The 5 perspectives that could make life kinda sorta better...maybe.

As a recent graduate in the psychology department. Many times people will see my degree and automatically assume that I can help them with their problem. Of course I was asked to help with people's issues way before I even graduated. I love helping people, and am in no way complaining about people wanting my advice. I know I sound cocky, but as you know I have written about that in a previous post. I feel really blessed that people see me as a someone they can talk with if they need me, and just listening to someone could really turn their day around So, a friend and I were siting outside a coffee shop as typical "hip young" people do these days, and he asked me how do I stay positive all the time. I first told him that I had no idea what he was talking about always staying positive, due to me having rough patches just like everyone has in their lives, but other than that, I thought to myself on that question and thought on how I view certain people and things differently then other people. Now I am not this edgy guy that thinks outside the box, but I do set my absolutes, and keep my mind open for everything else. I feel that with my perceptions changing, I can contribute to this lovely blog post as, the 5 perspectives that could make life kinda sorta better...maybe,

1. Take Social Media as Social Media

Oh yes. The addicting drug we call social media. Just how different drugs do different things, so do the social media we use everyday. Lets start with the lighter hitting drugs, I mean social media. Vine is a sight where people will record them doing whatever they want for 5 seconds and then submit them to their vine. Really easy concept and people can actually become somewhat "famous". One time I was at a music festival and the friends I was with notice one of these "famous" people that makes vines. I thought that was neat, but never heard of him so good for that guy whoever he is. Honestly if the videos are making people laugh, by all means keep doing what you're doing. Next comes more mild yet more specific hitters such as blogs and tumblr. These blogs are for my specific things. With blogs, you go to see something exact, such as cat blogs, tech blogs, Gunter's blog, food blogs, and etc. The more toned down version of this in my opinion is tumblr. You see something you like? Slap that bad boy on your tumblr and maybe other people will like it. Then comes snapchat, also known as the "I want you to know I am having more fun than you right now" app. Now I know this app was made for more provocative purposes, but as I noticed while I am using, I go down the list at the giant who is having the most fun game among their snapchat followers. I notice myself when I am snapchatting, I am doing to make people see how much fun I am having. Why do I have to do that? Why can't I just enjoy the people I am with at that time than then proving to the people that I don't even like that I am having fun? I am starting to avoid that app more and more, because who knows what I may miss while trying to take a picture of the sky. Which brings me to the 2 lesser evils, Instagram and Twitter. I have no problem with Instagram. If you want to put some filter of your food at some restaurant, by all means knock yourself out, but if you take 40 selfies of yourself and that is the only thing on my phone, maybe we should take a step back. Twitter on the other hand limits our thoughts to a simple 140 characters. People can be extremely passive aggressive, cryptic, or just mean on twitter. I feel like twitter is the "I need the last word app" People feel that they can one up each other. Why don't we just talk to the person that we have an issue with rather than put some tweet about how they "feel betrayed". Just talk to the person or post pictures of food! Twitter does offer a lot of good things, like where people are, or what they are eating. Pointless? Yes, but that what twitter was made for. Which finally brings us to the most dreaded one of them all, Facebook. I want to like Facebook, but for some reason I feel terrible scrolling down the posts. Facebook is a great way to stay in contact with old friends and post wedding picture, baby pictures, and other cool things that make people happy. Then you have the not so pretty side of Facebook. Lets begin with the most irritating to me, the people that will post the shock videos that should not so easily seen on the social media. I literally watched a video of a woman drowning puppies in a river. Does that sound horrifying? Well, that was the first thing that popped up on my Facebook. I understand we need to raise awareness to stop those people, but this whole shock value only wants me to unfriend you. Then comes the political debates. I have no issue of people practicing their freedom of speech on social media, but do we really need to claim everyone an idiot if they don't believe in what you believe? This is even amplified when people begin to discuss their religious beliefs. I really do appreciate people that can openly express their beliefs, but when you start to fight other people on Facebook, I don't think you are spreading the gospel, but just trying to one up someone else. Do we really need to treat people like trash just because they do not agree with a opinion? Why are we hiding behind our screens instead of treating people...like people. Crazy I know, but honestly keep posting pictures of your dog or baby, and take social media as social media.

