Four Months and Not One Bad Day!

Did you know that it’s possible to go four months without having one bad day? Yeah I didn’t either, but due to a series of random events that resulted in my joining the LiveDifferent Academy, i now know that it is in fact very possible!

Something you should know about me is that I have a mother who is very into “finding your purpose in life” and I have spent many hours listening to her talk about “manifestation” and “the law of attraction”. But you know how your parents can tell you something a hundred times but yet it takes someone else telling you the same thing just once to make you take it seriously? Yeah that was one of those times! So in my grade 12 Leadership class I found myself making a vision board. For those of you who don’t know, a vision board is a collage of pictures and images depicting the things you want to have, be, or do in your life. “A vision board is a simple yet powerful visualization tool that activates the universal law of attraction to begin, manifesting your dreams into reality.” I included pictures of the places I wanted to travel to, the University I aspired to attend, and images of people doing the things I wanted to experience in my own life. The last image I added was a close up of a microphone with an audience in the background, representing my desire to be a motivational speaker. In my mind it was so far out there and I didn’t give it much thought.

This was the picture.

 

 

One of those days…

I’m fairly certain everyone has had one of those days. You know those days that nothing goes right, that everything seems to be working in such a way to purposely make your life harder and more stressful. I had one of those days a little while ago, and trust me; it was really on of those days. Our team left a school at about 2:30 and after about a four-hour drive, through a snowstorm, we stopped for dinner. We only had a 25-minute drive after that but we soon found out that it wouldn’t be that easy. The road was closed. We ended up driving an extra 3 hours, through a blizzard to the high school we were suppose to be staying in that night….suppose to be staying at. We soon found out after knocking on the door for a good while in the freezing cold, that there was no one there to actually let us in. Eleven-thirty at night in the freezing wind and snow with no place to stay. Not exactly the happy ending we were hoping for. In desperation we found ourselves at the elementary school down the road, and just out of luck we found that a few teachers had actually been snowed in for the night. They graciously took us in and shared their coffee and chips and dip with us! As we were all sitting around a teacher explained to us that in all her 25 years at the school she had never had to stay over night. She then continued on with a humorous tone about how the first time she’s had to they end up taking in desperate strangers!

Through all the struggles there was some positive, we went to bed that night, warm and with some amazing new friends. Needless to say an early morning, little sleep, and a recovering twisted ankle didn’t exactly set me up for a fantastic positive day. Despite all this however I found myself almost bouncing off the walls with energy and excitement, thinking; today is going to be a good show, someone’s life is going to change today. As we loaded onto the freezing bus in the snow it wasn’t too hard to miss that some of the other team members weren’t really feeling the positivity today… this shouldn’t have come as a surprise considering the night before. The load in and set-up was rather rushed, and as the students started loading in I began to get goose bumps. I could have blamed them on the cold but the butterflies in my stomach could not be. I searched the faces and paid special attention to each individual I could spot, wondering to myself whose life would be changed by this presentation. Would they listen?

The feeling that today was going to be a good show wouldn’t leave me. The show ran as usual and afterwards I got to talk to some amazing kids. Time passed, and most of the kids had left for lunch, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed that no one had come up and talked to me about how the show directly influenced them. But then I remembered when LiveDifferent came to my school and how they encouraged me so much and even though I couldn’t find the words to tell them, they still made such an incredible impact on my life. So even though a student hadn’t come up to me I still found myself hopeful in the belief that there was someone out there and that we did change their life. Just as this thought went through my head a girl came up to me. We started talking about the show and I asked if anything impacted her personally. We then ended up having an amazing conversation about her life and her struggles and just how much she appreciated what we shared. She had been struggling with family issues, fitting in and overall accepting herself. I could have given her advise about everything and broken it down for her, but I believe she simply needed someone to listen. She is an amazing girl and I told her that. I also explained that she should stay true to who she is because the person that she is is going to accomplish incredible things. I believe now more than ever that I need to fight for that passion and excitement every day, because you never know how much of a difference it is going to make.

“Your Life Matters” – Video Blog from Team One

Post-it Notes in Saskatchewan

After a 32 hour bus ride with a dozen pee stops at country road gas stations, we are currently in Saskatchewan and the endless fields and plethora of trucks reminded me of home. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss home but I’m finding a new home on the road. It was awesome to do a show for the small school of Radville Regional High. I come from a small town and it felt like I was back home doing a show! The people there were incredibly welcoming and super excited to see us. One of the students introduced us and told me a fact that I didn’t even know. She said, “We were the most popular school assembly in Canada”. Throughout the show the students roared and clapped and once I realized the excitement in these youths, I felt a lot better. This was just what I needed to remind me that we are here to make a difference in their lives.

Walls

Some days I get up in the morning wondering why I am awake when even the birds know it’s too early. We climb onto a bus, lug three tons of gear into a school, and set up a wall of production and sound equipment big enough to make even Kanye West feel like a superstar. But why?

