Challenge Yourself

<p class="MsoNormal">Journaling Reads:

<p class="MsoNormal">Once there was a girl who strived for perfection. She was very hard on herself if she didn't do any thing perfect the first time. Now, this girl was NOT athletic, but she fell in love with someone who was. One of the sports that he was great at was skim boarding - a sport like surfing, but uses a shorter board + "skims" the wave as it comes to the beach. While watching a skim contest, she was amazed that there were only 3 girls that competed for 4 places - a trophy left unclaimed. She made a vow that the next year, if there weren't enough girls again, she would compete - even though she had never even tried to skim board, she could at least place last. The year goes by. Beforehand, she went to the beach with her husband to try skim boarding. It was HARD!! She was horrible at it. Regardless, on the day of the contest, she went up and only 1 girl had registered, so she paid her fee, got the t-shirt, and waited for her "heat". She had a billion butterflies in her stomach now that the moment had come and felt sick to her stomach. When the time came, she stepped up to find that the other "woman" in the contest was actually an 8 year girl, who looked up in fear at this grown woman who was to compete against her. She looked down at her scared face and said, "You don't have anything to worry about. You will do great." The girl really didn't, she beat her, no problem. Too bad that wasn't the end. She thought that she would get 2nd place, but after seeing her skim, 3 ladies that were afraid to compete, got up the courage and were allowed to enter a day late. So, there was to be a new "heat". The points from day 1 were carried over, and 5 girls stepped up to conquer the waves. Our girl did worse than ever. She ran after the waves, tried to jump on the board, but just didn't commit enough to really land any good rides. She whacked her ankles with the board a lot, she fell in the waves a lot, she missed the board . . . a lot. At the end of the day, the points were tallied and prizes awarded. The 8 year got 1st place, the 3 ladies that competed 1 day got 2nd-4th and what did our girl get -the contest shirt and a feeling of accomplishing a challenge that she set for herself and the knowledge that she inspired others to try for something.

Whoa! You go girl! I would never ever be that brave. Fabulous journal- love the burst with the adjectives cheering you on.

Awesome story! Aren't you glad you did it though? Love the rays! Awesome title too!

<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I love the sunburst with the the encouraging words. Inspiring others is indeed a worthy achievement! I got an email from a student employee I supervised 15 years ago telling me how I inspired her and it is something I treasure. You may never know the full accomplishment you had by inspiring others to pursue their dreams.</span>

Your layout is very inspirational - and I love your choice of papers so that they looked like rays of sunshine!

Great page. I love all the rays and how you placed the words in them. The jornaling is great told in a story form.

This page rocks LOve the sunburst idea, so creative ... and kudos to you

Fantastic journaling!! I'm so proud of you for trying! I love all the wordart on the sunbursts. Beautiful inspirational layout!

Well good for you for stepping up and facing a fear-that's always a great accomplishment!>>I love the words in the rays and your layers in the cluster with your photos!!

love the burst in your layout. I enjoyed reading your journaling and how wonderful that you encouraged that young girl and the others by your words and actions--and having the words on the rays really accented the page. Glad you overcame your fear and did something for you!

That made me laugh!!! I love your story-telling and your sense of humor about the whole "ordeal" lol. That starburst design is so eye-catching. Nicely done! And you should be very proud of yourself for what you've accomplished. Good luck this week!!!

What an awesome story, Meagan!! You are so brave! This is definitely an accomplishment to be proud of, even if you didn't "win," you were an inspiration. I love the starburst with the words and your fabulous pictures...including the shirt!

Love your journaling, pics, and the background paper is so sunny and happy!

Great story of persistance and determination. Love the sun rays with the inspiring words, super page!

A super LO. I enjoyed reading your journaling. Love the word art on the burst. This is very eye catching.

Wow... good for you Meagan! I love that you inspired someone else too! This page design is fantastic with the words on the rays. Super photos and title work too!

Really gorgeous page, I like tihs background work!

A very eye catching page. The sun rays with words was a very nice design choice that complements your story.