2. Understand the Different Roles of Love

As the Beatles once said, all you need is love, well you need a lot more than that to live, but you get the point. Love can be a very confusing experience that only few people understand completely. I personally cannot merely scratch the surface of understand what love really is, but I have manage to grasp what roles the people in my life that I love. Let's say you meet a person that is really nice. You notice this person has the same common interests and they are nice to spend time with on your free time. You have meaningful conversations, and you are really happy to see them. One day, you are sitting somewhere with that person and next thing you know, you're starting having funny feelings about that person. What do you do? Should you maintain this friendship, or do you maybe let them know how you feel about them. Don't beat yourself up! Take pride in having emotions and feelings. It makes sense that you would want more out of this friendship. No matter what happens you need to understand that you have to understand what they are to you. Will you retract your feelings, or express how you feel and see how it goes. No one can tell you what to do, but understand that your choices come with changes. Lets say you don't express them, and you move on to someone else. Good for you. Lets say you express your feelings and they feel the same way, and you change the friendship to a more serious relationship. Good for you. Lets say you express your feelings, but that other person wants to just stay friends. It doesn't matter the reason, at the end of the day all you can have in that person is a friend. This is where you need to make one of two choices. You can walk away and move on, or you can just stay friends. DO NOT think that changing yourself, buying them nice things, or treating them more as a friend will automatically make them want you. If it is difficult for you to not like them, its probably difficult for them to like you. I know this is brutal, but take them how they are, just a friend. You have to be honest with yourself. If this is to much, maybe you should take a couple steps back. They aren't dying, who knows maybe sometime will be good for both that person and you. Take the roles of people and stick with them. Love your friends like your friends, love your family like your family, and love your one like they are the one. Stick to the roles of these people and love them with all your heart. 

3. The World is not Doomed

I use to hear that my generation was doomed, of course, now that their is a generation of high school teens representing the generation under mine, and what do you know! They are "going to be the generation that will mess everything up". I know that is only a few year difference in generation, but lets think bigger. Did the generation that was my age 10 years ago ever been told that their generations would doom us? what about the generation before that, or even the generation before that? I understand that the world has changed so much since the very beginning but lets take a moment and appreciate the changes that have happened since we have been alive. Slavery is slowly decreasing and viewed as an issue that needs to be eliminated. Yes, slavery is still alive today, but go anywhere in your community and find someone that thinks that slavery is a good thing. Literally 150 years the civil war ended and people that were apart of our country thought that slavery was a good thing! Ya, I would say that generation was not good, but look where we are. Lets move forward to the 1950's. People in America didn't believe that African Americans did not have the same rights as white people. Wouldn't you think that maybe generation was somewhat in the wrong? What about treating people wrong because they were just different then us (I will let you interpret that whatever way you want because I am not discussing about someone in particular). We could get away doing awful things to them if we were back a couple of generations. What about domestic violence? That is still a major problem today, but many women did not have a voice just a couple generations before us. We are actually now trying to spread awareness towards resolving these issues. I'm not trying to start fights and you the reader have every right to disagree with my opinion, but these are things we can all get behind. We definitely have our issues in our time today, but I would rather have people taking selfies, than hurting someone who is not like them. 

4. The Push and Pull of Work

So I am basing this on a stand up by Nick Offerman (as I am for the entire post). My Father one time told me that work builds character. I didn't believe him at first, but now having been working for 4 to 5 years, I can completely agree that work has build character for me. I understand that everyone has a different opinion on what the "American Dream" is to them, but I have realized that working has been for the most part beneficial to oneself. The simple formula is that you go to work, and you get money. I know that sounds very simple, but we can all say work can be very difficult from time to time. Take pride in what you do. If you work in a apple factory, and your only duty is pulling off the bad apples on the conveyor belt all day, walk away from the job that night and reflect that because of you, someone will not bite into a bad apple. I know that sounds silly, but you the reader just take a minute a day and realize that you are making a difference rather that being big or small, because of you something, someone, somehow has changed in our world that would have not changed if you did not work on that day. Lets be honest, we may say we do not like our work, and we probably mean that, but when I am off more than two days of work, I accomplish everything I wanted to do outside of work, so I start to become bored and I lose money. Work is a good thing, and if you honestly can't find anything in your work, maybe this is the time to reconsider your options. Also with people that are not in work because of school, gaining knowledge is your work at this time, and you should take pride in what you have learned for that day. You have no idea how good it feels after working all day to finally walk out knowing that you did something for that day.

5. Accept the Unknown

This is the most difficult thing I have ever had to do so far in my life. I have so many questions about everything that I know I should not and could not ever be answered. I bet we all we all have those questions. Maybe we can find solace in knowing that it is okay not knowing what the future holds for all of us. We don't know what will happen while we are on earth, while we live our lives on social media, work, and the people we surround ourselves. I know every time I felt that I had control of my life, I am blessed to be reminded that I had no idea what I was doing, and for once we can say that is okay. Maybe there is beauty in the chaos we are thrown into everyday. The constant mystery of what is to come can be exciting and horrifying at the same time. So accept the unknown, no matter how difficult it may can be from time to time. Of course, maybe your questions are out in the unknown of our world. Lean on what you know and move forward to seek your questions, just accept that you may never find them, but that doesn't mean you should seek them. Who knows, your answers may be in a old book that you should have read a long time ago. Maybe your answer was in the work you do or the classes you attend everyday. Maybe the answer is with the people that raised you. Who knows, the answer could be the person you may meet, or the people that never left your side. Accept the Unknown, but never stop seeking the truth.

Well..

I know this is all just my opinion on just very few things that are in our life, and I know this won't help everyone, but I hope you the reader can gain something from reading this post. These perspectives have helped me recently, and it would feel like an injustice not to tell people if they wanted to hear my thoughts. All these images come from famous artist Banksy. Thank you for reading this post, I would love to discuss more on this post of any other post from my blog.