Try It Out

Today I really want to keep it short and to the point. However, it is something you I really want all of you to really think about and take into consideration. The lives all of us live are based on these rules and boundaries that our culture creates for us. We are cast into invisible cells and bars and walls that we do not even realize trap us in a life of normalcy. Just one time, some time during the next couple days, I want each one of you to do something completely out of the ordinary. Maybe its something as stupid as not staring at the floor numbers on the elevator, or starting a conversation with the person using the urinal next to you. Just try something that breaks an unwritten rule, and see how shocked everyone around you becomes. Only then will you truly realize how enclosed we really are as people.

Picking Your Battles

Today I really want to focus on the idea of respect for your elders. It is written everywhere, and a rule that we have done our best to follow as people as long as anyone can remember. However, I think there is a time and a place where you have to stand up for yourself, pick your battles, and defend your opinions.
Time and time again I see people back to to adults because they feel that although they are right, the adults are the adults and that gives them a free pass to be right no matter what the circumstance is. Now I am not saying that you should argue a punishment for being out late or something like that. These petty things are so small in perspective that you really need to just let things like that go. In hindsight most likely you will realize that every punishment you have received has been for a good reason and you are a better person because of it.
What I am talking about here is the idea that elders can say what they want about you and you just have to take it. I do not care if it is a family member, or a stranger, or anyone, if you are offended you need to defend yourself. You can't let people walk all over you for the soul reason that they are older. Allow me to explain in further detail.
My family is the typical close knit Italian family that sees each other at least once a week. My mothers entire side of the family lives in the same town, and every Friday and Sunday we have dinner together. Now my grandmother on my mom's side, God bless her, has a very big problem with voicing her opinions. She really just says whatever comes into her head and she does not care who she offends. On top of that she does not ever want to be wrong and will argue to the death. Today I had one of the most frustrating arguments I have ever had with her.
Let me start by saying that I have had a problem with my back for the past few months but was not smart enough to ever see a doctor, recently I suffered an injury that re aggravated the injury. and it has only gotten worse since. I am at risk of losing my summer job that consists of manual labor, and without that money it is gonna be near impossible to pay my rent at my off campus house I live in at school.
So I am already upset to begin with and very distraught over the whole situation, but I still go to my grandmother's house with the family to try and forget about it. I was messing around with my younger cousins who I only really get to see in the summer, only to hear from my grandma that I am faking my injury, making my mom miserable, tearing apart my family, and so on. Now everyone tends to back down from my grandma because we all know her personality, and usually I would be the first one to do the same. However, I am not letting anyone tell me that I am faking an injury that has caused me so much pain and grief.
The result of this argument was my grandma telling me to leave the house and so I did. I do not plan on going there anytime soon.
My point here is this, in your life you are given certain choices. People are always going to try and break you. There is always going to be someone in your life who is trying to put you down no matter how well you are doing. What we have to do is know when to turn our cheek. The problem with us as a society is that people tend to constantly confront or constantly turn the other cheek. Every situation is different, and you can not possibly use the same rules for every individual circumstance. We have to asses each case as it arises in our lives. Then and only then can we truly decide what the right thing to do is. Now I do not know right now if what I did was right or wrong. What I do know is that I stood up for myself and showed my family that I will not be walked all over no matter who it is by, and for that I will never apologize.

Appreciation " How do you remember/keep yourself in check?"

To answer your question, it really is not easy to constantly appreciate what you are given. A lot of times people get caught up in the moment and don't realize what they have until time has already passed them by. When I decided that I wanted to take a greater appreciation for the life I live, I started every night. Every night before I went to bed I would take a few minutes to really think about my day. Once I thought about my day I thought about everything involved that made the day good if it was a good day or kept me going if it was a bad day. Than as days and weeks and months went on, the appreciation became almost habitual. Pretty soon you find yourself appreciating the first snow of the winter only a few hours after it happens.
To truly get it in the moment takes a lot of time but you have to trust me, once you do get there it is the most incredible feeling on earth. Being able to sit out on your porch and look up at the blue sky and really take in how amazing it is that your alive to witness it. Knowing in the moment how special a person could be to you can be more powerful than any memory of them you will ever have. Walks in the park will be the time of your life and food will taste better than it ever has before.
So in conclusion, being able to keep yourself in check is really more of a habit than anything else. I worked myself into it slowly and over time. You can not just decide one day your going to appreciate everything around you, life does not work like that. You have to take things one step at a time and let your memory's and emotions carry you farther than your legs ever could.
I hope this answers your question.

