Youthful Life: X

Truth - Looking back is critical to helping us look forward. 2016. What a year. Let's let that statement marinate just a little bit. Who would have thought a year that brought us a flurry of amazing musical achievements in album form would pretty much be garbage in every other way possible. I kid, I kid. Perspective really is everything, and hyperbolizing about an abstract concept doesn't do anything to change it. It's when we stop, take a look around, and learn from our surroundings, with a little bit of review, that we know what to do next or at the very least what not to do.   "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." Barack Obama Can we please have a small discussion about the ways in which this year, namely 2016 aka the year the of our Lord's departure from this Earthly purgatory, has taken on its own persona and been anthropomorphized ...

Truth - No two perspectives are the same. We all experience the world in profoundly unique ways. That distinct viewpoint is part of what makes us all so special. No one takes in the world the way that we do. Nobody knows the things that go through our heads. No one else has all the information that we hold. Even more so, the ways in which we understand ourselves can be drastically different than how others know us to be. The narrative of our nature may be one thing to us and completely different to others. The catch to that sentiment is that both vantage points are equally as valid. Reconciling the two may be a lifelong process, but those that do so become legendary. “Youth is the most suitable age to enjoy the life completely or to work diligently for the life, what you decide makes your rest of the life ordinary or legendary respectively.” Amit Kalantri The dichotomy between who we understand ourselves to be versus who we actually are can sometimes be a sharp contrast. We ...

Truth - Sometimes the hardest person to love can be yourself. Some people fall in and out of love each day with other people. Some people find love and never let it go. Some people let love consume them in the best ways possible. Why then is it difficult for us to love the people we see in the mirror? Why do we struggle to embrace ourselves, our bodies, spirits, and souls? What prevents us from giving ourselves the same kind of love we demonstrate towards others? Isn't it funny how we can show love towards others but are unable to do so for ourselves? This is self(ie) love.   "The most powerful relationship you will ever have is the relationship with yourself.”  Steve Maroboli Recently I was a browsing through a Buzzfeed Listicle  - Words for Emotions You Never Thought Anyone Else Ever Felt  and my inner adoration for words and typography shown through as I was struck by each one. One in particular, altschmerz, stood out to me. It's a noun that means...

The 20s are all about creating the world you want. If you want the world to be the want you it, the you, yourself have to make it that way. Be the person who says something; be the one who does something; be the one who is something. You have to be. No one else. The world on changes if we change and do better. We have to try harder. Do a little bit more. Go that extra mile. Change does not occur unless we are the ones to enact it. Cosmogonies are stories of world making - write your own.   *Instead of telling about my time with Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie, I thought I would share would you the piece I wrote for my journalism on her.   Creating the World You Want An interview with Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie - By Joseph Oteng “Yoga, peppermint tea, chocolate twice a day, reading books, and natural hair YouTube videos,” Chimamanda joked as the secrets to finding peace in your life. Chimamanda is an accomplished writer, activist, and public speaker known for her July 2009 T...

The 20s are all about writing the script to your own life. Unbeknownst to most people, you have control over what you say. People act like there's cameras following them around watching their every move and recording their every word (okay, that may or may not be actually true but that's besides the point). You're responsible for yourself. You may be the star of the reality that is your life, but it's unedited. This isn't scripted reality. Reality TV is one of the most American things out there next to our Kraft Singles cheese, Manwich sloppy Joe's and unsightly distrust for our super shady wire-tapping, computer hacking, phone eavesdropping government (NSA leak shade thrown). Our culture is obsessed with celebrities. We love to see people start from the bottom and rise to fame, but evne more so do we love watching people fall off the pedestal we put then an shatter in a like a bajllion pieces. Reality TV meltdowns are absolutely legendary, crazy people lite...

Being a teenager is all about inspiration. It's about being both inspired by things you see and hear in the world around you, and also inspiring others. It's a cycle, doing something amazing, standing out, and making a difference in someone else's life and having someone else do the same for you. Inspiration is what can lead a nation through it's darkest days, and shine as a light bright enough to hold on to. Light it up with some inspiration. Inspiration can take so many forms. It's not only just people that can inspire you, it's objects and things that you see around that get your gears going and those creative juices flowing. For example, this whole blog idea came about because I saw Keke Palmer (my future wife) tweet about how she wanted to start a teen talk show (homegirl, you could interview me any time). So I took her idea and ran with it, and a year and months later I'm still writing for teen and college advice. It's the smallest things that...