Wooooooo! Good job, everyone! We have successfully survived a full year since the 2012 apocalypse predictions, so pat yourself on the back and ring in 2014 with a hardy drink or four. I don't know about you, but I'm not a big "revolutionize-my-life-because-we-went-from-one-day-on-the-calendar-to-the-next" kind of guy, so I'm not going to write about all the good times I had/dreams I achieved this year and all the ways I want to improve my life in 2014. What I will write about is the most recently accumulation of thoughts I've had in my mind, which just so happen to line up with December 31st, 2013.
There have been a crap ton of lists going around on social media and all the internets with the coming of the new year in the Gregorian calendar. Lists of "The 28 Most Flawless Emma Watson Moments of 2013" and "17 People You'll Run Into On New Year's Eve" may have attracted my attention, but all in all it's been overwhelming trying to get past the ways to make yourself better, ways Jennifer Lawrence or Miley Cyrus rocked 2013, or ways to skip the beginning phase at your new company and just become the CEO in one year articles. I'll try to write an article that hopefully gives ya something to think about and is worth your time.
Since the past 365 days have brought a fair amount of change to my life, if only because I graduated from college and needed to figure out a beginning plan for my adult life, there are some things I've learned that I think will stay with me for a while to come. Here they are in detailed list form:
1. Travel. Actually, no. That will be number 2. Number 1 is Be Open-Minded.
I cannot stress enough how internally frustrated I get when people immediately cross things off their mental list because they think something will be too hard, or too awwwkkkkkwardddd, or too uncomfortable, or too expensive for them. If you are the type of person who is saying "No" to things more than you say "Yeah, sure!", you honestly aren't living life right. I don't mean that to sound harsh, but that is the one take-away I could give you from the year 2013 that I know to be true about life. You will never grow as a person or be correct in your opinion if you haven't actively tried to experience new things on your own initiative.
The reasons I listed above (levels of toughness, awkwardness, comfort, and money involved) can all be overcome. The first three are all mental. It's all in your head as to what is too hard, awkward, or uncomfortable. If a kid like me, from the middle class streets of Cincinnati, Ohio, can spend a summer in Russia of all places after barely learning the language well enough to order from a restaurant, you can put your mind to doing whatever it is you want to do, or don't want to do. That sentence may have been a grammatical nightmare, but anything is possible if you just believe it to be so. Simple as that.
As for the financial aspect of things, the world (or, I guess, the internet) is right there for you to drain of resources. Want to teach yourself Korean instead of paying for a class? Click here. Want to get a fellowship to teach English to kids in Africa? Click here. Want to go to Chicago, but don't want to pay for an expensive Holiday Inn? Click here. Be practical in your spending, but if you've got the time and the enthusiasm, you can go anywhere and do anything you want. Except North Korea. Don't go there.
2. Jumping off of number 1, number 2 is Travel.
Alright, so I know that expensive travel overseas isn't able to be covered by everyone's checkbook. My hope for you is that if you can't travel when you're young, you'll have the money to travel after you retire. But if you think you don't have the money to go somewhere cool, then you're wrong because chances are very good that there's something amazing within a few hours driving distance for you to get to that you've never seen before.
For example, I've recently decided that I want to dedicate one weekend a month to traveling somewhere I've never been. While I watch for cheap airline tickets in the upcoming months with Kayak.com/explore, I also cannot afford to drop a few hundred bucks on an airline ticket whenever I feel like it. So I've taken to googling cool sites around Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and even Kentucky to visit for a day or two. Turns out the Midwest is chalked full of amazing nature sites, cities that are pretty significant cultural centers, and people/friends who want to travel with you. Who knew?!
My reasoning for this is that I, personally, am not going to be content sitting in the same place every weekend hoping my life is going to develop immensely from weekend after weekend of the same repetition (which now involves waiting to work on Monday.... :( ). I want to see new cities, new places, and new people, and just because I may not have the money or time to go somewhere extremely unique or international, doesn't mean I can't see something new and unique on a full gallon of gas (Even though gas is $3.39/gallon again!! Thanks Obama).
If you can think of a place you want to go to, just put your mind to going there and you can find a way to get there afford-ably. If you're my age and reading this, you only have a few more years left before you get tied down by the ol' ball & chain (marriage) and the mini ball & chain(s) (kid(s)) and can't just go wherever you want whenever you want anymore. Unless you're Jay-Z and Beyonce because honestly where can't they go? They didn't even get in trouble for their Cuba trip! So yeah, live it up and go somewhere new because you want to and you can.