Everyone knows that high school can be the hardest years of your life. So much happens in these four years that can easily define a person. As a teenager sometimes you are just doing what you can to keep your head above the water. Some students come to school to get away from the chaos that is in their home, and some seek refuge at home to hide from the ridicule they receive at school, and some ultimately are unable find peace anywhere. Amidst the whirlwind that is their life, the youth of today have to keep up a positive front because in our culture today more then ever, “image is everything”. In order hide the brokenness that is within, they have built a facade made of trends, music, fashion, parties, and all sorts of other things that don’t really grab a hold of the human heart. To be a teenager is to be superficial.

Instead of setting up lights, speakers, projectors, and band gear, we honestly might as well be setting up a wrecking ball. One-by-one,as our team members step on stage and shares from their life stories, you can watch the bricks fall. As we talk about our darkest moments, share our biggest secrets, and become vulnerable in front of the multitudes, the facade begins to break.

It grieves me to hear a student share about a lifestyle of addiction that was developed after experiencing sexual abuse from a family friend, or a failed suicide attempt caused by the dark side of bullying or a destructive family. But this is what we see when the wall begins to break down. When the walls are down, the idea of change becomes realistic to them. Every single day I get to look into the eyes of students and give them hope – real hope. With sincere gratitude and tears running down their faces, I have the privilege to hear things like, “today meant the world to me,” or “this honestly changed my life.” As we begin to listen to their stories and hear about their struggles, we can see the root of inspiration; of hope and purpose growing through the rubble.

There is a generation of youth who are yearning for hope and hungry for change. As we wake up at ungodly hours, lug our gear, and raise our wall of lights, I know it is all a means to an end – we build these walls, to break down theirs. 

– Johnny, Road Team Leader

Define Tour

Tour life – it really is hard to describe what life is like on the road; but one thing that is certain is that it has been one of the greatest experiences of my life so far! Team Samurai, my team, which is of equal value to the other team (:p), just finished up another week full of shows! But what has been amazing about this week for me is that we are on Vancouver Island and I think it is the most beautiful place on earth!

One of my favourite parts about tour is staying with the billets who host us in each community – I don’t know how we do it but we almost always manage to stay at amazing places with amazing people. This weekend we are staying at the Grozell’s, and they live right along the ocean. Being able to fall asleep to the sound of the waves crashing against the shore was just the icing on the cake to this week. Then, this morning I decided to walk along that shore and besides seeing seal lions, which was so cool, I really got to reflect on my journey so far. The early mornings, the dropping of equipment on my toes, the nervous butterflies I get before every time I go on stage, and the moments when a student reaches out to me.

I have always wanted to take my story and turn it into something positive by helping someone else, and through this tour I have been able to do that countless times. I know that each time I walk off that stage that I’ve gotten to someone, that someone was really listening to me, and that is the greatest feeling! Seeing myself in the students that talk to me afterwards and being able to tell them that the circumstances are not their fault is an indescribable feeling. And having those same students tell me that I helped them realize that their lives do matter, that I had an impact on them, makes all those early mornings and bruises worth it! It is an incredible feeling knowing that my voice, my small voice, has been heard all the way from Hamilton, Ontario, to schools along the west coast of Vancouver Island. My voice, my small voice, doesn’t seem very small at all anymore. I used to wonder what my purpose in life would be, what I would end up doing after I was finished high school, and although I could never have imagined in my wildest day dreams that I would be writing these words about myself, here I am. To define tour is to define myself because what you receive from tour is defined by the amount of awesomeness you put into it! Every day is so different, while being so the same, and it is crazy how well that balances out. I love where I am, I love my team, and I love where I am going! This tour has shown me the power and influence I have on the world and it is a really uplifting feeling; I know I can go anywhere and do anything I want to do in the world and I know this because I have decided to LiveDifferent!

Britney Favreau
LiveDifferent Academy Student

Former Canadian Idol winner Brian Melo and LiveDifferent featured online!

Former Canadian Idol winner Brian Melo and LiveDifferent were featured in Pembina Valley Online following an assembly at Garden Valley Collegiate in Winkler, MB!

View the article here:

www.pembinavalleyonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24459

Monsters and Demons

There is never a single moment that makes your life or your story better. We are all warriors and we all have our own demons. You can never compare another person’s story to your own because none of us will ever face the monsters that hide under each others beds. We can only find strength in each other and in how we’ve beaten our demons. Every monster combined cannot beat us if we stand together and help each other through. Our team has opened our lives to share how we battled our demons so that people know that they can beat theirs too.

It isn’t that we just share strategic ways to overcome life’s battles – it’s that we let people into our story. What the students that we share with don’t realize is that their own stories of triumph impact us greatly. When they tell us about the monsters that have wreaked havoc in their lives, their strength inspires. In my opinion, it takes much more courage for a student to come up to one of us and expose their lives one-on-one than it takes for us to get on stage and tell our stories. We don’t have to look anyone in the eyes if we don’t want to, we have practiced our stories so they are spoken easily, and we don’t have to be personal with one person directly. 

After a month of being in Ontario, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, we have met students with stories of all shapes and sizes. Some students have a drug addiction or have overcome one, some have been hurt and abused by people that are suppose to love them, some have been hurt by strangers, and some are trying valiantly battle a loved one’s monster. The point is that everyone has something in their closet or under their bed that is begging for them to fall but the beauty is that they are still standing. Our goal is to help them understand that they don’t have stand alone and they won’t have to fight forever; eventually monsters discover that they were never any match for that person and they grow weak and perish.

