Author: Sean Ash

You Know Yourself Best

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Last winter I made a very difficult choice, I decided that I was not going to return to school for my 2nd semester.

As you can imagine, this came with a ton of backlash from family, friends, and even coaches. My parents were concerned that I was throwing my entire life away and everything I have ever worked for.

A majority of my friends who had hidden doubts about me going to school in the first place expressed those thoughts to me whether they realized it or not. I say that because I know none of my friends would intentionally want to make me feel like I was no longer good enough to fit in with them.

My college coaches were upset because they had to put in a lot of time and effort to recruit and choose who they think would benefit the program the most, so to see me leave after one semester must have felt like a slap in the face.

I think the worst part of the experience has been that I was never one to disappoint people, never one to be seen as weak.  The most difficult part was the way people treated me after my decision. It was like everyone just viewed me as this soon to be “townie” (that is slang for someone who did nothing with their life and ended up with a basic job in the area they grew up in). People would come up to me all the time and try to sit down and counsel me because they just assume that I am incapable of being able to figure out my life on my own now.

I’m not saying to ignore help/advice from others, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t listen to yourself. I’m sure some of you are reading this and are thinking, “yeah no shit”…however put yourself in my shoes and have multiple friends and family members come to you acting like they know more than you all of the time. I believe people are actually concerned but they are also jumping to conclusions way too fast. I took one semester off and explored some other options, and people reacted like I gave up on my life.

Currently, I am going back to school at my local college to see if it’s what I really want to do without breaking the bank. Although, if its something I really don’t want to do that’s okay. I am 19 years old, I have so much time to figure out what I want to do and I’m no longer going to let people scare me into thinking that I’m not doing okay.

If there is anything you can take away from reading this, it’s to do what you know is best for you. People are going to judge and compare themselves to you all the time and even if they are a semester, a year, a bachelors, a masters,or even 10 years ahead of you… it doesn’t mean that they know the key to success for you. Listen to your mind, and follow your gut because eventually things are going to work out and every doubt people may have had about you won’t matter.  It won’t matter because it simply does not. What people assume about you does not change you in any way. You are who you are, and you should be proud of that person.  

Live your life how you think is right because quite frankly there is no wrong way, so you might as well be happy with your way.

Divided We Fall

Since when did we let politics overcome our relationship with others? That’s just a joke in case you think I’m being literal. Since the dawn of man we have let politics decide our relationships with others. However, I am going to open your mind to something possible. So go get some food and water, find a good comfy place to sit because you’re about to embark on one man’s opinion; which I hope you can all agree upon so we can make it a fact. By the way, check out our post, “What is a fact?” If you’re really confused as to what I’m talking about.

Alright, so now that I’ve got your attention, let’s look at our political world right now. The Western Hemisphere is still being dominated by America, due to all the kickass we do everyday; Mexico can’t do anything to keep their people in the country, causing their economy to plunder even more; and Latin America is just one big gold mine for drug cartels and lawless lands. Oh and of course I forgot about that place called Canada. To be honest I’m not sure what they do… all I know is that the people are nice and weed is completely legal there.

Now let’s hop on over to the East, where the very idea of conflict was born. As of right now, Russia has everyone guessing with Vladimir Putin at the helm. If there is a scandal or a world crisis, Russia is always somehow involved. China manufactures just about every single factory made item in the world, and I think one of their propaganda directors got a little too lit one night and accidentally fell through with plan z, which was to produce as many men as possible and brace for world domination. Thankfully China wasn’t ready for plan z and now they just have an overpopulation crisis on their 1.4 billion hands. The Middle East is a world of its own. Sadly, this part of our world may never experience peace. There is too much greed and poverty, and there is zero government establishment. But if you don’t see any of it, is it really happening? The only time you ever hear about the UK anymore is when there is a royal wedding or another terrorist attack in a subway. Africa has never recovered from the start of time, due to endless war and the white man’s unrelenting thirst for gold.

I know our world is a mess right now.  I believe that is because we as human beings have lost touch with ourselves. Most species must work together in order to survive. Humans however, have become so advanced in the past few thousand years that we no longer think that we all need to work together to survive. This has lead to countless conflicts and deaths; and there are no signs showing progression towards solving this issue. To me, this does not sound like survival.

Ask yourself right now, what makes you more American than someone who is trying to get citizenship in the United States? The answer is quite simple, nothing but a label. Are you really that different from someone who lives in Russia, England, Japan, etc.? Are they so different that you need to convert them into someone like you or kill them if they don’t comply? You may think that sounds crazy, however we do it every day and you support that whether you know it or not, simply because you have an ego that was set up for you to fulfill as a child by your leaders. You are raised to dislike anyone that doesn’t agree with the leaders that you are forced to obey to for the biggest developmental stage of your life. And by the time you’re an independent, the ideology of your nation and its beliefs are burned into your mind and has altered your way of thinking.

It doesn’t have to be like this. Let me correct myself… it shouldn’t be like this, and it can’t last forever. These “borders” will not last forever, travel will become so fluent that it will bring people all around the world together. Families will be made, which means that they will have to choose a place on this earth to live together. The world is already starting to run into this conflict. For example, families in Mexico are being separated by the Mexico-United states border and many people are speaking out now about how it is only the governments that are being the problem. Eventually we are not going to care who is from what country, especially if the people we meet provide the happiness for each other that we all pursue now. We must accept that we are no exception to Mother Nature, and that we as a species can only survive if we can let our egos go and live as a whole, not as an independent.