3. Don't Care About What Other People Think.
It really sucks that this is something I have to say, but our world isn't the friendliest place to exist sometimes. In 2013 alone, we ended the year with twin suicide bombings in a large Russian city which killed 31 people and we started out the year with a new pope who is basically everything the world could wish for a pope. Not even kidding.
It sucks that in the middle of this spectrum of good and evil, the majority of us are stuck in the grey zone (which I like to think of America as) where insanely terrible things don't really happen to us on a regular basis (like in countries such as Iraq, Syria, and even Russia) but we also don't have amazing things happen in our leadership (Sorry Obama, but the idea of hope and change ended up not making the cut when it came down to politics).
*Actually, I take the amazing and terrible things comment back. Those things do happen in America every day (the shooting of an inebriated girl in Michigan or the selfless donations to a little girl with life-threatening obesity, as examples); I just mean that those events aren't world-changing like 9/11 or the pope's election are.
Anyways, back to the grey zone, where I and everyone I know lives. Since we aren't faced with a reality where our lives could be destroyed or changed at any given moment, we exist in a lifestyle where we actually worry about what our 'friend' might be saying about us, who is dating who (both in high school and in the celebrity realm), and how we're going to look when we go out tonight. It's all ridiculous to worry about, especially when it is changing who you are as a person.
Basically everything I write about comes back to perspective, so all I can really say here to drive this point home is that you have to keep a healthy perspective about your own life so that you can truly be happy. Do whatever you want: Watch a marathon of Parks and Recreation in a single day, eat a bag of bagel bites for dinner, start a blog and try your best to maintain it with things you are passionate about, wear whatever you want, and hang out with whoever you want. Don't let stupid, close-minded people dictate what you do with your life because chances are they will end up a lot unhappier than you when all is said and done There are so many more important things to worry about in life than people who aren't willing to support you, so don't let them bog you down as you do what makes you happy.
Alright so those are three viewpoints that I now carry with me after experiencing 2013. Even though January 1 will not be at all life-changing for you, it is a good excuse to try and make yourself a better person for as long as you can (hopefully your whole life). Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a gin-and-lemonade fueled hangover to get rid of, a bag of pizza rolls to finish off, and several hilarious YouTube videos to watch. 2014, you're doing okay already.
There have been a crap ton of lists going around on social media and all the internets with the coming of the new year in the Gregorian calendar. Lists of "The 28 Most Flawless Emma Watson Moments of 2013" and "17 People You'll Run Into On New Year's Eve" may have attracted my attention, but all in all it's been overwhelming trying to get past the ways to make yourself better, ways Jennifer Lawrence or Miley Cyrus rocked 2013, or ways to skip the beginning phase at your new company and just become the CEO in one year articles. I'll try to write an article that hopefully gives ya something to think about and is worth your time.
Since the past 365 days have brought a fair amount of change to my life, if only because I graduated from college and needed to figure out a beginning plan for my adult life, there are some things I've learned that I think will stay with me for a while to come. Here they are in detailed list form:
1. Travel. Actually, no. That will be number 2. Number 1 is Be Open-Minded.
I cannot stress enough how internally frustrated I get when people immediately cross things off their mental list because they think something will be too hard, or too awwwkkkkkwardddd, or too uncomfortable, or too expensive for them. If you are the type of person who is saying "No" to things more than you say "Yeah, sure!", you honestly aren't living life right. I don't mean that to sound harsh, but that is the one take-away I could give you from the year 2013 that I know to be true about life. You will never grow as a person or be correct in your opinion if you haven't actively tried to experience new things on your own initiative.
The reasons I listed above (levels of toughness, awkwardness, comfort, and money involved) can all be overcome. The first three are all mental. It's all in your head as to what is too hard, awkward, or uncomfortable. If a kid like me, from the middle class streets of Cincinnati, Ohio, can spend a summer in Russia of all places after barely learning the language well enough to order from a restaurant, you can put your mind to doing whatever it is you want to do, or don't want to do. That sentence may have been a grammatical nightmare, but anything is possible if you just believe it to be so. Simple as that.
