Thoughts of a Wonderluster

This week marked ten years since I graduated from high school. Sometimes cliches are true - time really does fly. Ten years is a long time - over a third of my life - but the years since walking across that stage have flown by to the point where it's almost impossible to think about everything that has happened in between now and then. I've earned two degrees and work in the field in which I studied. I've lived in Philly, Richmond, and Chicago. I've traveled. I've voted. I've loved. I've lost.  The period after high school has brought about tremendous change for myself and my peers, as it should. From teenager, to adolescent, to young adult, to a [somewhat] mature adult, I've progressed through the most impactful years of my life and have learned about myself and others on my path to becoming who I'm destined to be. Peers change. Interests change. Jobs change. Residences change. Outlooks change. We all change - it's how we evolve. But...

Yesterday was Memorial Day and a friend and I cruised down to Oak Street Beach like we usually do when the weather breaks. Winter's hibernation is over - it's time to enjoy another summer in Chicago. After a quick lunch at Shake Shack we walked up Michigan Ave. First bad sign: loads of teenagers standing near the Drake. Second bad sign: police doing bag checks before the tunnel Third bad sign: teens as far as the eye could see on the beach When you're in beach mode there's no turning back. We walked our way past the sand courts, through a few groups of people, and marked our territory near two similarly-aged women (there weren't many of us). I bust out some watermelon, pull out my Grateful Dead book, and put in my headphones. I took a quick look around and saw nothing but teenyboppers. Here's the problem - I was a teenager once, so I'm not anti-teenager - but when you mix teenagers from different schools with alcohol and the insatiable d...

I continually strive to be a better person to myself and to others. Self-reflection is an essential part of maturing because it helps us turn ideas and thoughts into tangible and measurable benchmarks on our path to being a better version of ourselves. Whether we talk about how we look, how we act, or how we think, having the discussion internally or externally helps us find what feels good in our lives and cope with our internal struggles. It's not always easy, but you have to learn to love yourself inside and out - to forgive your misgivings, focus on the positives, and be more comfortable in your own skin. This is an ongoing battle for me, but it's a battle I’m willing to fight because I’m worth it - you're worth it. As we continue to come to grips with who we are through introspection, friendships, relationships, or happenstance meetings, hopefully people will recognize you for you or me for me and appreciate what makes us interesting and unique. There's n...

Life is made of a million singular moments that, woven together, create the fabric of our psyche. We all have key moments we can recall, many of which we’ve shared over the years, but why do I remember certain events and you don’t (or vice versa)? What makes certain moments more memorable to us than others? Moments can be a lot of things. They can be happy. They can be disappointing. They can make you feel passionate about life or others. They can make you feel destitute and devoid of energy as a result of pain. How we perceive the positive and negative effects of these moments on personal development is the difference between a fleeting moment and a lasting memory.

Another blog in a sea full of blogs. The truth is I've thought about making a blog for years, but never followed through. An ugly duckling among a world of tech-savvy peers, I still like to write things down. There's something about holding a pen and writing down your thoughts because you're devoid of a backspace key or an eraser. What flows from your head as your pen dances across the page are thoughts virgin to the world. I usually carry a notepad and pen with me wherever I go because, as I wrote in my blog description, our thoughts are often left unwed to action because our minds are curious and jump from one idea to the next with fervor. So, why a blog? Why now? I was walking around Old Town in Chicago yesterday with a friend and he asked me what three things I'd like to learn by the time I'm 30 - really an excellent question. I'm committed to a life of learning because the second we stop pursuing knowledge is the second we stop being curious - a...