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    “I’m not stuck in this belief that challenges are given to us to hold us back.  I am lifted up by the belief that challenges are here to help us move forwards—and that is the difference.  That is the only difference between people who are living a passionate, proud life and people who feel sad—or people who get older and feel like they don’t know what they’re doing anymore.” ~ Claire Wineland (15), TEDxMalibu

      “If I have learned anything from living and dying, and from being sick, it’s that we all have something really incredible to share.  And that maybe for once we should stop trying to get over our problems, trying to get rid of our problems, trying to jump through hoops to evade our problems, and maybe we should start using them because they are one of the biggest gifts you will ever be given.” ~ Claire Wineland, Worldz 2017

        “We look at people who are sick and we pity them because we believe that their lives has to be inherently less joyous than everyone else’s.  What we don’t see, is that when people suffer, when people feel pain, it’s just connecting them to life.  It’s connecting them to everyone else.  Because the truth is, no matter what kind of life you’re living, no matter what kind of circumstance you’re in, you’re going to feel miserable sometimes; You’re going to have nights when you feel like the entire world is closing in on you, and it’s never going to be okay again, and you’re always going to be alone—and you’re going to have days when you feel so happy to be alive; where you feel joyous and you feel inspired… And you are always going to feel all of that.  No matter if all of your dreams come true, and you’re living in that New York loft apartment, doing whatever you’ve ever wanted to do, and are in love and married and what not—you’re still going to feel the complexity of life.  Because life doesn’t discriminate between circumstance.  Life is not going to stop unfolding itself to you just because you’re sick or because your life isn’t how you think it’s supposed to be.  There is still going to be beauty.” ~ Claire Wineland, Klick MUSE New York

          “A lot of motivational speakers will tell you that the point of life is to be happy… I think that’s bullsh*t.  I think that happiness is an emotion—it’s some dopamine firing in your brain and it’s great and it’s awesome when it happens.  But we can’t chase happiness—we have to chase deep satisfaction and pride—and there’s a difference.  And the way that we do that is not by running away from our pain or sickness, it’s by being sick and saying, ‘So what?'” ~ Claire Wineland (19), Zappos All Hands Meeting

            “People who are sick, nurses, and doctors—everybody in the medical care and health care communities—get so stuck in this notion that a hospital room is this cold, sterile, white place where we go to be sick and that’s all that it can be.  And we get so stuck in that that we cannot see the possibility; we can’t see what we can make out of it; we don’t see what we can do with it.  And I started to realize that our lives, in a way, are like this.  Our lives are like empty hospital rooms.  We get stuck in this idea that it’s supposed to be good or bad and we don’t let ourselves realize—we don’t let ourselves see—that we can make that hospital room beautiful.  We can make our lives into a piece of art.  We all have that ability, we all have that capability, as human beings, to turn these empty hospital rooms—to turn these lives—into something really beautiful.” ~ Claire Wineland, Klick MUSE New York

              “I think the biggest thing that we’re not taught in our world is that capability and being able to give something of value to the world is really what the human journey is all about.” ~ Claire Wineland (20), EEM LA 2018

                “The best way to empower someone is not to give them anything; Is not to treat them as if they need to be put on the sidelines. The best way to empower someone is to encourage them to give something to the world—to demand something.” ~ Claire Wineland (20), EEM LA 2018

                  “One of the most painful things about being a human being, in my opinion, is when you feel like you’re not of use to anyone and you have nothing it give.  It’s heartbreaking.  And a lot of people who are sick, feel that way because just taking care of themselves takes up so much of their time.” ~ Claire Wineland, Relatable

                    “We teach sick people that when they are sick, somehow, someway, they cannot be as happy as normal, healthy people.  We teach them that their happiness, their contentment in life, their joy in life, is tied to how healthy they are.” ~ Claire Wineland, Klick MUSE New York

                      “How do we make it so that when someone is born with a chronic illness, someone who is going to be sick, who might always be sick—who might die sick—can still live a life that they are proud of?  How do we teach kids who are sick, teach people who are sick in general, to not feel ashamed of their illness or their experience of life, but to learn from it and to make something from it?” ~ Claire Wineland (20), EEM LA 2018

                        “Innovation doesn’t happen because there’s some person who’s in some great circumstance and everything is going well and they get on a roll and they make something for the world.  Innovation happens—art happens—because of suffering.” ~ Claire Wineland, Klick MUSE New York

                          “Some of the happiest moments in my life have been when I am sick in the hospital—honestly.  And think about the implications of that because I have lived the kind of life that all of you spend your entire lives running from.  I’ve been sick and dying my entire life.  And yet, I am so proud of my life.  What does that say?  We’re waiting to be healthy; we’re waiting to be wealthy; we’re waiting to find our passion; we’re waiting to find our true love before we actually start living!  Instead of looking at everything that we have—looking at all of the pain, looking at all of the sadness, looking at all of the beauty, and making something with that.  That’s how innovation happens.” ~ Claire Wineland, Klick MUSE New York

                            “I have lived a life of a lot of pain and I’m not pretending that I haven’t.  I’ve had to deal with death; I’ve had to deal with painful surgeries; I’ve had to deal with being alone and scared in the hospital.  But I have had a beautiful life—and one that I am so incredibly proud of.  And that is not in spite of having Cystic Fibrosis… That’s because of it.” ~ Claire Wineland (19), Zappos All Hands Meeting

                              “An optimist is one who sees opportunity in every difficulty.  A pessimist is one who sees difficulty in every opportunity.” ~ L. P. Jacks, via The Way of the Seal