Youthful Life: X

The 20s are all about giving your love. Love. What a powerful word. What does it mean to love or to be loved? Everyone has their own definition and it feels different for each and every one of us. You have to love yourself before you can love anyone else or expect anyone to love you for that matter. Self-love is the most important love because it's where all other love comes from. When you love yourself, then and only then are you able to give your love. But love isn't always given freely; sometimes it has to be earned. This is not one of those times. This is baby love.  For as long as I can remember I have loved kids but specifically babies and particularly newborns. It's such a weird thing to say but it's the absolute truth. When I was in high school I volunteered in a maternity ward for just over two years and absolutely loved it. Every Wednesday my parents would drop me off and for a solid three hours I would get to be the best version of me. I donned my teal...

The 20s are all about going all in. Putting your entire self out there for everyone to see can be both the most terrifying and empowering thing at the same time. What a rush it is to be completely vulnerable but with it comes the potential backlash of exposing yourself. It's like charging into battle, sure you may have the element of surprise but if opposing forces overwhelm by shear number then guerrilla warfare tactics won't do you any good. Say Geronimo all you want but it may not always go the way you plan. Bombs away! *Check out my article of the colorblind approach to race and racism (published in USA Today College) and the inspiration of this post, indie Australian band Sheppard's "Geronimo." One of my favorite days in history (if I can authentically claim such a thing) was the day I learned about the Bedonkohe Apache tribesman Goyathlay also known as Geronimo. After a brutal raid on his tribe that claimed the lives of his mother, wife, and three chi...

The 20s are all about perseverance and endurance. There is something to be said about deciding to not only do something but to follow through and see it to its end. Commitment means a lot. Promises are meant to be kept. Truths are supposed to remain true. No matter what comes your way, no matter how much the world tries to set you on fire, you can never burn if you're already beyond the flames. You're flame-resistant, non-flammable, and most of all fireproof. *This posts marks the fourth birthday of the start of this blog! Four years, 631 posts, 247,000+ pageviews and thousands of words later, I'm still writing. The question I get asked most often about this blog is what I do once I finish college. To be quite frank with you, I don't really know. I'm writing the final chapter of my college experience everyday and I'm just taking it as that, day by day. Maybe I'll stop and start a new blog when I start the next part of my life, or revamp this one. Al...

The 20s are all about coming into your own. You know what's funny - how much time we spend trying to fit in and feel comfortable when in reality we are most at peace with ourselves when we stop trying. When we let our guards down, cease striving to be what we think others want us to be, and embrace ourselves we see how extraneous all other attempts at finding us had ever been. We already know who we are, we just have to accept it. Being you should be the easiest thing you ever get to do in your life and it's a real privilege to be able to so, one that too few people get to enjoy. Take advantage of it and let you're most you  you on through. This is how to build a better boy.  One thing I am always thankful for about my parents was that they let me do my own thing in figuring out my interests. They ignored the social pressures to force children to adhere to this absurd binary that delineates everything as male or female. Toys, colors, clothes, TV shows and all the res...

The 20s are all about the truth. What is the truth? Does it even exist? Who gets to determine what it is, when it is given, and who gets to give and receive it? So many questions about this ambiguous thing, but one with the utmost importance. The truth has an uncanny way of always coming out, whether people are ready or not for it's ramifications. The truth has so much power. Not only can it set people free but it keep them chained just as easily. Is the whole truth ever able to be known or disseminated? Is truth just relative or are there irrefutable absolute truths? The truth is fraught with ambivalence. This is my truth - bare naked. Lies and truths are presented as if they are opposing declarations, but I have to understand them as nothing more than subtle tweaks that separate two sides of the same damn coin. As a kid I was socialized, like I assume most of you were, that telling the truth was always the right thing to do. Then I became a teenager and understood that so...