Bubble Catcher

I don't miss -anything- about being a kid.

Being a kid rocked. And sucked. Probably in equal parts, in retrospect.

However, I do think adults put too many barriers on -everything-. We could learn a thing or two about how to behave if we kept some of our kidabilities.

I prefer how children can just be so brutally honest about all the thoughts they have. We could be just as unprejudiced as children and enjoy everything around us just a little more. And on enjoyment: I love seeing wonderment in a child's face. It's magic. If you're open to it, it jumps from the child to you in a second.

As grown-ups we tend to filter our thoughts, words, and actions. We're protecting ourselves and others from ourselves. It's really quite sad, quite often. I -try- to behave like a kid everyday : laughing too loud, talking too much, expressing thoughts best forgotten, and giggling when someone likes me, really really likes me.

OM, computer generated image - Png file, Attention only the maximum original size is in png format

Religion - especially as it stands in 2010 - doesn't get all that much love from me. We haven't come that long a way when we can trace most of todays racial inequalities to religious discrimination. I'm pretty convinced that whatever higher power exists also didn't agree to being ensconced in stale buildings where an often power/money hungry dictator tells people how to truly adore him or her.

However, I do think of myself as spiritual.

I want to think there is a commonality to all life, and that there are forces we don't understand. I like mystery, I find beauty in things I can't explain. I believe in karma, in positive thinking, in no-mind, and in many other eastern practices. Eastern philosophy & religion come closest to what I strive for. Buddhism, especially, with its focus on the individual. Taoism and its zenifying (!) practices. But also Hinduism and it's thousands of deities, beliefs in karmic retribution & reincarnation (which I don't believe in, but appreciate the message of).

Guilt Ridden Glasses

Poor kid. You know, it's not like you're the only teenager feeling inadequate. You play it off and that's perfect, because guess what? You grow up and out of this stupid age, girl. You fill in, you become bolder. That nerdiness of yours eventually ends up attracting the right people to you. It may have been a slight plague in highschool, but adult life does not shun smarts (and adult life lasts longer than highschool, dear).

And you know what? For one of a multitude of reasons, almost everyone feels like you do at 16. Life at 16 sucks as much as it rocks. And those people around you who truly are absolutely loving themselves at 16? Look at them... they will be the exact same people in 10 years, 15 years. This is all they will be. And at some point soon, it ceases being enough. You have to grow out of your teens. And you will. But they aren't likely to.

In fact, I know a lot of them didn't.

Luckily, I've a little insight for you. You become something really good. You grow up to be loved, and you make a little you that you adore. You have friends that care and respect you. You are smarter, sexier and curiouser about everything than ever. You're kind of special for an ordinary girl.

You had it pretty easy too at 16, to be honest. Even as a 16-year-old nerd with huge glasses and braces. You were in classes with people like you, were never bullied or made so much fun of that you would start hating school. Sure, boys didn't give two shits about you, but trust me: that all changes; and sooner than you think.

Now although there won't come a time when you'll want to go back to being 16, you'll never grow up to regret those years either. So enjoy the age, especially armed with the knowledge that shit only gets better from here.