Breaking Barriers
Being a teenager is all about knocking down walls and forming connections. It's all about relationships and how you interact with other people. It's about making meaningful moments with other people and showing your humanity. People get so caught up in this cycle of writing people off or letting one thing about a person define this as good or bad. One of my new favorite quotes (from CW's epic called drama "Hidden Palms" is "We're not all good or all bad; life is not an either/or proposition." You have to work with people and all believe that people will surprise you for the better. Break down those barriers.
Interacting with other people is a fundamental part of being human, and especially a teenager, if not more a college student. You spend tons of time meeting new people and remembering names and faces. It's a bombardment of tons of different information but it's all important. I think the funniest part about it is once you've been introduced to someone and you've "made their acquaintance" like a brownosing Fresh-Prince Carlton (because that's like a thing, the thing is that) how free people become with each other. Once that initial mystery of who a person is, people are more than okay saying hey - talking to someone and actually becoming friends. It's that first hill (like the activation energy necessary for a reaction to proceed - ewe, the scientist in me needs to chill the heck out) that once you make it over, you're home free. It's like Prison Break, make it out of your central and outside of the gates, and you're good to go. Don't be afraid to introduce yourself, make an impression, and do the most. You're more than capable of doing it, and the more you do it, the less awkward it becomes. Yeah, we're all nervous of out minds, but it's up to you to take the chance and start breaking barriers. Which brings me to Friday, which started off with my political science and a pop quiz. Yo, I aced the hell out of that thing like a little politician and soon I was out of there and in the library meeting up with Dzenan and Taylor. I can honestly say, that even though it takes us like 3 solid hours to do our homework (because we're guys who like to talk) - it's probably one of my favorite times of the week. It's just a naturally teasing sort of atmosphere we've created, and we kind of like freely share - but I only met Taylor two weeks ago, and after the initial new-ness, I tease him all the damn time. It's crazy, how fast you can become friends with people. After library time, it was a little adventure into the world of SGA (student government) before heading back to my room with Dzenan to have lunch and hang out a bit before we had to start our afternoons. I went back to the Davis Center to grab a smoothie (because people do that when it's -10F outside) with my friend, Feresha. It was an awesome conversation, that flowed quickly and easily. I felt safe, and understood with talking to her, which is something that doesn't always happen. We talked and time flew by, and I had to eventually head back to my room to back for my weekend getaway retreat for RHA executive board. Barriers broken, onwards we go.
This weekend was spent away from campus in a remote cabin with my executive board and advisors. Boy oh boy was it an experience. We started with an epic grocery trip which had me directing, us causing a big scence and being a mess in public (oh we're aware). We drove through the night and the cold, getting a little lost, and making some pullover turnarounds, but we eventually made it to the cabin in the woods. I was on some horror movie type of ish, but we settled in and got down to business. It was such a safe space and by that I mean, it was a zone free of judgement, and open for all opinions to be voiced equally. It was awesome, I haven't honest, frank, and deliberate conversations like that with people outside of my suite in a long while. We all broke the barriers and let the shrouds go. That meant we all we're just a little all over the place. The singing, dancing, digs, and jokes - it all made me smile. Genuinely, I was having an amazing time. Saturday morning had us doing a social justice piece and it got heavy real fast. I just was sitting there and getting hot, and teary-eyed. But people were getting it, and understanding - which is all we want as people, to be heard and understood (to be normal). Social justice is about equity as opposed to equality. It's about making an effort to make a change. After our morning sessions we went to the waterpark at the Jay Peak mountain resort which I had reservations about at first, but I took the plunge (literally and figuratively) and took rides on the water slides, and around the lazy river. After hot tubbing and playing some waterborne bball (against this completely random kid - who's outgoing styleand bright personality which had him clinging all over me was more than commendable - that's the barrier breaking at it's finest) I conquered my fear and went on "La Chute" - this steep full body slide. I was standing in the chamber and the floor dropped out from under me and I was just flying. Of course I was not having it and screamed the whole time, but I'm proud that I did it and pushed myself. Back to the cabin where we had some real conversations and played some games before popping in Clueless (such a progressive movie for 1995 - but the whole ending thing is still weird ex-stepsibling love? - Stacey Dash doesn't freaking age) and talking the night away. Sunday was more of the same before making it back to campus around 3 o'clock. It was exactly what we needed. Breaking barriers, and moving on.
Being a teenager is all about making leaps and bounds with your relationships with other people. It's about taking risks, putting yourself out there, and letting people in. You have to give a little bit of yourself, and expect that people will do the same in return. You have to try for things to go anywhere. It's hard, and it's scary, but in the end and it's worth it. All relationships start somewhere. It's all about breaking barriers.
