

His girlfriend said: 'He's shown me that it's not all about the grades you get or how cool you are in high school, it's about doing what makes you happy and no matter when you're going to go but to live your life to the fullest, every day of your life.'

I also loved these videos because it proves what you can do for another person - Zach got into cars and found out that the Nissan GTR was the car that was the least expensive with the highest performance and his family organised for him to be able to drive it for a week. When he found out he described the sensation as being 'like you've been dumped in cold water and you can't breathe, but in a really good way.' I think it just proves to us that it's never late or the wrong time to do something for someone else.

It just feels like, watching those videos, that Zach just left an enormous impression on everyone that had the pleasure to meet him and being able to hit people, not just with is words and actions but with his music meant that he understood that it would be hard for those people who were close to him once he was gone. He created songs to help his family with closure. He didn't stop dreaming big because he was dying and that was awesome - he didn't give up and I think a lot of us who aren't limited with time and capability would dream a lot smaller than Zach.

Here are some of the Zach quotes from the first video that I just love :)

'It's kinda like you're sitting in the dark. You can either choose to be freaking out in the dark and thinking okay what's out there or you can just relax and fall asleep and just be happy and content with everything.'

'I want everyone to know that you don't have to find out you're dying, to start living.'

'What makes you happy, is seeing someone smile and knowing that you put it there. That's what's so awesome about living in this world.'

'You can either sit in your basement and wait, or you can get out there and do some crazy stuff.'

'Mum and Dad, I wish I could have kids and raise them like you raised me because you've done a hell of a job.'

'It's really simple actually, it's just try and make people happy. Maybe you have to learn it with time, or maybe you have to learn it the hard way, but as long as you learn it, you're going to make the world a better place.'

'I want to be remembered as the kid who went down fighting and didn't really lose.'

Thank you so much for reading. I'm sorry but not sorry that this is such a long post but I really think Zach deserves as much for being such a ginormous inspiration. I've not even really scratched the surface with the amount we can take from Zach but I hope it inspired you! The first video was released on the 3rd of May in 2013 which was Zach's 18th Birthday. He died on the 20th of the same month and if there's one grave I would love to visit in my life, that'd be one.

Please leave your thoughts in the comments and I will speak to you soon!