Youthful Life: X

The 20s are all about making yourself at home. There truly is no place like home. It's that one place where you feel most comfortable, safe, and warm. Home is where everything just seems to make sense and fit together, no matter how dysfunctionally chaotic things get. Home is your kingdom. Home is your fortress. Home is where you make the rules and external influences halt at the door. Take your rightful thrown as king of the hill.  The holiday season is probably a busy time of the year for most families but for mine it's quite the opposite. If only for a few days we come together, shut out the rest of the world and do nothing more than reflect on what we've been blessed with and how far we've come. We fulfill social expectations of sending holiday greetings (holiday because having your beliefs represented in the mass media is a privilege not everyone has - as in everyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas) in the mail, answering a seemingly endless amount of pho...

The 20s are all about giving thanks. Thanksgiving marks the annual holiday season. It's the beginning of the most hospitable time of the year. For just over a month, people seem to put their qualms with one another to rest, spend excessive amounts of money, and finally express their gratitude. It's when nearly everyone finds their humility, recognizes where they are, and most importantly how they got there (one hint - we've all had some help, whether we're aware of it or not ... LOL at bootstrap theory). What you give is what you get, and so we bow our heads and say grace. Let me start with a quote. " Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse" Henry Van Dyke. Thanksgiving is the one time of year that people seem to wake up from the obliviousness of just how pretty good their lives are. The thing about life is that we can easily point ...

Being a teenager is all about getting into the holiday spirit. Winter is truly magical time of the year (it better be, or else the cold would serve no purpose whatsoever and ain't nobody got time for that). It's a time where people set aside their difference and celebrate by showing their love, generosity and compassion for one another. It's refreshing, it's much needed and that's why it's the most wonderful time of the year. Time to break out the mur, chrysanthemums , manger bedding, angel wings, fluffy handcuffs and wrapping paper - deck the freaking halls with bows of holly, and all that jazz. It's silver bells. First and foremost, let it be known that Thanksgiving is and will forever be my favorite holiday. Don't get me wrong, I don't ever plan on cheating on all that turkey stuffed goodness and warm fall scents with the cedar pine (mmph), eggnog (that stuff is foul as hell, but actually who drinks that ... I want to get eggnog-wasted #said...

Being a teenager is all about getting into the holiday spirit. No matter what holiday you celebrate, the end of December is a time for peace, joy, and harmony throughout the world, including the land of teenagedom. It's a time to bury the hatchet over petty drama, put down the pepper spray for in-store shop-a-thons, and instead of sexting give your sloppy hookup some face-to-face lovin' (ignore that last one). It's a time to get real, and real personal. It's a time for humanity and teens (because we're a different species or something) to unite to and come together. Tis the season to change the world. I'll be the first to say it, I'm am empathetic person, to the point that is someone else is crying I'm shedding tears right along with them. There is so much we as teens can do to change the world around us. I know we feel powerless and I'll even admit adapting the mindset of "if I can't do anything to change it, why should I care" (...

Being a teenager means national holidays are like your favorite thing like ever. Whenever you can get off school because someone fought for something or it was somebody's birthday, you'll take it. It's Independence Day and that means America gets even more American than usual. I'm talking people go completely out of control to show their American pride. Everything has to be decked out in red, white, and blue and for once only American products are used, if only for a day. It's all over the top and a little bit unnecessary. The shear amount of events, the picnics, and of course the commercial deals at each and every store prove just how American America really is. I'm all for freedom and all that jazz, but America can be a little bit much at times. It's all just too patriotic. In my neighborhood the fireworks get set off like nobody's business. In our half cul-de-sac they close down the street, have a block party, and end it was a pretty impressive f...