1. The author discusses how tearing her ACL during her freshman year of high school changed her life for the better by making her appreciate her horseback riding abilities and her good health. 2. Before the injury, the author was ungrateful and spoiled, but becoming injured and unable to ride made her realize how much she took her abilities for granted. 3. After overcoming her injury and accident, the author has a new mindset of living in the present, embracing challenges, and appreciating the little things in life. She believes everything happens for a reason and her injury helped her become a better person.

1. Everything Happens
For a Reason
Kaitlin Kelly

2. Have you ever had your life change
dramatically in a matter of seconds? We see
and hear about this happening to people every
day but we never imagine it could happen to
us. When our time comes, we are nowhere
near ready for it. At least, I wasn’t.

3. A Little Introduction
• I am going to talk about:
1. How tearing my ACL during my freshman year of
high school changed me for the better
2. How it made me appreciate my horseback riding
abilities
3. How lucky I am to have a horse I can call my own
4. How this experience has made me appreciate
things so much more

4. I used to be ungrateful for my good health and
my ability to ride horses, now I am someone
who thanks God every day for allowing me to
overcome my accident.

5. Epigraph
• “Things do not happen. Things are
made to happen.” –John F. Kennedy
• I think this quote describes my shift perfectly. At
the end of this experience, I was given a horse
that truly changed my life. If I had never torn my
ACL, Gypsy would have never come into my life
and made me one of the Top 10 riders in the
nation.
• I believe it was all part of God’s plan for me

6. Through this shift in my life, I have learned that
I can overcome anything if I am in the right
mindset. We just have to always stay positive
no matter how bad it may be.

7. The Before
It makes me sad thinking about who I was before my accident
•
I remember my parents always being angry with my bad behavior
•
I never said or acted like I was thankful for anything they gave me
•
They told me I was the most unappreciative person they knew
•
I have never been one to have patience; I am always ready for the next move. It was hard for me to
appreciate my horse
•
I was always thinking about tomorrow and what I was going to accomplish in the future instead of
focusing on what I was doing in that exact moment
•
I did not think I needed to be thankful for anything because I would always be able to get the things I
wanted in life
•
I did not realize I acted like a spoiled brat 100% of the time
•
I bragged about having my own horse and made my friends feel below me
I would not have wanted to be friends with me

8. The Change
I can remember it as if it happened yesterday. I had just been thrown off
of a 3 year old mare. As I hit the saw dust, my knee made a noise
equivalent to popcorn being popped in the microwave and at that
moment I knew it was over
•
I knew the riding would have to be put on hold for a while, I just did not know how long exactly
•
I had never wanted to get back up on a horse so badly in my entire life at that moment
•
I would have done anything to ride my own horse one last time before she was sold the
following week
•
I remember being in shock for about a week, I did not want to believe that it actually happened
to me
•
We can’t picture life without the things we love until they actually get taken away from us.
•
You don’t realize how much you love/need something until it is gone.

9. We need to remember to enjoy every second.
Sometimes we get so caught up in life that we
forget to appreciate all of things we have been
given.

10. The After
•
I learned to never take anything for granted
•
Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to do the things I do every day. Not everyone
has the ability to ride horses.
•
I felt empty for a long time. Not being able to do the things you love is not easy. I
realized that in order to be happy, I needed horseback riding in my life.
•
I learned that I need to enjoy life by living in the present and not focusing on the
past/future
•
Before my accident I didn’t enjoyed riding as much as I do now. Every time I sit on a
horse now I can’t stop smiling
•
It made me appreciate every ride I get now. Every day is an unearned gift. I never want
to get off my horses back. I could ride all day every day
•
We can’t always focus on the big things, the little things are just as important.
•
Enjoy the little things in life because usually they have the biggest impact on us.

11. Tearing my ACL taught me to embrace
everything life throws at me and to never take
anything for granted and to enjoy the little
things because one day the little things will
turn into big things

12. We can overcome anything if we are in the
right mindset. Staying positive is something I
have to constantly remind myself of but
whenever something bad happens to me now
I know it is for a reason

13. Works Cited
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jo
hnfkenn130001.html