Youthful Life: X

Truth - It's almost impossible to know all is there is to know about other people, let alone our selves. The best way to do so however is to allow others to tell us about themselves. What is important to keep in mind however is that what we often receive are bits and pieces, glimpses, and flickers of larger narratives. We get the abridged version of someone's life. We are told the sparknotes run down. We are tasked with surviving off of perfectly cropped, edited, and filtered snapshots. How do you ever know someone then?   "The reason why we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind the scenes with everyone else's highlight reel." Steven Furtick   Social media has revolutionized the ways we communicate in some aspects, and in others not at all or rather set us back. Social media often givens us a false a sense of intimacy. Even right now as you read my deeply personal thoughts and feelings you are only getting what I am willing to share....

The 20s are all about putting yourself out there. In this age of limited privacy and the glaring exposure of people's lives, to control your image is an immense task. It's a struggle to make sure that the world sees you for who you are, or at least who you want it to think you are at least. It's a battle to be represented not only in actuality but benignly. Your information, history, and multimedia snapshot are constantly being edited, photoshopped, and filtered by more than just you. Who are you behind the screen names, airbrushing, and chat speak? Don't worry it's auto-focusing.  Reaching for a cell-phone and hitting record instead of dialing 911 or calling for help; some say that is the epitome of the downfall of our digital age. I say it's the lack of distinction between reality and curation. Life has become voyeuristic - lived vicariously thorough screens, messaging, and manipulated images. It's more than losing touch with humanity. Everyone has ...

The 20s are all about looking back at where you've come from and looking forward to where you're going. I cannot believe 2013 is coming to a close. It truly feels like just yesterday I was in the car on my way back from church with my family blasting One Direction in my headphones and imagining the year to come. At the same time I feel like it was so long ago and recognize that I'm no longer the same person I started the year off as. Now I'm laying in my bed and taking sometime to reflect on who I was, who I am and who I want to be. Ready or not a new year is almost here - auld lang syne.   Every single year I make New Year's resolutions that I never end up following. Here's mine from say year - the most ridiculous part of it is that in writing this post my resolutions for 2014 are almost exactly the same. Like why? If I'm a different person, shouldn't, in theory at least, my goals have changed as well. I guess the rationale is that I always knew w...

Being a teenager is all about getting into what you you're doing. You should have passion and have fun wherever you are. It doesn't matter how trivial, or mundane something seems - there's significance if you're willing to look for it. Dig down deep, I'm a strong believer that nothing is pointless. Everything has a meaning and maybe everything happens for a reason (not the time or place to discuss my predestination). Life flashes in and out and passes you by, just try and keep up with the strobe light. Flashing , blinding, mind-numbing madness .. all words to describe the college experience. I can't believe my college saga is already 3/8 done, like I'm almost at the halfway mark. Would I say I'm pleased with what I've done so far - maybe (my standards for my life are unbelievable high and nearly unattainable), probably because I never could have imagined I'd be spending my time the way I do or knowing who I know now. I had a different picture ...

Being a teenager means looking back at you past and propelling towards your future. So if you're going to college it's like an unwritten rule that you must have a photo collage in your dorm room. Since my computer has been reformatted multiple times, I've lost all my pictures and videos from freshman year until now, so resorting to facebook to download pictures saved my life. I went through all the pictures and it seriously too me back. It's amazing to think about how much fun I had, who I'm no longer friends with, and what the heck I was wearing. It's unbelievable that in 4 years I somehow grew the heck up. Pictures are ready to printed and I'll be covering my dorm wall with all my favorite people. Do you know who's made your wall of fame? College, it's like what comes after high school, right? It's like the biggest change of your entire teenage life. You're going to be away from the majority of the people you knew in high school, pretty...