Youthful Life: X

"You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.” Charles Buxton One of the many myths of adulthood is that work-life balance magically happens to you. Someday you just fall into it or it comes to you naturally. There's no such thing as work-life balance. The fact that we distinguish work as if it's distinct from the rest of our lives instead of incorporated into it is telling. Work is a distinct portion of our lives but the role it plays in that life is up to us. Work-life is not a balance with more weight being given to one than the other like the scales of justice tipping either way. I like the idea of a work-life negotiation better. It's a more active process and speaks to what we're tasked with doing. We have to do our own negotiation. We have the make the life we want. We get to choose the weight we give things. Sometimes we wait for peace or balance when in reality   We don’t just find balance. We have to create our own bal...

Truth - No two people are the same. While that may be an infallible truth, we are more alike than we sometimes like to acknowledge. In another sense, there are just many things that make us unique as there are things that make us similar. We're exceptional but not the exceptions. We're complicatedly simple and also simply complicated. We're special and we're not special. "You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old" George Burns The rhetoric targeted at the millennial continually seems to get worse and worse each year, or maybe I'm just more cognizant of all the stereotypes others put on us, and the ones I was part of creating for myself. Millennials are hailed as the generation of narcissism, superficiality, social media, entitlement, idealism, and restlessness among other things. My issue with those stereotypes is not that they're necessarily wrong, but rather that they are remarkably limiting and leave little to no ro...

Truth - Life is a series of choices. We are constantly tasked with making choices whether we are conscious of them or not. In some instances there seems to be much a myriad of options and at other times we feel limited but nonetheless we are made to choose. Regardless of our preparedness we have to choose, and even deciding not to choose is a paradoxical choice in and of itself. We learn what we need to choose in our lifelong of practice of choosing. This is choice.   "There are three constants in life... change, choice and principles." Stephen Covey One of the many dilemmas my generation faces is the abundance of choice. Now, more than any other time in history, we are given more choices. We have options, opportunities, and less boundaries. From what we eat to where we live, to what we do and how we do it - choice after choice is presented to us. Our challenge is to manage the smaller choices while tackling the gargantuan ones as well. Even that dichotomy though pla...

Truth - No two people are the same. While the things that connect us may not be as visible as the things that distinguish us from one another, they are still important. With that being said however, our individuality is both literally and figuratively what makes us different from any and everyone else. There are times when our uniqueness is recognized and valued, but even more so instances where it is overlooked. Our lives are painted over with a broad stroke of a generic narrative. The reality is, our stories, and the colorful illustrations that go with them vary. Treating people as persons instead of collective people can have some powerful impacts. Time to find your inner purpose - this is finals season. "The world is the true classroom. The most rewarding and important type of learning is through experience, seeing something with our own eyes." Jack Hanna   College is not for everyone . Let me say it one more time for dramatic effect. College is not for everyone. Th...

The 20s are all about seeing beyond. Masquerading, acting, and pretending are things that we do daily. We have these rehearsed versions of ourselves that we present to the rest of the world and while they may not be the full fledged renditions of us, they are still valid nonetheless. We also have those that we take off our masks for and put on display all the messy, flawed, imperfect, and yet beautifully unique people we are underneath. Some people are refused to be unveiled and others you can see right through. Some things are just crystal clear.   There are certain things that are absolutely crystal clear to me but somehow go unseen and unrecognized. It's not until time is intentionally set aside or I have time to retreat into my head in a moment that I look around and see where I am, who I am with, and what I am doing. Do you ever just gaze in awe at your circumstances? This life is complicated in the most convoluted of ways, and yet it's plain and simple at the sa...

The 20s are all about welcoming your future. This decade of your life is supposed to be where you come into your own and make the transition from young adult to fully established professional. The transformation and the steps along the way leave much to be desired. It seems like it's just supposed to happen overnight. You wake up and suddenly know what you want for your life. I don't know about you but the epiphany moments I have are way more subtle than that. It's only in taking the time to notice how I am reacting in certain situations that I realize how I have grown up. Let's take a glimpse into the future - this is flash forward. It's the question that every senior ever has dreaded, "what are you doing after graduation?" I have some general ideas about what I would like to do but as of now not really in specifics. In actuality I cannot even decide what I want to watch next on Netflix left alone choose the next step into adulthood. It seems like ever...

The 20s are all about being afraid. Fear sometimes serves a purpose. While it can cause us to remain small, to cower, and to freeze, it can also be a powerful thing that motivates, exhilarates, and inspires us to do truly amazing things. Fear is what holds people back but also what pushes them forward. Fear is a double-edged sword that you have to know just how to wield. Fear can take us to dark places but also lead us to the light. Fear can keep us stuck but can liberate us all the very same. It can tell us we're alone or can bring us together. Fear is fear, is fear, is fear. Sometimes you have just get lost in the fear. Maybe you don't really need to be found. Try and find me, I'm a lost boy. Quite possibly the scariest thing that I have ever experienced was coming to the realization that I would not be going to medical school after college. I had spent the entirety of my life preparing to do just that. I had my life planned out, medical school, then residency, wife, ...