Lean
So, I was listening to Macklemore the other day and I heard “Other Side” for the first time. This song is practically a PSA about the dangers of Lean. Macklemore’s albums are practically an after school special on topics ranging from drug abuse, homophobia, and consumerism. I enjoyed listening to “Other Side” because it put his song “Starting Over” in prospective for me. For those of you who don’t know, Lean is a mixture of fruity soda and cough syrup with Codeine. Cough syrup w/ codeine is a schedule V narcotic. If I remember correctly schedule I narcotics have no recognized medicinal use (ie Opium, and Peyote) and schedule V is the lowest level narcotic with the least potential for abuse. I am shocked by this classification. Lean, Sizzrup, Purp...
Overcoming Anxiety
It’s not something I’m proud of but, if I had to be perfectly honest, I would say I’ve battled anxiety my entire life. From the first day of school when I worried the kids and the teacher wouldn’t like me, to resent job interviews when I worried that I didn’t come across in the right way, anxiety and worry has always been with me. I’ve had a few adrenaline induced panic attacks where I swore I was having a heart attack, and a few sleepless night spent ruminating about the day’s events. I did therapy for a while, I have some prescription pills in case I get in a tough spot, but nothing seemed to help. It was like someone high jacked my mind and all I could think of were the horrors of the “what if”. That is until I prayed one night. It’s not...
Finding Your Way
I spent the better part of today reading about the millennial generation. These are people born between 1983 and the early 2000’s. One source says that we are likely to feel a greater civic duty than Gen X and Baby Boomers. We are likely to feel a responsibility to change the world and may be disappointed in our careers fickly changing jobs more than prior generations. I couldn’t help but snicker as a read the article because it summed up exactly what I’m feeling. I turn the big 26 this month and I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up. I am currently seeking employment as either a pharmaceutical rep or a teacher. Yes, in my wildest dreams I would love to be a paid author but I am also realistic and with one failed Kickstarter project, that dream...
It’s not your life. It’s his plan.
I Chronicles 29:11-12 “Everything in the heavens and on earth is Yours, O Lord, and this is Your kingdom. We adore You as the one who is over all things. Wealth and honor come from You alone, for You rule everything. Power and might are in Your hand, at Your discretion people are made great and given strength” Deuteronomy 8:17-18 “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your god, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” I read these scriptures last night in my neighborhood bible study group. These verses in particular spoke to me and the troubles I’ve been enduring. I believe one of our biggest flaws is that sometimes it is easier to believe in...
These Drugs Got Ahold of Me
Philip Seymour Hoffman has left the world in an all too common way. Haunted by an addiction for the better part of his adult life. This past weekend he finally succumbed to the demons that haunted him for so long. It seems all too often that we hear the headlines about an artistic addict. Amy Winehouse, Bradly Nowell, and Cory Monteith just to name a few. But why does it happen? I’m not sure I have the answer. Some people blame the parents, the media or, the person’s friends. It’s all too easy to reflect on another person’s life and blame a series of misfortunate events. Even those among us who seem to have it all, rarely do. We like to compartmentalize the war on drugs. We think of it as a problem happening far away, in Chicago, Las Vegas, or New York....
Identity
I think the search for self-identity probably consumes the better part of our teens and early adulthood. In prior generations people got married, bought a house, started a family and were thrown into adulthood with stark transitions in their life. People in my generation are stuck in threshold not quite a child not quite a full-fledged adult. At our age my husband and I’s life is a lot different than our parents. By the time his parents were our age, they had two kids, a booming career, and a house. By the time my parents were my age, my mother had her first child, and my father was in law school. Researchers have deemed this phenomenon in men as the “guy-hood age” not quit as career free as boyhood not quit as demanding as manhood. The endless adolescence...
You don’t know what you don’t know
Sometimes it feels like republicans and democrats couldn’t be more different. If you ask them about popular stories they debate over the facts. The problem is with the news networks. It seems ridiculous that we would argue over facts. You would think that facts would be indisputable but these days everyone is looking to make a profit, even the news networks. If you look at any popular story the networks present it in a way that appeals to their demographic. Take the story about Phil Robertson from Duck Dynasty. The Fox News Headline read “Robertson takes biblical stand against homosexual lifestyle.” The CNN headline read “Robertson compares homosexuality to bestiality.” I have not read the actual interview with GQ so who knows what was actually...
