Youthful Life: X

"You don't get older, you get better" Shirley Bassey Birthdays are these odd days that remain seared into my mind's eye representing this arbitrarily significant repeating 24 hour span of my life. I can remember almost all my birthdays and each one remains important, even when it didn't go according to plan. There is this surreal aspect to your birthday coming around. It's a demarcated day dedicated to the celebration of you. For one day the world does seem to revolve around you. People come out of the woodwork, well-wishes pour, and suddenly you're the center of attention. It's as if the regular rules of the world are suspended. I don't know, there's something exciting about it but simultaneously it seems disingenuous. I want people to care about me year round, and to be able to articulate that consistently, not just on the special occasion of the day I was born. It's wonderful, and I appreciate it but I want that same kind of energy ...

Truth - Time stands still for no one. We blink and all of a sudden we've aged - whether or not we have grown is a completely different story. Year by year, week by week, and second by second our time moves forward with or without us. Externally we change but internally, that is with respect to our mindsets and motives, the process looks completely different. No one ever said growing up was going to be easy, but what they really should have emphasized is that it isn't a one and done thing. The day we stop moving forward is the day time stands still, and that is the way we pass away. This is my declaration of boyhood.   "Let us never know what old age is. Let us know the happiness time brings, not count the years." Ausonious My birthday is here and somehow I made it to 23 years of age. I just finished rereading all my old birthday blog posts (check them out here: 22nd   21st   20th 19th 18th ) and boy or boy has life been an adventure. People keep asking me wha...

Truth - People are never who we imagine them to be; they are so much more. All our predictions of how each and every person will turn out are nothing more than romanticized fantasies There's no way to know what the each person holds inside them or how things will go until you get to know them. Why then do we spend so much making things up instead of being in the here and now with them? Why do we settle for cheap imitations when we can have the real thing? Why take the fool's gold when you can have genuine gold?   "We are treasure chests with more jewels inside than we can imagine.” Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha The great outdoors have never been something that I have been too fond of but there have been times where I've truly enjoyed it. One of those times was my in my childhood when I'd want to explore a forest or near a streaming creek. I'd get down in the mud and make little trenches for the water to flow in. I could spend hours redirecting the flo...

Truth - Sometimes our lives run in circles. We start out someplace and think that we never want to end up there but you never if that's exactly where you're supposed to be. When we do make it back to the start we are different. We have changed. We have grown through different things. We carry with us all the experiences we have acquired. It's not the same and we are more well equipped to take on any of the choppy waters, attacking pirates, or stormy weather that comes our way. It's been a long journey but it's one that goes on and on. This is circumnavigation & my 700th blog post!   "You are the author of your own life story; choose to write something memorable daily" Wow , what can I say other than a massive thank you all. I cannot believe I'm writing my 700th post. Hundreds of thousands of words later and I'm still chugging along. Who would have thought my life story would be worthy of so many words. It's funny to me because I fee...

Truth - Saying goodbye may be one of the hardest I ever end up having to do. I guess it's the finality of the statement that signifies a severance, a disconnect, and an indefinite end. It's the ambiguity of not knowing when but even more if you will ever see someone again in person that makes it so difficult. I can say all I want that this is only see you later, but the actuality is that if I do not make the effort to visit or stay in touch with people, goodbye may be the last parting words some hear from me. There's a big difference between goodbye or farewell, and see you later/soon. No matter what some connection make it through it all - that's forever and always.   "You don't have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body." C.S. Lewis It's so easy to come into situations with this attitude or mindset that you're there for one reason only. You can accomplish your goal but it becomes apparent quickly if life has other plans for your...

Truth - I have no idea what my post-college version of adulthood will be. I can identify bits and pieces of what my version of adulthood might look like but other than that I'm lost without a guide to help me on my way. There are no waypoints, no path markers, or points of interests to show me who or where I should be. Am I grown up enough? Do I act appropriately for me age? Will I be taken seriously? I'm betwixt and between.    "You think that adulthood will hit and you'll suddenly be more capable. But that doesn't happen, ever, does it?" Sally Hawkins   My entire conceptualization of adulthood has always been skewed because I never say myself becoming one. I guess I always imagined it to be this point of arrival and knowing that I could be self-sufficient or contribute positively to society. In actuality it's not a single place that you come or even a state of being but rather a lifelong journey. To be quite honest, I still have no idea what it...

The 20s are all about finding your way back where you belong. There are so many times where I know I have felt out of place, but even more distinct have been the moments when I have known I was supposed to be where I was. It was just this feeling of peace, feeling fully present, and appreciated that I had arrived at a place where I was meant to be. Somehow things and people end up falling in to place. It's just this feeling that you can't really tack down or even the absence of feeling most directly those of anxiousness, fear, or discomfort. Whatever it is, I'm more than okay with it. It's time to head back; it's comeback season.   "Things never happen the same way twice" C.S. Lewis This whole concept of supposed to be (not the Omarion song) is one that I know well and yet escapes me at the same time. How do you know you're where you're supposed to be some place? Before we veer off into philosophical meta territory never to return, I think ...