I don’t know if it’s because Im unhappy with my life or Im  just tired. 

What I do know is that I’m tired of changing majors. I’m fucking 24 and yet again changining. I feel like a disappointment. 

But I actually blame this on Youtube. The people I follow are in loving relationships or have babies now or decided that they didn’t want to work in the degree that majored in college. Why you may ask, because they want to be happy. 

So this revolutionary idea of being happy got into my mind and now I’ve stated to everyone except my dad that I will not be becoming a teacher. 

Being a teacher would of been a stable job and whatnot but I know deep down in my heart that’s not what would fulfill me. I want happiness and fulfillment.

While telling this to my mother the other day, she says to me and I quote ‘Your generation is about being happy and doing what you like. My generation didn’t have time for that, we just had to get work.’ 

This statement stuck with me, and that is actually why I am not becoming a teacher. I don’t want to just work, I want a career not a job. There is a difference and people get confused with it. I want to wake up in the morning and maybe 90-95% of the time enjoy getting up for work. 

I don’t want to go to work, where I hate my job and the people and then I come home and then don’t want to be around my future kids and future husband because I’m not happy with my life and the choices I’ve made. 

I’m sorry but I’m going to live my life my way.

So you maybe wondering what degree I want to get, and so I’m still wondering and debating an anthropology degree and then getting my masters in who knows what. 

All I know is that I had a heart to heart with my brain and with God. He is guiding me and that’s what I believe. I will finally get to a place where my parents feel comfortable and right now isn’t that time. 

I am living for me and that’s where we are right now. 

It is always fashionable to criticize the upcoming generation for their music, hairstyles, and perceived laziness–but a poll of college age students has found that in the future, the government may be better run and more constrained. That is, if the next generation actually believes what the poll has found, that about 61% of college aged students want the government to back off. According to a CNSNEWS article:

In a survey launched by Young America’s Foundation and conducted by the polling company, Kellyanne Conway, Inc.,  more than 60 percent of college-age students feel that government should not take an active role in their day-to-day-lives, and half of respondents believe that the federal government is mostly hurting economic recovery.

If it is true, as the article states, that 45% of 18-34 year olds are unemployed, than it should be no wonder that they learned their lesson earlier than the generation currently running government. We saw the bailouts, the stimulus, and the spending and it did not work; the economy is stagnant at best, and in reality probably slipping back into a recession. So it is encouraging that young people can apparently learn from their and others’ mistakes; we tried the “government save us” approach and it failed, so lets try something proven to work. When more money is left in the private sector, people’s lives improve because there are more jobs, opportunities, and growth.

If history teaches us anything, a lower tax rate, less spending, and less regulation is the recipe for success. When President Reagan signed the Economic Recovery Tax Act in 1981, 20 million jobs were created, inflation plummeted, and net worth of families earning between $20,000 and $50,000 increased by nearly 30 percent.

You see, the economic self interest of young people could be exactly what saves us all. The study also asked the issues that matter most to young people, and most “cited the economy (21 percent), jobs (16 percent), education (16 percent), and the national debt (14 percent)”. We want results, not empty promises. Unlike many of the people in power, young people apparently do not stick blindly to an ideology when it is so obviously destructive. The next generation appears ripe with entrepreneurial spirit and free market enthusiasts. “66 percent of the students polled had a positive opinion of “entrepreneurship,” 44 percent found “free markets” positive, and 42 percent believe the federal government is an opponent rather than a partner in the pursuit of the American Dream.”

Seventy-six percent of respondents feel that government spending has to decrease if we are to have any hope of improving our economic situation, nearly 40 percent want less regulation, and nearly 60 percent want lower taxes.

76% is a striking number of young people that correctly see that the same dollar cannot be spent twice, and that the private sector provides more meaningful and productive employment, for the most part, than jobs thought up by the government. Maybe waiting around for a job has made many young people see the writing on the wall for a future created by government. The individual spirit will triumph as people are no longer content with meager handouts, but must go out and earn what they want, and build a life for themselves and their families. Maybe all this free time of young unemployed people is really what made the difference.

Maybe young people with nothing to do had to go out and find something to keep them interested. A recent study found that “adventuring” grows the brain. When lab rats were given an exciting environment to explore, the ones who moved around more had more brain activity and development than the more stagnant rats. The control group of rats without an exciting environment to explore likewise exhibited limitted brain growth compared to the “adventurous” rats, whose brains created more new neurons. So when a person goes from the confines of high school, to the confines of college, to the confines of work, maybe there just isn’t enough adventure to properly grow the brain. The fact that young people could not so easily get a job could be a blessing in disguise. Let’s hope, as the survey suggests, that this next generation is full of highly developed adventurous brains who will work to solve the issues our government has created, instead of passing them on to their children.

