What does it mean to lead a meaningful life? Amanda Trobaugh

     If you go through life making the right decisions and not regretting any of them, you have done the best you could have done. To me, a meaningful life is never regretting a decision you make in your life and being the most successful you can be while having the most fun you've ever had.

     The first step is accepting the fact that everybody makes mistakes, some people more than others. Those people have to have the ambition and courage to just accept it, move on with their lives, and fix the mistake. If the mistake is unfixable, you have to move on from it with a smile in your heart knowing you WILL find that chance to make it better the next time.
    
     Another part to having a meaningful life is being the most successful person you can be. When I say that I mean that you need to be successful in your own way. Most people have numerous definitions of successful life but do not follow their definition, follow yours. If you follow your own definition and you are successful and happy, then there is nothing else you need to do.

     When I think of someone with a meaningful life, I think of my dad. My dad has been through so many things in life that have broke him down but he has brought himself back up and is never better. My dad is the youngest child of five brothers and sisters. When my dad was a little kid and his brother was in his teens, his brother died in a drunk driving accident. When my dad was in his teens, both of his parents died, his father first dying of lung cancer and his mother second a year after dying in a car accident. Life was really hard for my dad but those were some of the little things my dad has been through in his life and there is so much more. Right now my dad is working his tail off, fighting a lot of things on the way and he has never been better. When I am going through tough times and I need someone to talk to or bring me back up, I look to my dad. My dad will forever be my role model and I know that nothing will ever change that.

"Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it." -Bruce Lee