You're a Twenty Something, You Are something

Wow. The Ted talk by Dr. Meg Jay below is powerful. Her words should be taken to heart by any twenty something, or even any college student. I turned nineteen years old five days ago. One more year until I will be one of those twenty somethings. Scary huh? It certainly is for me. It also may be scary for those of you who have followed me since I was born. I am about to begin the most defining decade of my life. Boo! That's my Halloween scare for this year.

Jay states three things that all twenty somethings should hear. The first one is that all twenty somethings should gain some identity capital. Twenty somethings should do something that gives them an identity. They should explore their opportunities, but not explore things that aren't productive. Jay is trying to get across to twenty somethings that the decade they are in is not a time waster. The decade they are in should be the decade that define who they are.

The second thing that Jay says all twenty somethings should hear is that weak ties can be the key to something better. According to Jay, 50 percent of twenty somethings are either unemployed or under employed. This can be disheartening for twenty somethings to hear. But the good in this statement is that 50 percent of twenty somethings are employed. It should be a twenty somethings goal to become a part of the employed group. They can do this by exploring their weak ties. A weak tie is a connection to an employer that is not obvious. This could be their friends dads neighbor who works as a boss at a company that employs people with their degree or skill set. If they had a strong tie to an employer, they would most likely already be hired. I believe this idea of exploring ones weak ties goes right along with the first habit to be proactive that Stephen Covey describes in his book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" . Life will rarely hand you a good life. Twenty somethings have to be proactive to get a job. 

The third and final thing that twenty somethings should hear is that they should pick their family now. I really liked the statement "The best time to work on your marriage is before you have one" that Jay made. Many twenty somethings see their friends getting married and having kids. They want to be married and have kids too so they sometimes try and make it work with the partner they are with at the time, instead of waiting and finding the partner that is right for them. Twenty somethings should instead discover who the right partner is for them and then find that person. This can be difficult for twenty somethings to do when the pressure from their peers to get married and have kids soon is very high. The old saying of being who you really are, and, patience is key, apply very well to this situation.  

Now that I have this knowledge of how to succeed as a twenty something I should be fine right? Lol, no. I am still growing and finding out who I am as a person. I hope to have a family and good paying job someday. But these things do not come easy. It takes hard work and self reflection. I could be the best motivational speaker by just repeating the words that I have heard from other people, but if I don't truly understand these words and their meaning, then a motivational speaker is all I will ever be. I will never actually be motivated. 

Joyas Voladoras - That Heart is a mystical pendulum

0 Heartbeats

Did you know that a heart beats around 2 billion times in a lifetime for every living being? We have 2 billion heart beats to use before our hearts stop beating. So why then do you choose to spend those precious beats reading this post? Go outside and see the world or go and do something memorable, for this world is short lived.

20 Heartbeats

Our hearts are just merely clocks ticking down the time until our deaths.  No, our hearts are something more. Hearts are for feelings, for love, for hate, for joy, for sorrow, for heartbreak, for something we cannot explain. That heart, it is a mystical pendulum.

45 Heartbeats

Think back to your first love, that first someone that captured your heart. Think of what you were feeling the first time you realized you were in love. Think of the joy that person brought to your life. Remember how easy life was with them at the moment? Now think of how that love may have ended. Think of the heartbreak that you were feeling. Think of how hurt and lost you felt. Remember how you thought that life could not go on? That heart, it is a mystical pendulum

85 Heartbeats

The cycle of love and heartbreak may have happened many times in your life. Maybe you were one of the lucky ones that found true love on the first go around, if so, I am envious of you. If you weren't one of the lucky ones, did you find it harder to love after each cycle? Did you find yourself building up a wall around your heart so that it would not be broken again? Have you had that wall torn down by something or someone so quickly and easily that you did not realize it? That heart, it is a mystical pendulum.

125 Heartbeats

We humans want to love, we want to be loved. We do not want to build up walls around our hearts. Yet, we build them anyways. They can take days, weeks, months, and even years to build. But, then in an instant, they can come crumbling down. According to Doyle, the demolition crew could be a memory of the sound of a fathers voice, the phrase "I have something to tell you", or a dying animal. We cannot help but feel emotional because of these things. We want try to control our emotions by building up walls around our hearts. We can try to protect our heart, but the heart will never wear a bulletproof vest. The heart can always be penetrated. That heart, it is a mystical pendulum.

200 Heartbeats

Students Should be Allowed to Graduate on Their Terms

One of my fifth grade teachers introduced me to Edward de Bono and his 6 thinking hats. The 6 thinking hats is a tool that describes individual thinking. The only hat that I remember now is the green hat which stands for creativity. It was, and still is, my favorite hat, although I find that the green hat is often left on the rack these days.

I was always thinking of new and creative things to do as a kid. I created a slingshot that could launch a golf ball 150 yards out of an exercise band and a few pieces of wood for fun. I invented a product that could organize my pens and pencils out of paper and tape for fun. I built a simple model of a house of paper and tape for fun. I was a creative child that liked to create things. I find this to be different now.

I created all of these things before high school. Before high school I was encouraged to do new creative things. School was all about learning and joy. Then high school came and told me that all I needed to do was to get a good grade and good test scores. Life was all about reaching certain objectives and earning certain letter grades. The days of learning and creating were a thing of the past. Yes, creating things was still cool and fun, but I would not receive any extra credit by being creative. It would not help me to obtain my "goal" of graduating high school and going to college.

Ken Robinson tells a story of a little girl that was a "trouble" child in class. She could not sit still and could not do her work. Turns out she was a "trouble" child because she loved to dance and move around. She learned better by dancing. She would later go on to become a very well known dancer.
The education system was telling her to sit still and do what everyone else was doing. With some help and potentially some medication she may have been able to sit still and be like everyone else, but what good would that have done? The girl would have never discovered her true passion and love in life.

The education system is trying to mold students to fit one certain mold. Every student is supposed to get good grades, take high level classes, and score highly on standardized tests. The education system does not promote learning new things, or learning things for enjoyment. It is not looked down upon to be creative, but it is not encouraged. Students should be able to take classes that intrigue them. They should be able to find their true passion in life and pursue it. I am not saying that students should not have a goal to graduate from high school, but rather they should have a goal to graduate from high school by taking classes that intrigue them and that they want to.

Without creativity this world would be nothing but a string of numbers.