Blog
"I've only lived 18 years, but I don't want to change any of them. They're all part of my life, even the failures." -Makise Kurisu
For this one I decided to put down the first paragraph of my opening. I went with the anecdote route because the day I talk about is a perfect example of the Three Good Things process. This was a day that a lot of stuff clicked for me and I was able to let go of stress.
It’s a Sunday night and I’m hanging out with my friends in my basement as usual. For some reason my friend Katie’s house was brought up and I’m going off on a tangent about the island that separates her family room from her small dinning room. I was talking about how it doesn’t make any sense because it completely closes off the room, it makes it near impossible to pull the chair at the dinning room table out far enough to be comfortable, and just went on and on. Mid rant my friend Eric jokingly says that I should just be an architect and I stopped mid-sentence. It was a like sitcom where one character says something that makes another character stop cold and everything they were wondering about and stressing over just clicked and they knew what to do next. Because of that one joke I am now changing my career path.
3 Comments
So I was supper busy this week. Work is getting geared up for the holiday season (just had a meeting at 7:00 am yesterday for Black Friday), friend and family commitments are ever prevalent, and I haven't had time or energy to really do any research or plan out the full scope of my project. So I decided to use all of that.
After keeping track of three good things every week I kept track of how my mood was after not doing that for almost a week. Essentially using my lack of time to still do research. I gotta say that not doing for a week after doing it for a week really drives home just how helpful that was. The whole week has just been so draining and I know going deeper into the holidays it's only going to get worse so I plan on keeping up the Three Good Things a day and documenting on how that gets me through the tougher days this holiday like Black Friday and working on Thanksgiving. Links:
What is Positive Pyschology & Why Is it Important? (Positive Psychology Program) Greater Good in Action: Science-Based Practices for a Meaningful Life (UC Berkeley's Project Home Page) Three Good Things (Greater Good in Action) Finding three things that went well that day or you were grateful for... Tougher than it should be at times in all honesty. This did really help with my mood though in all honesty.
Admittedly I've already covered this one to a certain extent in my blog about family, but I'll do my best to not repeat things. That being said let's dive into the second part of my eight part series, this one being about Friendship.
Friendship didn't always come easy for me. I've always had friends but it wasn't till around 7th grade that I had a "friend group". Before that I had one or two really close friends that I would hangout with every weekend and try to meet up with after school. Once 7th grade hit my... I don't want to say former best friend cause he and I are still close, but we haven't been as close as we used to ever since he had to go out of town for college, anyway my other best friend Steve introduced me to who would become my first/only girlfriend and my ex. Than we made friends with the guy that stole Steve's lunchbox every lunch, not hyperbole it was in fact every lunch, Barr (he's also named Nick so we call him by his last name. Than came in Mike, than the two Ryan's, than Josh. By freshman year I had a group of pretty good people to hangout with. Than by the end of the first year of college, Josh had become an intolerable jackass, Mike showed his true colors as a manipulative asshole, Hom (one of the Ryan's) and I just drifted apart, and after a year of dating my ex and I broke up. During that first year of college however I met a few new friends as well. After awkwardly walking up to the three of the them while they were playing Yu-Gi-Oh (never too old for a card game especially since Yu-Gi-Oh nowadays take a freaking math degree to understand). Alex, Peter, and Eric were soon integrated with my core friend group. From there came Ellie and my soon to be current best friend and Eric's girlfriend Katie. Now we cut to about two years later and well... Peter and Ellie walked away from the group because (and this is an unfortunate theme throughout the past few years) people couldn't be adults and talk their shit out. Alex revealed himself to be a very toxic person to be around and we said our goodbyes to him last winter. Now though, we have Eric's brother EJ, Emily, someone Barr, Travers (second Ryan), and myself went to high school with and Jyn (another Katie and Travers' girlfriend) in the group. So the question is why would I go through this long backstory for this blog. Why divulge what some could say has been a mixed bag of luck in keeping friends and picking friends. Well to obviously illustrate some kind of point. Honestly that should be pretty obvious. Friendship to me is one of the most important things in the world. The support of a friend can mean so much more than a family member's. There is no obligation any friend has to help you through your rough times, to pick you up when you fall. Good friends will be around when you get back up on your feet, those you can call family will help you stand back up. Take Katie for instance. The night of my narrative essay I was a wreck. She was the first person I told and she was the one that checked on me the most afterwards. Steve was there for me when my ex and I broke up. Eric has seen through the masks I wear more than anyone else. Barr is always the first to motivate me to try something new. Emily is the first to point out bullshit and put an end to it. EJ and Jyn are amazing example of what it means to be an 'adult' while still being a kid at heart. Travers has had my back several times over the years. Other than my parents I couldn't even begin to make similar praises about my family, let alone my extended family. I couldn't say similar things about any of the people I've worked with over the past few years or the people I've gamed with online. Friendship can be the strongest and most rewarding thing in the world, but as I've shown it can also be the most fragile thing to hold on to. I've had friends come and go for a multitude of reasons some good and some not so good. It's the one that have stuck around through my worst times and continue to root for me for my best times are the one that are wroth keeping, They are worth the trouble. They are worth the headaches. They are worth the heartaches. They are worth everything they've put me through and they are worth everything I've put them through. Alright. So THIS derailed a little bit. The point is that friends will always be there, when you're doubting yourself even when they are struggling themselves. If you can find a good group, real fucking good group of people hold onto them. Work through the shit that tries to pull you apart and come out stronger because of it. |
Nick D'AversaWriter, outstandingly good at mouthing along to songs, level 9 Dragonborn Blood Hunter, and just trying to figure out what in the hell I'm doing. Archives
February 2019
Categories
All
|