12 rules of life

1. Are you cade’s sister: Know who you are, define yourself

Story: I have a twin brother. He’s the popular one out of the two of us so I’m always being compared to
him. People come up to me asking, “are you Cade’s sister?” I had one of Cade’s friends come up to me
with Cade and just look back and forth between me and Cade before saying, “yup, I see it.” All my life I
have been labeled as ‘Cade’s sister’ so much so that I felt I could be nothing more than that. I could not
outshine him or be my own person. Cade and I have never had the same friends, until recently. Through
our group of friends, I realized that I am so much more than just ‘Cade’s sister.’ I am my own person and I
should not let the title given to me define me, but rather I need to define myself.

- Labels don’t define you

- Define yourself

2. Chuck-Chuck Poo: Don’t let fear control you

Story: As a kid I used to play a game on the trampoline called ‘Chuck-Chuck Poo.’ In this game the ‘it’
person must close their eyes and kneel in the middle of the trampoline while the other people run
around the perimeter if the trampoline. The ‘it’ person would then chant “chuck-chuck,” and on “poo”
they would lunge out and try to tag someone. Now, the people running cannot stop, but I was so scared
of being tagged I would stop just out of reach of the ‘it’ person and only start running again after they
had said ‘poo’ and lunged. Playing this was cheating and it wasn’t fun to play this way. I had let my fear
control me and I become someone no one like to play with.

- Fear controlling you brings out the worst in you

- Giving into fear isn’t enjoyable for anyone

3. Tube Tug : Don’t give up

Story: Tube game, Cade v Christian – how Christian didn’t give up, despite going against Cade and won

- Persevere through the hard times, even if they seem impossible

- Giving up not only lets you down, but your opponent as well

4. Empty Pool : Serve others

Story: My friend invited my brother and I to volunteer at a place called Malibu Club by the coast. There
we did nothing but help around the facilities. We cleaned the pool, banners surrounding the buildings as
well as help move furniture. It was a couple of full days of serving wherever we could help. Although the
days were long, I had a lot of fun serving with my friend and making new friends there. It was satisfying
at the end of the work day, being able to relax knowing all you have accomplished already.
 - Serving others gives satisfaction like no other job

5. Black Diamond : Speak your mind

Story: I suck at making decisions. When I went skiing with my family at the end of spring break I would
have the option of picking which run I wanted to do. I was the slowest member of our group and I had
the least amount of skill. Even though I knew my family wouldn’t judge me for wanting to do easier runs,
I never picked a run, I would respond with “I don’t care,” when in fact I did care. Because I could not
choose a run, I got stuck doing blues and going verrrrrry slow for the first day. My second day I wasn’t
sure I was going to do a full day because I didn’t want to slow my family down. However, when asked
what run I wanted to do, instead of saying “you pick,” I gave a few suggestions of runs I would be
comfortable with. In the end we decided to do a blue run that was easier than I thought it would be.
After doing the run I realised that speaking my mind about my comforts and discomforts doesn’t hurt
anyone, but not speaking up implicated me and only me.

- Speak your mind

- The only person that is impacted by you speaking up or not is yourself

6. Surprise: You’re not alone/lean on others

Story: Throwing Vie a surprise party. I wanted to do everything myself, plan it, decorate/set up the partyI
had to get help from everyone coming to the party. Ty had to occupy Vie outside of the house. Mr., and
Mrs. Preddy had to let me into their house to set up decorations. The invited people had to show up on
time with a snack and Mac had to find the pots for me to make Mac and Cheese. I could not have thrown
the party without their help.

- It’s okay to delegate and lean on others

- You do not have to do everything by yourself

7. Hike over Stairs any day: Look at life through a different perspective

Story: Grade 7 camp hike up the mountain. It was a hard hike. When we got back to the bottom of the
mountain, the camp instructor said, “that hike is too hard. We’re gonna change it for the other groups.” I
was so upset. They made us do this horrible hike only to change it for the other groups. I stewed in my
anger for the rest of the day. Looking back on this experience, if my group had done the other, easier
hike, we wouldn’t have gotten to see the beautiful view that we got after doing the hard hike.
Perspective is everything.

- Seeing the view only the hard hike we did gave us

- Instead of looking at the hike as a negative thing, look at it as a positive thing

8. Turkey dinner: Spread kindness

Story: During a thanksgiving dinner, around 5 years ago, it was my second turkey dinner in two days.
After my first bite I said, “this is a bit dry, mom’s yesterday was better.” Immediately I regretted my
words. Without thinking and without meaning to, I had hurt my grandma’s feelings who had spent all
day preparing for dinner. Although she didn’t show it, I know she felt hurt.

- My thoughtless words hurt my family

- It’s always better to share kindness

9. Finger Actions: Make life fun

Story: My friend showed me fun finger actions to remember the 10 commandments. It was a silly and
fun thing. Her showing me the actions made me smile. It’s moments like this that we take for granted
nowadays. Enjoy the small moments and have fun.

- Find joy in the small things

- Make life worth remembering

10. Blackout: Make the best of any situation

Story: Sleepover with Aussie and then the power went out so we couldn’t watch anything (which was
our original plan). Instead of sitting in the darkness doing absolutely nothing because all this generation
does is sit in front of a screen, we lit some candles and took some funny photos. Later that night it
started to snow so we went out into the snow in our pjs and let it fall on us. We had a great, goofy night
in the dark.

- Your attitude matters, if it’s negative your mood is going to be negative and all you will be able to
see is the negative.
- Make the best of any situation, have fun

11. 10,430: Stop and slow down

Story: taking over 1,000 photos during high school camp

- Couldn’t live in the moment and enjoy my time to the fullest because I was so preoccupied
- How many memories can you make if you pass by life so fast?

12. Alec Benjamin: Be thankful for what you have

Story: I got to go to an Alec Benjamin concert last year with one of my friends. Originally, I was supposed
to go with my good friend, but she cancelled, so she gave her ticket to our other friend who enjoyed his
music. At first, I was really sad that I wouldn’t be going with my original friend, but I realized, I get to go
to an Alec Benjamin concert with a good friend of mine. I had been blinded by my own self-pity that I
forgot to be thankful for the privilege I was given of attending a concert with a friend.

- Felt sad I couldn’t go with my friend and lost sight of the fact that I GOT to go to a concert with a
friend and have an amazing night
- I was too focused on the change that happened to be thankful for all that I had