I keep seeing this one post on tumblr that goes along the line of "I wish the world was as exciting as books. There are no dragons or adventures in real life. Whine whine blah blah". I hate this post with every fiber of my being. Sure there are no dragons in the world, but there are so many adventures and places that seem like they are so perfect they had to be written into existence. There are so many people that will be just as static as some characters and some that are ten times more dynamic than book characters. Writers write what they know, right? Then how can you claim that this world has nothing in common with books.
I recently went to work at an orphanage in the Philippines for a couple of months and I remember my first drive up the mountain to the orphanage. The trees are everywhere and they are all reaching up to the sky. The light flutters through every leaf until it reaches the ground or caresses a person. The wind blows gently as if it is trying to whisper into your ear, and the mountain never ends. The beauty in this place was more than any words can describe and I will always remember what it looked like. I also had the pleasure of staying at a tiny hotel right on the coast of the island. The water was translucent and was green as the result because of the green algae growing on the ground. There was no sand, only a graveyard for coral. I was so inspired by the beauty in this place that I wrote a tiny story describing it. (I say story because I don't know what else to call it, but here it is.)

The translucent water envelopes your feet as every toe gets submerged under as if hiding from the coral graveyard they had just traversed. There is no sand here, but somehow it makes it more pure. The trees are waving to the children as they dare nature to take them away to another world of sleepless nonsense. The green from the grass that laughs at the high ground colors the ocean where the water licks the coral lightly, wearing it down atom by atom. One day this beach will be sandy, the water jokes to the passing waves as the foam washes away in the next crash. The sky covers the water with its blue blanket, protecting it from the harshness of space and hiding it from the humans who wish to peek into the life that the ocean calls children.

The dock watches like a silent god, never moving or complaining, just watching. Oh how I want to be that dock who is never bothered by the uncovered sun that dives down into the ocean burning everything with its greedy touch. I hear nothing but the waves as they try to stretch farther and farther before high tide ends. The moon sings the lullaby of a mother calling her children back and forth to stay in sight.

Life is under every inch of the ocean; some are waiting for the water to rush to the other side of the world and some are dancing in the depths of the water in spite of the despair that it will leave them again soon. 

It was written in minutes after first sitting out on the dock, feet dangling over the water as it crashed into the rocks, just watching nature take its course. There was something so magical in that one place. Little did I know that something even more magical was waiting for me in the very next day.

There is this waterfall in Oslo, Philippines and it is gorgeous. It is magical. It is surreal and I got to stand underneath it. The rocks were shaped by the running water as the waterfall broke into many different streams that plummeted down onto the earth. It's cool water was refreshing enough to call it the fountain of youth and I long to go back there some day. It was perfect.

In the middle of this long rant, my point is that who knows what this world holds for you. There is so much hiding in the unexplored corners of this world. You can spend an eternity wondering why you can't be part of this book or that story. You can spend your life ripping apart your skin searching for something more than you. You can spend every day wishing that you were something more. Or you can get up and realize that there is so much out there. There are adventures and even if they do not hold a dragon fight, they might have a princess in need or maybe just a simple path to self discovery. Maybe you will save the world and maybe you will be okay with being ordinary  You will meet people that seem to be made just to keep you company and some that were made to be your enemy. (Try to not be so egotistical that you believe that they are here on this earth just for you though. Don't be that guy.) 

Have the courage to see all that this world has to offer and go get it. No one is holding you back. No one can stop you. And no book will have anything on your adventure.