As for the financial aspect of things, the world (or, I guess, the internet) is right there for you to drain of resources. Want to teach yourself Korean instead of paying for a class? Click here. Want to get a fellowship to teach English to kids in Africa? Click here. Want to go to Chicago, but don't want to pay for an expensive Holiday Inn? Click here. Be practical in your spending, but if you've got the time and the enthusiasm, you can go anywhere and do anything you want. Except North Korea. Don't go there.
2. Jumping off of number 1, number 2 is Travel.
Alright, so I know that expensive travel overseas isn't able to be covered by everyone's checkbook. My hope for you is that if you can't travel when you're young, you'll have the money to travel after you retire. But if you think you don't have the money to go somewhere cool, then you're wrong because chances are very good that there's something amazing within a few hours driving distance for you to get to that you've never seen before.
For example, I've recently decided that I want to dedicate one weekend a month to traveling somewhere I've never been. While I watch for cheap airline tickets in the upcoming months with Kayak.com/explore, I also cannot afford to drop a few hundred bucks on an airline ticket whenever I feel like it. So I've taken to googling cool sites around Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and even Kentucky to visit for a day or two. Turns out the Midwest is chalked full of amazing nature sites, cities that are pretty significant cultural centers, and people/friends who want to travel with you. Who knew?!
My reasoning for this is that I, personally, am not going to be content sitting in the same place every weekend hoping my life is going to develop immensely from weekend after weekend of the same repetition (which now involves waiting to work on Monday.... :( ). I want to see new cities, new places, and new people, and just because I may not have the money or time to go somewhere extremely unique or international, doesn't mean I can't see something new and unique on a full gallon of gas (Even though gas is $3.39/gallon again!! Thanks Obama).
If you can think of a place you want to go to, just put your mind to going there and you can find a way to get there afford-ably. If you're my age and reading this, you only have a few more years left before you get tied down by the ol' ball & chain (marriage) and the mini ball & chain(s) (kid(s)) and can't just go wherever you want whenever you want anymore. Unless you're Jay-Z and Beyonce because honestly where can't they go? They didn't even get in trouble for their Cuba trip! So yeah, live it up and go somewhere new because you want to and you can.
3. Don't Care About What Other People Think.
It really sucks that this is something I have to say, but our world isn't the friendliest place to exist sometimes. In 2013 alone, we ended the year with twin suicide bombings in a large Russian city which killed 31 people and we started out the year with a new pope who is basically everything the world could wish for a pope. Not even kidding.
It sucks that in the middle of this spectrum of good and evil, the majority of us are stuck in the grey zone (which I like to think of America as) where insanely terrible things don't really happen to us on a regular basis (like in countries such as Iraq, Syria, and even Russia) but we also don't have amazing things happen in our leadership (Sorry Obama, but the idea of hope and change ended up not making the cut when it came down to politics).
*Actually, I take the amazing and terrible things comment back. Those things do happen in America every day (the shooting of an inebriated girl in Michigan or the selfless donations to a little girl with life-threatening obesity, as examples); I just mean that those events aren't world-changing like 9/11 or the pope's election are.
Anyways, back to the grey zone, where I and everyone I know lives. Since we aren't faced with a reality where our lives could be destroyed or changed at any given moment, we exist in a lifestyle where we actually worry about what our 'friend' might be saying about us, who is dating who (both in high school and in the celebrity realm), and how we're going to look when we go out tonight. It's all ridiculous to worry about, especially when it is changing who you are as a person.
Basically everything I write about comes back to perspective, so all I can really say here to drive this point home is that you have to keep a healthy perspective about your own life so that you can truly be happy. Do whatever you want: Watch a marathon of Parks and Recreation in a single day, eat a bag of bagel bites for dinner, start a blog and try your best to maintain it with things you are passionate about, wear whatever you want, and hang out with whoever you want. Don't let stupid, close-minded people dictate what you do with your life because chances are they will end up a lot unhappier than you when all is said and done There are so many more important things to worry about in life than people who aren't willing to support you, so don't let them bog you down as you do what makes you happy.
Alright so those are three viewpoints that I now carry with me after experiencing 2013. Even though January 1 will not be at all life-changing for you, it is a good excuse to try and make yourself a better person for as long as you can (hopefully your whole life). Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a gin-and-lemonade fueled hangover to get rid of, a bag of pizza rolls to finish off, and several hilarious YouTube videos to watch. 2014, you're doing okay already.
