Bullshit
I needed to look up some long forgotten details of a university friend I'd lost touch with, and happened to come across some chatlogs from days of yore - some pointless discussion with some self-proclaimed ultra-leftist, angsty, "artsy", "anti-establishmentarian" friend. Of course, I'm being mean here, considering I belonged to this same camp of people who strove so hard to "be different". To wallow in self-pity and be self-destructive, in the name of "poetry" and "being real".
I lost precious years to feeling angry, remaining unhappy at some vague non-entity, because I foolishly believed this would lead me to some truth not revealed to those who stuck to the mainstream. Aka, I was so full of shit.
Looking through some of those incriminating, meandering chats, rehashing inanities and platitudes, interpreting non-events and non-meanings, I am glad I woke up and switched camps when I did, even at the risk of being accused of "selling out". Indeed, qutie a few of my abovementioned friends continue in their own versions of "personal hell".
Perhaps this is what is called growing up. To realise that "being different" or feeling superior alone does not bring about unique perspectives. Authenticity is about being true to oneself and one's own values, even if it means abandoning the "cooler choices" your bohemian friends might fully endorse. It is also about cutting out the bullshit; obfuscation leads to nothing useful.
I lost precious years to feeling angry, remaining unhappy at some vague non-entity, because I foolishly believed this would lead me to some truth not revealed to those who stuck to the mainstream. Aka, I was so full of shit.
Looking through some of those incriminating, meandering chats, rehashing inanities and platitudes, interpreting non-events and non-meanings, I am glad I woke up and switched camps when I did, even at the risk of being accused of "selling out". Indeed, qutie a few of my abovementioned friends continue in their own versions of "personal hell".
Perhaps this is what is called growing up. To realise that "being different" or feeling superior alone does not bring about unique perspectives. Authenticity is about being true to oneself and one's own values, even if it means abandoning the "cooler choices" your bohemian friends might fully endorse. It is also about cutting out the bullshit; obfuscation leads to nothing useful.