On Relationships

I have had one relationship that really counts. I have had a few that lasted any where between 30 minutes (long story) to one week, but the one relationship that counts was on and off for two years. Nothing good comes from a teenage relationship, much less on that is off and on. And, I can assure, nothing good came from this relationship except for my own personal growth.
I truly believe that every relationship, whether it be with a complete stranger or with God (who has the most intimate relationship with you than anyone), happens because it can teach you. I don't think that they were predestined to happen or that our lives are already written out; however, the past is only useful if we learn from it. So, every relationship has something to teach us.
I am notorious for toxic relationships. Most of my friendships have left me with emotional and physical scars and this one boyfriend has left a pretty deep emotional scar. It isn't his fault though, but my own.
I did not know myself well enough to trust someone else to figure me out. I let myself give and give without ever asking what I should have asked for in return. I never asked myself if I truly loved him or if I was in such a bad place that the offer of attention was enough to buy my affection. I never looked at how I felt about him, but only at how my heart beat when he said nice things or touched me. I never knew myself well enough to know what the relationship meant or was ever going to mean to me, and it ended badly.
I think most failings in immature relationships radiates from the fact that very few teenagers truly know who they are. They know who they want to be and what they like and what interests them and who interests them, but they don't know themselves. They don't know what they need to be nourished and what they need help with and what good and bad traits they have. (We do have an overflowing pride and sense of worth however which is never good in a relationship.)
When you date someone, every piece of your relationship is magnified. Whereas an insult here and there in a friendship wouldn't bug you as much, a huge, explosive argument will be started in a relationship. The intimacy that a relationship contains when handled by anyone makes small things seem much more drastic, but give that intimacy to a teenager and all hell breaks lose. The combination of hormones and the increasingly hard to ignore pressure from society will never end well. The race to be an adult is becoming more and more important, but the want to live hard and fast is hard to balance with every day life. Then teenagers are told to add the stress of a boy or girlfriend or they are weird because apparently our lives are nothing more than check boxes where first kiss and first boyfriend rests as we wait around to die.
I am off track, but basically being a teenager is hard enough with the stress of high school, the expectations of our parents and friends, and the never ending onslaught of hormones and the culture constantly appealing to our hormones. Then we throw a fucking boyfriend into the mix just because we don't want to be 16 and never been kissed. This leads to teenagers juggling everyone else, but never taking the time to discover who they are without the context of the world.
I personally need someone to pull me out of my head or my depression while understanding that sometimes I do need a break. I need someone to remind that I am always still growing and one mistake or obstacle is no big deal. I need someone who can pray with me and tell me that is going to be okay. I need someone who will let me show my love through baking and creating because I am still getting the hang of words. Knowing all of this is critical when it comes to a relationship, but it is not all that you need to know.
Relationships are hard. They are complicated. They are messy. They are brilliant if done correctly (because yes, Lauren, relationships are fucking equations. There really is no correct way to do a relationship, but if you feel empty or worse in one than out of one, get the fuck out of it.)
All I am asking is to take some time to figure out yourself before adding the emotions and needs of another person into your life. Friendships are full time jobs too, but they don't ask for the same amount of openness that loving someone romantically does.

Compliments.

When you point something out, it doesn’t magically come into existence, right? It was already there and you saw it and then, probably annoyingly, pointed it out. If I walk into a room and point at a lamp while exclaiming "LAMP", about half of the people in the room would want to punch me in the face. If I walk into a room and point at someone's face while exclaiming "Nice face," I am given a title as a nice person. Why are compliments seen as like comments from God when it is the same thing? If someone points out a nice quality, then it was already there but you are too insecure to see it. 

Fix your own perspective to see your own beauty and worth because no one else is going to bring it out in you until you do.

My main problem with compliments rests in that we are taught that our worth comes from superficial things like our appearance, grades, acquaintances, or family. Then the compliments start. People tell others good job or nice hair because they think it is a good thing to do or they really do think you have a nice face. Our reaction is supposed to be one of gratitude because thank you for pointing out that I have something to be proud of. Who knew that our looks or grades were something to be proud of? What does a nice face or an A plus change about our worth? I mean really think about that. What does a gorgeous body or a fantastic score on a test change about who we are? Am I a better person for looking like Lindsey Wixson, my favorite model? How about if I get valedictorian in high school? Yet some people's whole days change because one person had the amazing aptitude to point out something so trivial was good. I will say it again: Fix your own perspective to see your own beauty and worth because no one else is going to bring it out in you until you do. Until you are willing to look at yourself and point out how freaking fabulous you are, how can you give other people so much weight when it comes to how you feel about yourself. Self esteem, not everyone else's opinion of me.

When someone says something to me that I do not agree with, I am allowed to say so. If someone tells me I look nice when I think I do not, if I argue, I am labeled as an attention whore or rude.Why are observations given such a huge weight in our society? 

It might seem like I am anti compliment, which honestly to a point I am, but I do think that giving someone a compliment here and there is a nice thing to do. Sometimes it's fantastic to know that we really did do a good job, but never doing it for yourself is where the problem rests. How many times have we been taught that other people's opinions of us do not change anything? When people are mean, our parents tell us that it doesn't matter what they think, right? Why does it matter when they say nice things? 

Hint: it doesn't.

You alone have the power to define who you are. Not someone who bullies you and not someone who is nice to you, but you alone. 

So, and I repeat, fix your own perspective so you can see your own worth because no one else has the right or power to do it for you.