Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Let The Good Times Roll

"I'll taste every moment,
And live it out loud,
I know this is the time,
This is the time to be more than a name,
Or a face in the crowd,
I know this is the time,
This is the time of my life"
- David Cook, The Time of My Life

Well, Zoe asked me to make my next blog post a happy one. Well, she made me promise, actually. So I shall endeavour to do my best. Of course, as it's a rather large deviation from my normal sort of writing, you'll have to excuse me if I'm not any good at it. But then, I've heard that the only failure is failure to try. Ahaha. So, I won't be doing that.

So I will begin by...describing things that I like about myself. Yes, it's encouraging and perfectly egotistical. I'll do it! Haha. Well, I've written before how most people don't see the value in themselves. How it's easy to become your own harshest critic until you can't see anything worth, uh...anything in yourself. Well, to counter-act that, I think the only thing a person can do is encourage themselves, because people are notorious for not encouraging others without cause. I mean, comforting others is one thing. But encouraging them to like who they are, to value who they are is a completely different matter. As the saying goes "Know thyself." That means all aspects, the good and the bad.

First off, what do I like about myself? I like...my jawline. xD Well, it's true. It's a very defined jawline, so I like the way it turns out in pictures. Like, compare this picture of myself when I was about...14 I think:


To this picture of my current self:


From no visible jawline, to very solid looking jawline! :D Well, I just thought I'd point that out. Of course, some people will say I just got skinnier, but that's not true! I gained weight. :P So, that's the first thing I like about myself, my jawline. ^_^ I can ignore my left eye being a little smaller than my right, my messed up front tooth, even the stuuuupid pimples, all because of my jawline. :D I'm not vain. I'm just...giving credit where credit is due? ^_^ Everyone needs their one redeeming feature, right?

Anyway, that's just a tiny physical thing. What I was talking about goes a little deeper. Qualities like endurance, and fortitude, and courage. I think it's easy to sell yourself short sometimes. I mean, for example I've been calling myself weak for so long but I forgot just how stubborn I really am. Or perhaps I've only underestimated the way I'd react to life's small pleasures. I read in Anne of Green Gables that when we're upset we feel like we have to stay upset, because it feels like a betrayal of ourselves if we let ourselves be happy again. We feel that we have to keep on being miserable because we shouldn't be happy. And of course, written down, it seems like a perfectly ludicrous idea, but you'd be surprised the ability of people to perform ludicrous things.

Really, life is a fickle thing. It's like a person who chucks you down a really deep hole, then lowers you a ladder, helps you out and is all like, "Sorry about that. Just messing with ya. Let's hit a party!" But the thing it, even though it's the thing that knocks you down, it simply refuses to let you be unhappy for any extended period of time. Which is something I begin to learn more and more lately. I mean, I catch myself singing happy songs! "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" isn't exactly the best emo song around. But it's a redeeming point, I suppose that you can't stay down.

I read, in Anne of Avonlea (I like the Anne of Green Gables series, I'm a romantic, shut up >_>) that "A broken heart is like a bad tooth. It takes bad spells and hurts something fierce until you can't sleep. But in between those times it leaves you alone to enjoy all the golden days of life." So I figure, I may as well focus on enjoying those "Golden Days." I've already had all the practice I'll ever need with the "hurting something fierce" I've like, mastered being depressed. So I think I should work on learning to just kick back and enjoy the good parts of life now.

It doesn't mean that I'm suddenly always perky. It doesn't mean that I stop fretting about how the girl I'm enamored of feels about me. It doesn't even mean that I'm happy now. It just means that like everyone else, I think learning to enjoy yourself is just as important as learning to be emo. They're both useful life-skills dontcha know? Ahaha!

So, that having been said, I suppose I'll conclude for tonight by injecting a little ray of light to brighten my, and possibly your outlook on life just a little. Every night ends, every storm blows over, and every wound heals. They leave scars, and fears, and nightmares. But every unpleasant thing comes to an end. I guess we just gotta keep hoping.

I hope for everyone. That's what messes me up sometimes. But I don't mind. People need someone to hope for them sometimes.

Whatever dreams may come,
I'll take them all,
The good and the bad,

Because hey,
Life's just like that, ^_^

Jared

1 comment:

Liz said...

i juz gotta say...i LOVE david cook...n tht i juz realised y u said u loved ur jawline at camp..doesnt sound so "weird" now. XD