Viva La Vida

First off, it's been close to a month since my last entry, and for that I apologise. There's no excuse really, but I guess I just feel out of it after 8 hours of work per day plus another 2 hours of driving, and when I get home I just want to go to sleep or read a book. But whatever, my bad, and I hope this post makes up for the absence in some small way.




Anyway, a while back,  I corrupted young minds introduced some people to the awesome site Cracked, which has numerous articles, being both damn funny and damn insightful and interesting at the same time. My favourite article used to be '6 Animals That Just Don't Give a F*ck', and for good reason. It was a great article and funny as hell. But just the other week, I've found a new favourite article, and I don't think this one will or can be topped. The article is called '5 Reasons Life Actually Does Get Better'. I don't care if you hate the site or not, but you have to read this article, I cannot stress that enough. Especially if you're a younger person, you have to read this. Do it. This entry is solely on one of the points brought up in the article, so even if you don't want to read the article, the rest of my entry won't have any real impact for you, so *overlord voice* it is in your best interest to read this article. Younger readers, and especially those of you still in school, this entry is for you.

My favourite points in this article are #4 and #3, 'You will find someone' and 'High school is NOT the best years of your life', respectively. The 4th point gives hope to everyone, yes, and personally was my favourite, but the third point was of the most, for lack of a better word, interest to me. I've known this to be true for long, long time (that high school years mean shit-all), but I see on a lot of peoples' blogs (most of those whom I follow still seem to be in high school) entries about crap that goes on during their high school years in general and in high school itself. Well I hope you took note of this point, especially those of you still in high school, because it does not get any truer than that;

High school.
Doesn't.
Mean.
Shit.

Now you may think that this is completely negative, but let me tell you it's not. I'm not talking about the good times you'll undoubtedly have in your teen years, I'm talking about the shit that you will go through and encounter during these years. The rampant hormones and the whole 'teen angst' scene, back-stabbing by so called 'friends' and all that jazz. This crap has happened to all of us, and in this particular time of our lives, we're not really ready to handle a lot of this stuff, we think it's the 'be-all, end-all' of our young lives.

But it's not. A lot of things that happen in high school, especially the aforementioned examples, may hurt at the time yes, but when you get through them and grow up you realise how ridiculous and even juvenile such events and encounters seem. You wake up one morning and realise how petty and insignificant these things are, and hopefully you also realise you've become a stronger person for getting through them. You might even be glad that these things did happen, because it lets you know who your true friends really are. In high school there tend to be larger groups of 'friends' that hang around each other, but due to our/their immaturity, there are too many personality clashes and 'head-buttings' as people try to vie for supremacy or standing in the group. And there's always of course the back-stabbing, bad-mouthing and cattiness that accompanies all of this unpleasantness, some of which can be very damaging to us at this point in our lives. But let me stress again; it doesn't matter.

People who act like this, you'll realise, aren't people worth knowing. You'll grow up and apart from them, and all for the better. As you get older and leave school and sometimes even after you leave university or college or whatever, your 'pool' of friends grows smaller (the vast majority of the time anyway). But guess what? This 'smaller pool' of friends is worth that much more to you. It's quality over quantity folks, and having a few close personal friends means a whole hell of a lot more than having a lot of seeming friends with all that false-courtesy crap. Hands down. You'll appreciate them and they'll appreciate you more-so than in high school, trust me.

The flak a lot of us will cop from adults at this time is also hard, as we're still teenagers and yet we're expected to wear the mantle of greater responsibility and act like proper adults, which is just impossible for most of us because at that age we're ill equipped to bear the burden. Adults too seem to forget what we're going through and indeed what they went through at this stage and it really does make it harder for everyone. Not all adults are like this of course, but most of them are and I'm sure that all you know a handful of adults that are like this. But don't worry, just be yourself and you'll get through. You'll learn to bear responsibility as you grow older and more mature. Don't try to rush into it, enjoy your teen years and don't grow up too fast. They're not the best years in your life, but they can be damn fun.

That being said, I'm enjoying this point in my life a lot more than my teen years, and I know you will too. Once you hit your very late teens/early twenties, you are able to do a lot more things independantly. Driving is a massive thing. Being able to drive wherever you want and spend your own money on just whatever you want is a great feeling. These are great periods in our lives and time shouldn't be squandered. Get out there and enjoy life. Go for a road trip with your best mates, it'll be unbelievable. Having a job is also another thing, as is the money you'll earn with which you'll use to buy things. Things you can truly call yours, and believe me, this little thing really does mean a lot. I can't speak too much on living by yourself or out of home, because I still haven't got there yet. And it'll be hard, yes, but it will also be damn fun, and good. The sense of independance and self-reliance would be amazing. Sure, I don't think all of us want to spend our lives alone, but we sure as hell deserve some time to just do whatever the hell we want, whenever the hell we want, however the hell we want. Sure we'll all make some mistakes during this time, but who cares? They were our mistakes to be made and we're better off for them. It's our life, damnit. We'll live it just however we want.

Take it from me, people still in highscool; life does get a whole lot better. You may be having a damn good time even now while you're still in school, and that's cool. Just know it'll get even better from here on out. And to those of you going through some shit right now, I know it's hard. I've been there. I just want you to know that a lot of this stuff is irrelevant. It might mean a lot now and sting a fair bit, but trust me, life does and will get better. There is a light at the end of that tunnel, and what's out there on the other side is damn good.

Trust me.

And if you can't take my word for it, just read the comments at the end of that article. They'll convince you.

Viva La Vida
Coldplay
Viva La Vida, 2008