We can find light in all our darkest situations if we open our eyes. Light, like monsters, comes in all shapes and sizes. I’d like to think of our team as a form of light. We take our days to shed light on people’s darkness and share how we fought against our own demons. We are no better or braver, just common warriors with big hearts and open ears willing to be the ones who listen to people when it feels like monsters are the only ones listening to their fears.

– Written by Hailee, LiveDifferent Academy

Halfway Home!

Today, it hit me. I am sitting in a fishing lodge near Blackville, New Brunswick, and tour is over halfway over. How did I get here? Yesterday I was loading my bags into our house in Hamilton, never having left home before. I learned how to set up a concert, public speak like a pro and deal with life on a tour bus. Today, the road is my home, and I have never felt so fulfilled.

When people ask me what road life is like, I always have trouble answering. The easy answers would be, ‘crazy’, ‘unpredictable’ or simply, ‘exhausting’. These aren’t enough. I could talk about the bus, the band, the shows, the billets, the problems or successes, the laughter or the awkward silences. Even that doesn’t do it justice. After all, we came together a group of people with differing talents and personalities, each looking to make an impact and inspire change. Look at how far we’ve come!

How can I explain to someone how it feels to hear students telling me that this project changed their lives? How can I paraphrase the giddiness that comes when a teacher commends me for choosing to do what I do? Tour is those moments. It is hearing a sixteen year-old argue the shortfalls of our consumerist, egocentric society and call for change in a Live Global workshop. It is seeing the look of passion and determination on an eighteen year-old’s face when I explain the LiveDifferent Academy. It is the look of excitement that fills a twelve year-old’s face when they tell me that in two years, they want to go on a Hero Holiday. Tour is in these moments, the ones that make you realize that it doesn’t matter how silent the audience is, that one student you touch with your message makes up for all the ones that you don’t. Tour is falling asleep at night with the knowledge and understanding that we are living differently. Tour is like nothing else.
This is what carries me through the harder days: the fact that this is a unique opportunity. My mantra for this experience has always been, ‘Every day is an adventure’. I am learning to grab each opportunity that life throws at me, and to face all challenges head-on. I am determined to walk away from tour feeling like I really seized each day, with no regrets.

So here we are. I’m halfway home. Tomorrow we will continue on to give love, bring hope and inspire change. I’m amazed to see how far we’ve come. I can’t wait to see what more we will accomplish.
 

Paisley, a LiveDifferent Academy student on the road

Butterflies in Formation!

I slept through my alarm, rushed to get ready. Time to wash the dark bags from under my eyes was not in the schedule. It’s a cold and early morning and I lack motivation to unload the bus and set up the rig. I throw my headphones in my ears and power through the set up. The kids begin to load in and for some reason I’m just not into the show today. Most days I can barely wait for the students to load in and see our show, but today is different.  The show starts and just before I go on stage I get an unexpected feeling- butterflies. I haven’t felt nervous before speaking in quite a while, so why now? Why today do I have uncontrollable butterflies flying around in my stomach? Then I remembered back to the first show we did. It was on the first day of school for a fresh batch of grade nine students. That day the principal gave a speech in an attempt to make them feel more comfortable at their first day of high school. He said, “I know there are butterflies flying around in your nervous stomachs, but I hope today that the butterflies will at least fly in formation.” Thinking back on this made me smile from ear to ear as a stepped out on stage. As I told my story of my first Hero Holiday trip I began to relive that experience. I honestly poured my heart into my speech and hoped that the students would here my words and that my words would speak truth.

After the show I was passing out brochures and 6 different students complimented me on my hair. This was definitely not the response I was hoping for. As the gym slowly emptied a girl approached Shayna and I. We could tell she wanted to say something so we asked her how she liked the show and what her favorite parts were. After an awkward silence, she came undone. She told us how she doesn’t have many friends at school because they’re all into drugs and she doesn’t want to lead that lifestyle. I noticed the cuts on her wrist and was able to share some of my challenges growing up with her, our stories were surprisingly similar. It broke my heart to see such a beautiful, young girl with so much potential, hurting so badly. Shayna and I had lunch with her, shared our stories on a more personal level and compared scars. It was amazing to be able to connect with her, bring her hope and encourage her. I actually felt like she believed me when I told her that her life has an incredible amount of value.

After lunch it was time to tear down and say goodbye. While tearing down Shayna and I were extremely upset by the realization that we had to leave this girl, so we decided to each write her a note. In the note I wrote everything that I wish someone would have told me when I was 14 years old. I told her how beautiful she was, how her life had purpose, and I even threw in a couple of my favorite quotes. We stuck the notes in her locker and I hope they made her smile when she found them. I think about her often and hope that in some way we gave her a glimmer of hope. After talking with her the lack of sleep, rushed early morning and hard work didn’t matter anymore. I realize now that each show that I am apart of has the potential to change lives and I am deeply grateful to be a part of something like this.

Brittany, a LiveDifferent Academy student on the road