Youthful Life: X

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 for the best in people. One thing that's worth remembering is that everyone, and I mean absolutely everyone you meet knows something you don't know. Wow. Let that sink in for a second. Every single person you come across has a bit of information unbeknown to you. At the very least there is something to be gleaned from all those we make acquaintance with, how much more amazing is it to realize that everyone has something unique to offer the world? There's this spark, glint, shimmer of something special within all of us. What does it mean? Send out your flare. Parents have this uncanny ability to say exactly what you need to hear when it's most necessary. I don't know how they do it and frankly I'm pretty sure they don't really know the significance of what they say and their impeccable timing. I do think that people are in our lives for a reason, and often someone will be put in front of us to tell us what we require (if only...

The 20s are all about looking at those around you. You know what I notice about generous people, everyone around them seems happy. When they do well, all those that they are connected to appear to do so as well. As they succeed, so do the people backing them. It's like having an entourage of supporters hyping you and you showing them love. The funny thing is just like those people are the center of their own fandemonium, in other people's lives they are the fans. The question remains who do you surround yourself with and what's their purpose. Lock and load, armor up, this is legion. My  most beloved Biblical tale is that of David and Jonathan or the embodiment of true friendship, loyalty, and love. The Israelites foolishly requested a king (after having departed from the enslavement under the Egyptian monarchy) and made it to the promised land. They were given Saul since the prophet Samuel's own sons could not be trusted to rule. Saul however was disobedient and on...

The 20s are all about reflection. There's something about looking back that always has this uncanny ability over us. You think back and all of a sudden you're transported to another day and time. Everything you felt just comes rushing back and you are bombarded with those emotions in a tidal wave of epic proportions. So many cringe-worthy awkward moments, embarrassing incidents, and of course those things/peiople you just want to forget ever happened. I've always wondered why we vividly remember the bad times and I've concluded that it's so we learn from them to move forward. The past is the past. Nothing stays the same. These are seasons of change.  2014 - the year of change. Wow. What a year! What can I say about the year that my life drastically changed forever? I guess there were several different phases I went though (key phrase there is through - as in, to move out of or passed). I started off the year with a severe melanch oly personality shift because...

The 20s are all about throwing it back. When this blog was first started I was in my senior year of high school. Four years later and I've reached just about the same point in my college experience. My first 6 months of posts were juvenile, misguided, and sometimes downright mean but I never deleted them so I could see who I was and how I thought about the world to compare it to how I understand things to be now. The one thing I do miss from those posts was the lighthearted cheeky humor. I made fun of everything in a somehow endearingly infusion of sarcasm with a diehard love of pop culture. With this post I bring it back. Enjoy and don't forget to be silly. It's okay. It's necessary. It's part of life. This is retrospect.    One of my many irrational desires is to be on an awards show. You know walk the red carpet, fake smile at photographers, make small talk with other celebrities, but most of all be one the cameras go to for a reaction during every segment ...