A Thousand Words
Being a teenager is all about sharing your personal experiences. It's about making a meaningful connections with other people and trusting them enough to give a little of yourself. That's letting them in by recounting your life and what you've seen, heard, felt, and learned. There's no such thing as an insignificant memory - you remember for a reason. It's impossible to completely know everything about another person - you'd literally have to be them, and that also means, there's so much you don't know about other people. A thousand words may not be enough.
Words, I've always known their power (I'm a blogger for goodness sakes) but this year has really shown me their significance. I think one of my most important things about being human is being able to communicate. To express yourself, not with your clothing, artwork or what you listen to but verbally. To speak, let your vocal cords vibrate and words come from your mouth and depart your lips. Words hanging in the air, whether they be a hoarse whisper, enthralled in tears, or shouted from the rooftops. All of them mean something. Words are how we get our points across, they're how we come to understand other people and where the beginnings of community are found. Recently I've been really in to quotes. Just profound things that really resonate with me. They shake every fiber of my being and boom around inside me until they settle and I come to terms with just how true some of them can be. I'm a huge C.S. Lewis fan (Narnia for freaking ever - Prince Caspian is my all time favorite movie) along with Ralph Waldo Emerson and good old Shakespeare. The same goes with song lyrics, the emotion that every song brings is the power of words in its most visible form. Listening to the Wanted or Chris Brown or even J-Mac (or as normal call him, Jesse McCartney) just takes me there. I connect with the words being sung and it envokes feeling. TV and movies especially are my big ones - recently 9O21O (the fact that there's only 5 episodes left is devastating to me - my absolute favorite show of all time; the obsession it's real), has been truly remarkable with the dialogue. You just here a line and think, "that's quotable." I would give the advice to look and listen around you for what people are saying. Find some quotes, phrases or mottos that really get you and take them to heart. Sometimes it's the short and simple ones that end up meaning the most. No matter what you're going through, you can find words that sum it up and will get through it. A thousand words, sometimes they're just enough.
Speech - we take it for granted in America. We have the right to speak our minds (but that doesn't mean you get to run your mouth, talk trash, and disrespect other people or their ideals) and that's a huge privilege in this world. We must, I can't stress this enough, be so very careful with what we say and how we say it. Lately, I've been getting frustrated with people because they aren't away of how what they're saying affects other people. Yes, you are entitled to your opinion and to say whatever you want, but your words, whether you intend them to or not have an affect on people. I can tell you that people will just say things in passing or nonchalantly or even jokingly and I'll hear them and be taken aback, want to retreat inside myself, or immediately feel out of place, uncomfortable and unwanted. Everyone has those things that just get to them. It's hard, but my entire countenance changes and I go silent and just sit and process. It's so difficult to move on it because to me it means so much. To you it may not matter, but you're tasked with being conscious of what you say. Exclusive language, that is words and "normalities" that do not integrate people who live differently than you or is just plain offensive is one of the most prevalent things on a college campus. Just changing small things can have a huge effect on letting people feel more included. Then there is validation. I'm telling you that is one of the biggest thing I strive to do with people. I cannot even tell you how many times I've gone out of a limb to share something about myself, a memory, a story, or a secret and the person/people I'm conversing with will say something insensitive, make a distasteful joke or not reciprocate or even acknowledge that I put myself out there. When that happens it makes you feel so small and it makes you never want to share anything with anyone. I'm telling you this because I trust you and expect you to show some respect. I give and you give back. I know people have been trained to keep everything personal to themselves or to make jokes when things get too serious but that belittles the sincerity of the conversation. The worst thing is when you share something personal and people bring it up in other contexts or in mixed company. It makes me question my judgement. I shouldn't have to predicate everything I say with please don't spread this around - it's implied by my tone of voice and demeanor. I challenge you to speak up and give a little bit of yourself. Share when other people share with you and keep conversations going. I'll say I get tired of being the one who gets thrown under the bus and has to share. Your life experience is valuable, go there. Last thing I'll say about hearing from other people is that you still will never know they completely. Yeah you may know the basics, or the bits and pieces, but you don't know me and I don't know you. Keep your judgements to yourself. My story, just like yours, is impossible to be completely told. You can't label me, peg me, or think of me as one specific thing. We're all more than that. A thousand words is more than proof of that.
Being a teenager is all about being bold, and courageous. It's absolutely terrifying to let yourself be vulnerable - look at that word vulnerable, that means able to be hurt. Who wants to be hurt? No one does, you have to let your guard down, lower your shields, and let other people get to know you or your relationship whether as classmates, casual acquaintances, friends, or even romantic endeavors can never progress. The thing is, you can never know everything about another person, but I think everyone is worth knowing. A thousand words, and a million more to follow.
