Youthful Life: X

" It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."  Ralph Waldo Emerson What a gift it is to love and to be loved . There's something profoundly distinct about having the love you give to others be reciprocated with the same kind of passionate fervor. It's this almost overwhelming sense of peace, mixed with joy and comfort. It's an indescribable sensation. It's like being in the comfort of your own home, but home happens where you make it. Old friends are home personified. I have come to believe that undoubtedly as I've spent time away from my people, my legion, and my comfort. Every time I separate from them it's like leaving home for an extended period of time. Then, I see them again and I'm met with the warm embrace of a place I've seemed to always lived in - a place that welcomes me with open arms, cheek squeezing hugs, and big laughs. It's a place that has long felt both surreal to the p...

" Unworthiness is the inmost frightening thought that you do not belong, no matter how much you want to belong, that you are an outsider and will always be an outsider. It is the idea that you are flawed and cannot be fixed. It is wanting to be loved and feeling unlovable, or wanting to love and feeling that you are not capable of loving." Gary Sukav Social media is a gift and a curse. It gives us unprecedented access to others in dynamic ways. That access though can easily become a vice. When we are inundated with idealized chronicles of the escapades of others, the impact can be overwhelming, toxic, and downright malignant. There is no way we can separate between who we are online and who we are in real life. Our online personas are in fact part of our real lives, and they are part and parcel to who we are now. I don't think we've really come to terms with the ramifications of that hybridization, or fully processed what that exactly means. The time we spend...

"The fundamental job of a toddler is to rule the universe" Lawrence Kutner Kids are truly awe-inspiring people . There's something about them and their fresh perspectives on the world that adults just don't quite get. The ways they understand or at least approach understanding the world has just as much nuance as it does randomness. When we take the time to pay attention there is much to be learned. I had the opportunity to spend a few a days taking care of two year-old nephew, affectionately referred to as the Little Prince by me, myself, and I. In that time I took so much from spending time with him, other than reaffirming how truly phenomenal he is as a person, just the applicable things he's learning/being taught and their implications for my life is an adult-in-progress. Patience, patience, patience. In a world where I am constantly moving, zooming, speeding, to an fro I had to adjust to his pace. The few moments I found myself getting frustrated with ...

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." George Bernard Shaw This is my 800th blog post. I cannot believe I just typed those words. I never would have thought that I would still be writing but in all honesty I cannot imagine my life without this blog. Who would I be if I didn't have this space to write, reflect, and just be . I have learned a great deal, grown an immense amount, and most of all become someone I truly love being since I started way back in 2010. I was a second semester senior in high school and had no clue what journey lied ahead for me. I've been through experiences seemingly running the full gamut of what life has to offer, and yet still I have more life to live. What an immense gift it has been to have this place to be free, to be myself, and to be lost. It is here that I was found. It was here that I found me. It was here that I found myself. What follows is my biggest takeaways from my time existing since I l...

" Just as we outgrow a pair of trousers, we outgrow acquaintances, libraries, principles, etc., at times before they're worn out and times - and this is the worst of all - before we have new ones." George C. Lichtenberg Maybe it was because of all that I experienced but I don't have the same nostalgia that I see so many of my friends do for high school or college. I have never wanted to go back. I can pinpoint specific people that I still think about and that I care for but besides that there is no longing for me to return from whence I came. Even in the past year I've had multiple opportunities to visit my alma mater and I turned them down. I think I decided that I would never return there. Too much happened and I'm still processing it all three years later. What I mean to say is I have more than outgrown the place. I know for me there has been nothing more me to take from there. I took all that I could, learned from it, and went on my way. That's...

Truth - It's part of human nature to recall the bad times more often than the positive things that we experience. Those embarrassing moments, the tragedies, and all the struggles we endure stick out in our minds like a Kardashian at a MENSA meeting. We carry the pain, worry, and fear of things that happened with us wherever we go. Everyone endeavors to move on from what occurred in the past but some moments are too big to discard. What about when we keep making the same mistakes? What has to change for us for it to sink in? How do you hold on and never let go? " We need to change the culture of this topic and make it OK to speak about mental health and suicide" Luke Richardson If there was one thing I wish I could make normal it would be that it was socially acceptable to actually share how you're doing and be authentic about it. If only it was okay to tell other people how you're really doing all the time. I would want it to not be weird, off-putting, or ...

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 ...

The 20s are all about adventures. What remains crystal clear to me every single day is that each one is distinct from any other. From dawn to dusk and all the moonbeam laden hours following, the escapades of the day both are contained to that day and yet reach beyond it. It's a wonder that we are allowed to make meaning daily. The ups, downs, and the damn good plot twists in between make our lives truly legendary epics. What will you write today? To infinity and beyond! " Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone - we find it with another " Thomas Merton The days after graduation were an absolute blur. I still cannot believe that my college story has concluded. It is beyond me in so many ways and yet it is the matter of fact truth. Just as quickly as it had begun it was all over. It was something like a dream just totally ephemeral and phantasmagorical. Four years had come and gone but what I take with me are the memories, less...