Aysen+T+Final+AmEx+2013+Speech

=Title of Speech= Stop Sitting Down

=Text of Speech= America does too much sitting. We sit in the car. We sit at school. We sit in a couch. We sit at a table. We sit at a desk. We just sit a lot.

And when we're sitting, we're really just watching. We're observers to the outside world, not participants. We're an audience, not an actor or actress. Our minds might be active, but our bottoms are firmly planted to a seat which is firmly planted to the ground. We might as well be very intelligent vegetables. And most of the time, we sit inside too, so we're actually very intelligent, molding vegetables.

So, America, stop sitting down.

Not just for health concerns, but because living the lifestyle of a very intelligent, molding vegetable seems like the most boring thing you could possibly do. Life is far too short to spend squandering in a chair.

And likewise, life is far too short to spend squandering opportunities. You see, sitting around all day is a lot like missing out on opportunities. You skip the chance of something new and exciting for the safety and security in normality. You watch the opportunity pass you as you concede to your uncertainty. However, when you stand up, you pounce on the chance, determined to embrace its challenges and its rewards.

From jobs and internships to classes and projects to hangouts and parties to friends and best friends to breakfast and 2nd breakfast, we have countless opportunities in our daily lives to stand up and enjoy a change. No matter how small or large, positive or negative, mixing things up allows us to appreciate what we have or what we have gained. What's most important is that we took the initiative to try a change and not just timidly accepted the status quo. When one merely meets the expectations of themselves, they are in for a disappointment. In athletic terms, when they don't push their threshold, they don't gain anything. They are stagnant; they are just sitting there. But people who do take the opportunities raise their threshold, experiencing personal growth.

About two summers ago, I was having what you might call a photographic mid-life crisis. Taking photos started becoming less fun and bordering boring for me. So I went to Dexter's Camera downtown and on the spur of the moment, bought a Rollei 35mm film camera. Having to focus and expose manually on camera with no battery in it was an entirely new experience for me. I shot with film that entire summer and it was just the right hook for me to get me to enjoy shooting digitally again. I took the opportunity to try a new camera and a different way of shooting and its challenges paid off for me.

Trying something new is crucial even in seemingly minuscule activities in everyday life. After a while, repetition of the same activity over and over and over again gets monotonous. Brushing my teeth when I wake up and before I go to bed is very uninteresting, but breakfast is a completely different matter. I usually only have a few minutes to eat before I need to leave for school since I enjoy my sleep, so each morning is a new surprise of what is in the fridge and pantry and what I have time for. Somedays I'll make myself toast and coffee while other days I might have just have cereal, and even other days I might just skip breakfast entirely. It's the variety that keeps it interesting.

In the America I want to live in and grow old in, I want to see more people making use of the opportunities they see. I want to see people who aren't afraid to be without the familiar and enjoy the adventure of something new. I want to see people try something for the sake of trying it.

=Cite Your Sources= Aysen. Aysen's chair declined to comment.