Youthful Life: X

"Space travel is life-enhancing, and anything that's life-enhancing is worth doing. It makes you want to live forever." Ray Bradbury Space - the final frontier. Positing life as a representation of space and all its wonders has come to be a useful metaphor for understanding the world. We are all the center of our own universes, or at least we're supposed to be. Sometimes we aren't. What happens when others in our experiences are centered in our lives or we don't perceive ourselves to be in the middle of our existences? My therapist called it a sort of a blackhole effect where the position that we should be finding ourselves in is instead occupied by a force that seems nearly impossible to overcome. Usually it has to do with children and not being fully positioned in the center of their lives growing up that forces them to take care of themselves sooner than usual, essentially becoming a full-grown star early. It's gravitational pull drawing absolute...

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one." C.S. Lewis Adulthood is an adventure that no one really  knows how to navigate. In talking to my friends scattered all over the country and around the world, one of the consistent sentiments shared is having trouble making new friends. Making friends in adulthood is difficult but not impossible. That distinction is key. Adults are lonely. People are yearning for others who get them. Folks crave connection. No matter how closed off they might seem - it is a universal experience. A few or a lot of failed attempts does not mean we should give up where we are or on making friends in general. We have to keep trying, and try smart!  Quite honestly, the things we learned as kids to build our friendships still applies to striving the do the same thing in adulthood. Find something you have in common and build on it. Even more so, the principles from our col...

Truth - Complete and utter silence is a rarity in this world. We spend our lives constantly on the go and take little to no time to just be, to be present, to be real, to be one with the world instead of trying to master in. There's so much noise in lives. Distractions abound, pressures build, and stress is constantly weighing us down. There always seems to be more that we can do, but to what end? When does it stop? Will it ever? There has to be some place for us to be alone with ourselves. Where is your sanctuary?   "Solitude is as needful to the imagination as society is wholesome for the character." James Russell Lowell     There seems to be this generational fear of being alone. It's this oddly striking thing others say to me. "I don't like being alone. I'm afraid that I'm going to end up by myself. I'm bored out of my mind." I realize that we go through this abrupt change where our environments shift. We grow up surrounded by p...

Truth - Some of the most iconic scenes in television programs and films have been the ones that thrust you straight into the story. Without warning, preparation, or any context you're transported into the cosmos of the art piece you're viewing. It's truly amazing just how invested you can become in just one scene if it's done in an enticing way. Whether it be an intense action sequence complete with ass-kicking combat, intricately woven shots with feats of cinematography, or heartfelt moments that hit you right in the feels, cold openings are a powerful tool. If your life were a movie what would your cold opening be? " If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story" Orson Welles Cold openings are a technique used by directors to tease what is to come by showing a portion of what is to come before rolling the title sequence or opening credits. From dream sequences to flash forwards/rewinds, plot revolving points, and...

Being a teenager means living for the moments that you make for yourself. It's summertime and that means everyone and literally everyone will be packing up their suitcases and booking out of your hometown for some sort of vacation. Collegebound kids will journey to orientation, families will swipe their passports and chuck the deuces to America and others will roadtrip the heck out here. For the rest of you who either have already gone on vacation, or are unfortunately not going anywhere this summer, there is still a shat ton of stuff for you to do. For the past week and a half, I've been home alone and it's been a fun experience to say the least. It's every teenager's dream to have no one to chastise you, not having to share anything, and having your entire house to yourself. It's time to check somethings off your list of life goals. We're home alone, ahhh. Being home alone is a rare oppurtunity let loose and go a little crazy. It's weird waking up i...