Sunday 28 December 2014

Reflecting on 2014

Wow, I have not written here in a while. I was going to make a post or two but I got lazy. I'll definitely try better next year.

However, I wanted to reflect on 2014. For me, this has been quite a wild year. It has delivered the unexpected but it's also delivered some greatness, for me at least. I can definitely say it's been better than 2013. There are some things I really hoped to achieve, but I guess I can always do that later. So why has this year been really good? Well, let's recount.

Of course, it's not to say that this year I haven't had a bumpy ride or a few incidents, I have but in hindsight, they're not even worth mentioning when I think about how little they compare to the good events. I'll admit though that this year my mental state of mind was in a critical condition at times, and I've definitely seen the downfall of my mental health in some instances.

To start off, I began a new adventure this year as I started my first year of university. I've met some great people along the way and had a taste of university life, and albeit a little stressful, I'm excited to be going into second year and beginning my major in Journalism in 2015.

This year I have also met some really worthwhile people, on and off the internet, or in other cases, I have grown closer to people. I have shared some great memories and great laughs. On the social side, I've had a better, more active social life, and I got hang out and meet so many cool people.

I went to see Wicked which was my first musical experience and that was fantastic. I also went to the city a few times and hung out with people, and I got to celebrate my birthday properly with movies and dinner. We ended up seeing Gone Girl, so that was also great. On the social front, you can definitely tell it's been a lot better. I also attended my first set of protests so that was a great new experience.

It's also been a lot better on the job front. I've applied for a lot more jobs, and gotten a total of three interviews this year which is alright. Unfortunately, I've been unsuccessful on the job-finding endeavours but hopefully I'll have better luck next year.

An important thing is I've also definitely learnt a lot this year - both about myself and in general. However I've learnt a lot about so many things from people, books, the news, university, etc. I'd like to say I've definitely applied that knowledge both into becoming a better person and developing better politics. That being said, this year I have gotten my first ever article published which you can read here.

I can truly say though that I have learnt a lot about myself, particularly about who I want to be and where I want to go in life, and that is what's important. It'll help me map out my life path for the coming years. Discovering yourself is always important, and I feel like personality and a sense of self is a constantly evolving thing. We constantly change and evolve.

While this is not related to me at all, 2014 has also been quite an eventful year with several things making headlines and reaching people via word of mouth such as the assault on Gaza which left 2000+ dead, Ferguson and Mike Brown, the news of Eric Garner, Peshawar Attack and a few other incidents. 

Friday 10 January 2014

Mental Age

Sometimes, I'm mentally young. Sometimes, mentally old. I feel mentally young because I like acting silly at times, I'm still into games, obsessing over tv shows/musicians and doing fun things, but I feel mentally old at times because I enjoy talking politics, future and just serious things in general as well as maintaining as a serious attitude.

Then I came to the realisation that age doesn't always fit into a binary. Hobbies and interests do not always have an age limit, well there are always exceptions, but still.

I can be eighteen, and still enjoy things typically for "younger people" and also "older people". I may be intelligent but that does not stop me from being silly. I may be a political enthusiast, but I enjoy also discussing tv shows and whatnot, and you get the idea. It's actually quite fun.

This also comes to the point where maturity is not always defined by age. I guess it's not always abnormal to say "you're quite intelligent for someone your age" but don't be surprised either. Don't be surprised I'm only eighteen but that I have big ideas for the world generally, other than life. Do not be surprised I enjoy discussing political events, and definitely do not be surprised I enjoy talking about what is usually perceived to be "adult things". However, I do not understand when people say "you enjoy things for younger people, or you're so immature for being like that." No. Do not be surprised when I enjoy doing fun things. Do not be surprised when I like games, and definitely do not be surprised when I like to act young every once in a while. Life is short, enjoy it. Also take it seriously.

I guess, you'll find that you're more at peace when you remove the binary from most things in life.