Self-love: New data suggests students today are convinced of their own greatness regardless of whether they’ve accomplished anything

Books aside, if you asked a college freshman today who the Greatest Generation is, they might respond by pointing in a mirror.

Young people’s unprecedented level of self-infatuation was revealed in a new analysis of the American Freshman Survey, which has been asking students to rate themselves compared to their peers since 1966.

Roughly 9 million young people have taken the survey over the last 47 years.

Pyschologist Jean Twenge and her colleagues compiled the data and found that over the last four decades there’s been a dramatic rise in the number of students who describe themselves as being ‘above average’ in the areas of academic ability, drive to achieve, mathematical ability, and self-confidence.

But in appraising the traits that are considered less invidualistic – co-operativeness, understanding others, and spirituality – the numbers either stayed at slightly decreased over the same period.

Researchers also found a disconnect between the student’s opinions of themselves and actual ability. 

While students are much more likely to call themselves gifted in writing abilities, objective test scores actually show that their writing abilities are far less than those of their 1960s counterparts. 

Also on the decline is the amount of time spent studying, with little more than a third of students saying they study for six or more hours a week compared to almost half of all students claiming the same in the late 1980s.

Important online: Trends like social media, celebrity culture, and easy credit contribute to students feeling as if they’re more successful than they really are

Though they may work less, the number that said they had a drive to succeed rose sharply.

These young egotists can grow up to be depressed adults.

A 2006 study found that students suffer from ‘ambition inflation’ as their increased ambitions accompany increasingly unrealistic expectations.

‘Since the 1960s and 1970s, when those expectations started to grow, there’s been an increase in anxiety and depression,’ Twenge said. ‘There’s going to be a lot more people who don’t reach their goals.’

Twenge is the author of a separate study showing a 30 per cent increase towards narcissism in students since 1979.

Look out for No. 1: Narcissists often reach middle age and find their past full of failed relationships

‘Our culture used to encourage modesty and humility and not bragging about yourself,’ Twenge told BBC News. ’It was considered a bad thing to be seen as conceited or full of yourself.’

Just because someone has high self-esteem doesn’t mean they’re a narcissist. Positive self-assessments can not only be harmless but completely true.

However, one in four recent students responded to a questionnaire called the Narcissistic Personality Inventory with results pointing towards narcissistic self-assessments.

Narcissism is defined as excessive self-love or vanity; self-admiration, or being self-centered.

Twenge said that’s a trait that is often negative and destructive, and blames its boom on several trends – including parenting styles, celebrity culture, social media, and easy credit – for allowing people to seem more successful than they really are.

Obsessed: Despite legions of self-help books advising belief in yourself, there’s no evidence self-esteem causes success

‘What’s really become prevalent over the last two decades is the idea that being highly self-confident – loving yourself, believing in yourself – is the key to success,’ Twenge said. ‘Now the interesting thing about that belief is it’s widely held, it’s very deeply held, and it’s also untrue.’

Despite a library’s worth of self-help books promoting the idea we can achieve anything if we believe we can, there’s very little evidence that raising self-esteem produces positive, real-world outcomes.

‘If there is any effect at all, it is quite small,’ said Roy Baumeister of Florida State University, who authored a 2003 paper on self-esteem studies.

Baumeister found that while successful people did have high-self esteem in many cases, it was unclear what actual caused their success if the first place.

Both self-esteem and success were often influenced by another factor.

‘Coming from a good family might lead to both high self-esteem and personal success.’ Baumeister said. ‘Self-control is much more powerful and well-supported as a cause of personal success. Despite my years invested in research on self-esteem, I reluctantly advise people to forget about it.’

Twenge compared it to a swimmer trying to learn a turn who needs to believe that learning the skill is possible but who won’t actually be aided in  acquiring that skill by their belief.

1 in a million: Roughly 9 million freshman have rated themselves in the American Freshman Survey since 1966

‘You need to believe that you can go out and do something but that’s not the same as thinking that you’re great,’ Twenge said.

Studies suggest weaker students actually perform worse if given encouragement at boosting their self-esteem.

‘An intervention that encourages [students] to feel good about themselves, regardless of work, may remove the reason to work hard,’ Baumeister found.

But if you found yourself bothered by a person always talking about how wonderful they are, remember that their future may not be bright.

‘In the long-term, what tends to happen is that narcissistic people mess up their relationships, at home and at work,’ Twenge said. Though narcissists may be charming at first, their selfish actions eventually damage relationships.

It’s not until middle-age they may realize their lives have had a number of failed relationships.

And even if they recognize something is wrong they may have a hard time changing.