"So why do alot of your articles make it sound like our time is running out?"

This is a very good question for me to start with. As you probably have all noticed, I tend to stress the appreciation of the time we have. There are two main reasons I do this.
The first takes me back to my freshmen year in high school. To make a long and sad story much shorter, I lived next to my grandmother who was getting very old and sick. My parents left me the house for the night and my only responsibility was to check on her. In the heat of the moment, I opted to go out with a bunch of older guys instead for the popularity points, and while I was gone my grandma fell. My family found her the next day and by the time I go to the hospital she was gone. I really never did have a chance to truly say goodbye to her. It is a mistake that I am forced to live with for the rest of my life, and since I can not change the past, I want to use that experience to enlighten the futures of the people around me if possible.
The second reason is also self explanatory. I am currently in a relationship with a girl I care about very much, unfortunately, she attends school 350 miles away from me, and at times it gets very hard. I miss her almost constantly when I am at school and talk to her as much as I can, but nothing beats the feeling of actually being able to hold the person you care about so much. When I am with her I make sure that I appreciate every second of it and truly thank God for every time I get the chance to be with her. To get the most out of relationships, I hope you all do the same.

I hope this answers your question, and I am looking forward to many more in the future.

Trying Something New

I would like to change up the format of my blog a little bit. I would like readers to email me and ask me questions that I will be answering in my posts. I feel like I have a lot to offer and my advice will prove to be helpful in the lives of a lot of people. My email is jbytheday@gmail.com and I am really looking forward to hearing from all of you. Thanks

Making Time On Your Side

Today I would like to talk about time. Although the concept of time is relatively man made, it seems that it really does contol most of our everyday lives. Your either coming in on time, don't have enough time, running out of time, or watching time fly as your having fun. It appears that time is the only thing we need, and yet we have no control as it passes us by.
I am going to be short and sweet with my entry today. Really appreciate the time you are given and the time you have with people. Take full advantage of every second you are given and live every second you have to the fullest. Don't not call a girl back because you want to wait a little so she does not think your desperate. Call her right away if you care about her because if this girl can turn out to be the one you want to spend the rest of your life with you do not want to waste a second of it. Take time out of your day to really appreciate the world around you. Watch the colors change on the leaves in the autumn. Even if your freezing cold in the dead of winter, jump out in the snow just once so you can remember what it was like to be a kid again.
People often waste time doing nonsenical tasks. I can honeslty say that I am not for this particular lifestyle. I have learned at a relatively young age that life comes at you and goes by very quickly. You never know when an event will strike that changes the course of the rest of your days. So take time out, even if its right after you read this article, and really appreciate what you are given, who has been brought into your life, and furthermore, appreciate life itself.

Simple, But Unforgettable

We as people are very social creatures. I think that we all have our wants. Some of these wants can be as small as a new bike, affection from a member of the opposite sex, or even something as simple as one day where everything just goes well. However, I think among everything else the one thing that all people want is to be remembered in some way. To know that their life did not go without purpose, and to feel that that have affected others in some way. In some cases, this want can be the fuel for how we end up living the rest of our lives.
I know I would always like to be remembered. It is a strange thought to think that after my life is over, my name would never be uttered again, my works would be forgotten, and my life would seem almost meaningless. A white dwarf that quickly dissipates into a black whole, never to be seen by the human eye again. I hope that in my life I can have some kind of impact on some kind of person. Now this does not mean that I have to dive across train tracks to save an injured toddler. There are many ways you can impact people and change lives.
I hope to impact each of you with my writing. I hope my words have a lasting impression on you, and although you may not agree, you always will understand that I am able to speak my mind clearly and fluently in a way that makes sense. I hope that teachers remember me as one of the good students who was going places, whether or not I end up actually doing so. Most importantly, I hope that those I care most about remember me as a person who truly cared about them, and that my parents two of those people. I do my best to try and live like if I were to disappear tomorrow and never be heard from again, that my name and more importantly, my character and thoughts, will be echoed for years to come.
So in conclusion I leave you with this. Do not hold grudges to prove a point. Do not use petty jealously and tricks to get what you want. Always try your best be forward and precise with your points. Most of all, always let the people that you will never forget know how important they are. This line is corny and overused, but you never know how many more times your going to have to tell them what they mean to you.