My blog post question for the day is ... who in the world knows the most about you? I would without a doubt say my sister, I tell her everything. She's the first person that I let know any news, and she knows me best, hands down.
Words, I've always known their power (I'm a blogger for goodness sakes) but this year has really shown me their significance. I think one of my most important things about being human is being able to communicate. To express yourself, not with your clothing, artwork or what you listen to but verbally. To speak, let your vocal cords vibrate and words come from your mouth and depart your lips. Words hanging in the air, whether they be a hoarse whisper, enthralled in tears, or shouted from the rooftops. All of them mean something. Words are how we get our points across, they're how we come to understand other people and where the beginnings of community are found. Recently I've been really in to quotes. Just profound things that really resonate with me. They shake every fiber of my being and boom around inside me until they settle and I come to terms with just how true some of them can be. I'm a huge C.S. Lewis fan (Narnia for freaking ever - Prince Caspian is my all time favorite movie) along with Ralph Waldo Emerson and good old Shakespeare. The same goes with song lyrics, the emotion that every song brings is the power of words in its most visible form. Listening to the Wanted or Chris Brown or even J-Mac (or as normal call him, Jesse McCartney) just takes me there. I connect with the words being sung and it envokes feeling. TV and movies especially are my big ones - recently 9O21O (the fact that there's only 5 episodes left is devastating to me - my absolute favorite show of all time; the obsession it's real), has been truly remarkable with the dialogue. You just here a line and think, "that's quotable." I would give the advice to look and listen around you for what people are saying. Find some quotes, phrases or mottos that really get you and take them to heart. Sometimes it's the short and simple ones that end up meaning the most. No matter what you're going through, you can find words that sum it up and will get through it. A thousand words, sometimes they're just enough.
Speech - we take it for granted in America. We have the right to speak our minds (but that doesn't mean you get to run your mouth, talk trash, and disrespect other people or their ideals) and that's a huge privilege in this world. We must, I can't stress this enough, be so very careful with what we say and how we say it. Lately, I've been getting frustrated with people because they aren't away of how what they're saying affects other people. Yes, you are entitled to your opinion and to say whatever you want, but your words, whether you intend them to or not have an affect on people. I can tell you that people will just say things in passing or nonchalantly or even jokingly and I'll hear them and be taken aback, want to retreat inside myself, or immediately feel out of place, uncomfortable and unwanted. Everyone has those things that just get to them. It's hard, but my entire countenance changes and I go silent and just sit and process. It's so difficult to move on it because to me it means so much. To you it may not matter, but you're tasked with being conscious of what you say. Exclusive language, that is words and "normalities" that do not integrate people who live differently than you or is just plain offensive is one of the most prevalent things on a college campus. Just changing small things can have a huge effect on letting people feel more included. Then there is validation. I'm telling you that is one of the biggest thing I strive to do with people. I cannot even tell you how many times I've gone out of a limb to share something about myself, a memory, a story, or a secret and the person/people I'm conversing with will say something insensitive, make a distasteful joke or not reciprocate or even acknowledge that I put myself out there. When that happens it makes you feel so small and it makes you never want to share anything with anyone. I'm telling you this because I trust you and expect you to show some respect. I give and you give back. I know people have been trained to keep everything personal to themselves or to make jokes when things get too serious but that belittles the sincerity of the conversation. The worst thing is when you share something personal and people bring it up in other contexts or in mixed company. It makes me question my judgement. I shouldn't have to predicate everything I say with please don't spread this around - it's implied by my tone of voice and demeanor. I challenge you to speak up and give a little bit of yourself. Share when other people share with you and keep conversations going. I'll say I get tired of being the one who gets thrown under the bus and has to share. Your life experience is valuable, go there. Last thing I'll say about hearing from other people is that you still will never know they completely. Yeah you may know the basics, or the bits and pieces, but you don't know me and I don't know you. Keep your judgements to yourself. My story, just like yours, is impossible to be completely told. You can't label me, peg me, or think of me as one specific thing. We're all more than that. A thousand words is more than proof of that.
Being a teenager is all about being bold, and courageous. It's absolutely terrifying to let yourself be vulnerable - look at that word vulnerable, that means able to be hurt. Who wants to be hurt? No one does, you have to let your guard down, lower your shields, and let other people get to know you or your relationship whether as classmates, casual acquaintances, friends, or even romantic endeavors can never progress. The thing is, you can never know everything about another person, but I think everyone is worth knowing. A thousand words, and a million more to follow.
My blog post question for the day is ... who in the world knows the most about you? I would without a doubt say my sister, I tell her everything. She's the first person that I let know any news, and she knows me best, hands down.
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