‘It’s a personality trait,’ says Twenge. ‘It’s by definition very difficult to change. It’s rooted in genetics and early environment and culture and things that aren’t all that malleable.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2257715/Study-shows-
college-students-think-theyre-special–read-write-barely-study.html

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We are just two ladies trying to find ourselves through the hobbies and activities we enjoy, as well as trying to explore new abilities through the adventures we partake in. Over the pass ten years of our friendship we have managed to piss each other off in all sorts of ways but still love each other like sisters. Hilary and I (Emily) have many things in common, but are also very different. We thought it would be fun to start a blog together in which we chronicle our adventures and write about our thoughts on life. To begin with, we have our summer “to do” lists, which will have goals we want to accomplish together and individually, with encouragement of course, during the summer of 2012. Without further ado, sit back and enjoy the summer through our eyes.

The video interviews half a dozen young adults as they reflect on the struggles and rewards of their past year, in which they served with the Young Adult Volunteer program in New Orleans.  The Young Adult Volunteer program, an organization of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), places young adults at international and U.S. sites.  Volunteers at U.S. sites live with fellow YAVs; most international volunteers live with a host family or other YAVs.

The PC (USA) covers from around a third to half of a YAV’s program costs.  Volunteers are asked to cover the rest, which can range from anywhere from $2,500 to $8,000, depending on the site.  While looking at those numbers can feel really daunting, the program is very supportive of helping volunteers figure out how to most effectively fundraise.  Health insurance is provided, and loan deferment is available.

Volunteers do a range of work within the community; areas of service differ for each site.  The New Orleans video featured YAVs who had worked a broad spectrum of jobs: at a homeless shelter, with youth at a Chinese Presbyterian Church, as a hospital chaplain, with an environmental group to prevent loss of Louisiana’s wetlands, and with an organization that works to rebuild the Presbytery of South Louisiana.

I really like the YAV program; particularly it’s options for serving in the U.S.  I think they offer some really interesting locations, and I love the idea of living together with people my age who are doing a variety of work, but within the same community.

One more video, here’s an interview with Shelvis Smith-Mather, who spent a year in Kenya with the YAV program.

Wanting to discover what the males of Ohio University truly think about foregoing meat, dairy and all animal byproducts (and whether they know what veganism even is), one discovered that perhaps not all faith in the male population is lost.

Between sips of chilled Bud Light, Patrick Harris, a senior studying visual communication, admits that he’s never thought of going vegan. “I hate vegetables,” Harris says. “I eat, like, olives and corn.” Harris isn’t alone in his thoughts of never going vegan.

“I think you miss out on essential nutrients, but as far as fat content, you’re better off going vegan or vegetarian,” Jamie Miller, a 22-year-old graduate student studying sports medicine, said. When pressed to unveil what nutrients he thinks are missing in a vegan’s diet, Miller was less than confident. “Iron, protein, magnesium, I have no idea.” Have no doubts that Miller was then schooled as to how vegans get plenty of iron, protein and magnesium via dark leafy greens, beans and nuts.

A time and place that makes it spectacularly more difficult for these men to understand a diet that consists of chickpeas and almonds as protein is during the holidays. Namely, Thanksgiving poses as a challenge, as its main star is the turkey. While humans exchange love and thanks with and for each other, an averaged 45 million turkeys are killed in the U.S. every year for the holiday, according to a Compassion Over Killing report. College-aged men don’t plan on ending that tradition any time soon.

Miller and Harris both said they’d still have a turkey for Thanksgiving if their girlfriends were vegan, yet had opposing views on food preparation.

“I wouldn’t make her cook it because I enjoy cooking, and I’d probably be the cook,” Harris said. Unfortunately, not all men have the same culinary desires.

“I don’t make my girlfriends do anything. I might ask her nicely, and sometimes I do like to have bacon in the morning,” Miller said. Unlike Miller and Harris, though, another young gentleman wouldn’t force the turkey-fest upon his supposed vegan girlfriend at all.

Nicholas Campagna, a 22-year-old student studying music education, said he wouldn’t make his significant other buy or cook a turkey. “I’d find something alternative for her, something soy or tempeh,” Campagna said.

Though the men were overwhelmingly steak fans—even the understanding Campagna− they didn’t seem to abhor other’s non-flesh-eating ways.

“I just want [vegans] to be happy. I want everyone to be happy,” Harris affectionately said.

Campagna and his friend contemplating veganism.

Harris and his thoughts.

[Mind full of shadows which form long, dark points that pierce the heart through and bring to consciousness the fierce pain of reality.  Hooded specters that travel through space and time gathering up pieces of memory and bringing them together to form one melted block of pain and pleasure called the past....]

Tige then continues to remember his sexual exploits and encounters with various people in his life, especially his gay best friend.

How he handles the news about his friend and his interactions with the other characters is what keeps the reader wanting to read on.  The story is a circle which starts at the end and comes back to answer the readers’ questions.