Our Obsession with Suffering

Why are we so obsessed with suffering?
Of course, no one really wants to suffer but a lot of people seem to want to seek out pain. We idolize it. We romanticize it. The songs, poetry, movies, photography, Instagram accounts, Tumblr, and other social media accounts have shed a great deal of light on depression and low self esteem and it is absolutely inspiring but the initial purpose of helping people who have these mental illnesses is now being mistaken for romanticizing their pain. Everybody has been through a difficult time, that's a given. Life is hard. But not everything that happens to you has to leave a mark or scar. You can put that baggage down. You can work for happiness. It easier said then done, I would know. I laugh and smile every single day trying to shake the feeling that I'm about to burst into tears and have a mental breakdown any minute, hoping one day these feelings don't hold me back so much and one day, it won't anymore. However, that's not going to come without work.

Young people are embracing mental illness which is the courageous, first step to recovery but the problem is staying stuck there. The most active Instagram, gaming, and Tumblr accounts that I follow are those who have at one time publicized their disease. It was always strange to me that although their lives may be going through a difficult time, their social media and gaming accounts are experiencing the opposite and they are posting/playing more and more! It is proven to be therapeutic and it is proven to help with self-esteem but the sad part is, eventually, you have to get back to your real life. It is brave to embrace your mental illness but the thing is: don't stop there.

Furthermore, we glorify the people who have been through "more" and shame others for having not suffered the same fate. As if people aren't strong and beautiful without having gone through something although we all have. And if we have had tragedy in our lives, we should wear it on our skin like children of divorce should have daddy issues or children in unstable families will take after their parents. Of course our life events will have profound effects on us but we choose what happens to our lives ultimately. Being strong isn't just taking the hits but standing up and fighting. Finding appreciation in your conditions and changing your conditions.

So stop taking the easy way out and seeking refuge in the virtual world of social media and escaping reality. Work for your happiness and self improvement. Instead of glorifying the tragedy in our lives and escaping through temporary pleasures, we have to end our own suffering.

Votres,
Viv

We Take Pictures With Our Eyes

What I've recently realized is that Kodak moments are not captures but posed or created. We create a lot of our experiences to document them, It’s an uncanny feeling holding a camera as someone tells me to capture them having fun. What’s worse, few of my pictures were at the climax of the time, most of them were posed – when we were least having fun. Embarrassingly enough, most of my pictures on Facebook were either created out of pure boredom, for proof, or for showing off. Most pictures are taken to show how we looked, where we were, what we were doing, but they’re rarely incidental.  I mean if something truly amazing is happening, who in the room is going to pick up the camera? I just wonder why we are so obsessed with taking all these pictures and videos and editing them and compiling them when few of our products will be significant after we’re gone.

Pictures aren't all that bad. I can think of a few reasons as to why you should pick up your camera – for future generations, to aid in telling stories, to capture the scenery, for the purpose of art, for journalistic reasons, for fashion etc.  I understand Snapchat as it is my main form of communication and sharing pretty pictures with friends through Instagram and Facebook. Look, I completely understand.

Where I’m going to depart that understanding, however, is how much we emphasize those pictures. Imagine the centuries that have passed, all the lives lived without a single photograph taken. Think about all the miracles, celebrations, joyful experiences that went undocumented. It’s no coincidence that the best moments in my life never made it on to Facebook and Instagram. So stop spending so much time taking them, you might actually miss out.

Taking pictures is no crime. Take them but don’t spend so much time creating the moment, posing, editing, and posting. Unless you’re doing it for photography. I don’t need to give you a lesson on how precious time is.  For those true “Kodak” moments, I’m not blinking and I’m taking pictures with my eyes instead.

Stop posing and vivez votre vie!

Votres,
Viv

Everything is Fleeting

Doesn't it feel like sometimes you're reading about your life out of a book rather than living it? And true happiness escapes you when you realize it? And anything that are precious are moments and those moments are always fleeting? It's like once you read a word, you're done reading it and that's the end of that. 

I feel like I'm trying to catch up with my own life. Like I'm doing and saying things before I realize I'm doing and saying them. Like there's a past and future but no present.
I just want moments to stay moments and I don't want them to turn into memories so soon. That's all.

Ma Vie

The root word Viv means alive and life from the Latin words Vita and Vivus and that's my name!

This blog is going to be comprised of not only my experiences, my scattered thoughts, my rambling train of consciousness, my most fiery opinions, and my writing, but parts of my life. Say what you will, but you will never really know how I feel or think or live. Still, try to make yourself at home in my words and my thoughts. 

Votres, 

Viv