My blog post quetion for the day is ... how do you start dating someone? Well - seeing as #neverhaveIever, I wouldn't know - so we'll see.
Interacting with other people is a fundamental part of being human, and especially a teenager, if not more a college student. You spend tons of time meeting new people and remembering names and faces. It's a bombardment of tons of different information but it's all important. I think the funniest part about it is once you've been introduced to someone and you've "made their acquaintance" like a brownosing Fresh-Prince Carlton (because that's like a thing, the thing is that) how free people become with each other. Once that initial mystery of who a person is, people are more than okay saying hey - talking to someone and actually becoming friends. It's that first hill (like the activation energy necessary for a reaction to proceed - ewe, the scientist in me needs to chill the heck out) that once you make it over, you're home free. It's like Prison Break, make it out of your central and outside of the gates, and you're good to go. Don't be afraid to introduce yourself, make an impression, and do the most. You're more than capable of doing it, and the more you do it, the less awkward it becomes. Yeah, we're all nervous of out minds, but it's up to you to take the chance and start breaking barriers. Which brings me to Friday, which started off with my political science and a pop quiz. Yo, I aced the hell out of that thing like a little politician and soon I was out of there and in the library meeting up with Dzenan and Taylor. I can honestly say, that even though it takes us like 3 solid hours to do our homework (because we're guys who like to talk) - it's probably one of my favorite times of the week. It's just a naturally teasing sort of atmosphere we've created, and we kind of like freely share - but I only met Taylor two weeks ago, and after the initial new-ness, I tease him all the damn time. It's crazy, how fast you can become friends with people. After library time, it was a little adventure into the world of SGA (student government) before heading back to my room with Dzenan to have lunch and hang out a bit before we had to start our afternoons. I went back to the Davis Center to grab a smoothie (because people do that when it's -10F outside) with my friend, Feresha. It was an awesome conversation, that flowed quickly and easily. I felt safe, and understood with talking to her, which is something that doesn't always happen. We talked and time flew by, and I had to eventually head back to my room to back for my weekend getaway retreat for RHA executive board. Barriers broken, onwards we go.
This weekend was spent away from campus in a remote cabin with my executive board and advisors. Boy oh boy was it an experience. We started with an epic grocery trip which had me directing, us causing a big scence and being a mess in public (oh we're aware). We drove through the night and the cold, getting a little lost, and making some pullover turnarounds, but we eventually made it to the cabin in the woods. I was on some horror movie type of ish, but we settled in and got down to business. It was such a safe space and by that I mean, it was a zone free of judgement, and open for all opinions to be voiced equally. It was awesome, I haven't honest, frank, and deliberate conversations like that with people outside of my suite in a long while. We all broke the barriers and let the shrouds go. That meant we all we're just a little all over the place. The singing, dancing, digs, and jokes - it all made me smile. Genuinely, I was having an amazing time. Saturday morning had us doing a social justice piece and it got heavy real fast. I just was sitting there and getting hot, and teary-eyed. But people were getting it, and understanding - which is all we want as people, to be heard and understood (to be normal). Social justice is about equity as opposed to equality. It's about making an effort to make a change. After our morning sessions we went to the waterpark at the Jay Peak mountain resort which I had reservations about at first, but I took the plunge (literally and figuratively) and took rides on the water slides, and around the lazy river. After hot tubbing and playing some waterborne bball (against this completely random kid - who's outgoing styleand bright personality which had him clinging all over me was more than commendable - that's the barrier breaking at it's finest) I conquered my fear and went on "La Chute" - this steep full body slide. I was standing in the chamber and the floor dropped out from under me and I was just flying. Of course I was not having it and screamed the whole time, but I'm proud that I did it and pushed myself. Back to the cabin where we had some real conversations and played some games before popping in Clueless (such a progressive movie for 1995 - but the whole ending thing is still weird ex-stepsibling love? - Stacey Dash doesn't freaking age) and talking the night away. Sunday was more of the same before making it back to campus around 3 o'clock. It was exactly what we needed. Breaking barriers, and moving on.
Being a teenager is all about making leaps and bounds with your relationships with other people. It's about taking risks, putting yourself out there, and letting people in. You have to give a little bit of yourself, and expect that people will do the same in return. You have to try for things to go anywhere. It's hard, and it's scary, but in the end and it's worth it. All relationships start somewhere. It's all about breaking barriers.
My blog post quetion for the day is ... how do you start dating someone? Well - seeing as #neverhaveIever, I wouldn't know - so we'll see.
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