Maybe it is because I am in my 30s and I grew up alongside a lot of technology and got to experience the internet before it was ... this, but. I really am in awe how younger generations treat people and I have seen it running rampant on this site. Believe me when I say, if you are under 25, things are going to get insanely hard for you as you get older if you keep up with all of these weird rules and practices. 

Emotions and passions cannot be expressed without being called cringe or accused of crashing out. Need to talk about something serious for a second? That's considered drama. So many younger people are so busy trying to come off as ironic, emotionless, and the coolest fucking cucumber for miles. I have seen people, again and again, say nothing when they are genuinely distressed ... because they are afraid of being canceled. My wife and I were talking last night about how ... younger people do not dance. They do not dance because they are afraid of being recorded and shamed or going viral. People are so afraid of being observed. For some reason they are taught to fear being percieved. It's incredibly sad to see, to watch people tear into their friends for small mistake -- to witness callout posts over misunderstandings or difference in opinions about fiction.  

I'm begging, at this point, for younger people to create unapologetically -- but also ... I want you guys to speak from the heart. Wear it on your sleeve. Meet new people, fuck up, learn from them and the experience. So many of you are scared to live and your younger years are slipping away. I know that things are terrifying in our current political climate, but constant cynisism and a refusal to do better just because "the world is going to shit" isn't going to solve anything. You need to hope. You need to love. You need to feel. 

You need to be kinder to others. Keep your peace when it comes to those who are obviously very bad eggs, but with your friends ... try to hold onto them a little more. Try to work things through. You will never be a perfect person. You are going to say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, lose stuff, have your heart broken ... but those are some of the most beautiful moments in life. Because you bounce back. You better yourself. You become more. If you stuff everything down into a bottle and keep it sealed away for a larger chunk of your life, when that thing finally pops open (and it WILL pop open) it'll be a chaos and intense pain that you could have avoided. Trust me. If on nothing else, please trust me that when you deny parts of yourself or all of yourself for the sake of others ... it slowly eats away at every joy you try to experience. 

Stop worrying about everyone looking at you. There is no audience. There is no chat. It's just ... you. And at the end of the day, you have to like you. If you're struggling with finding yourself, your voice, your means of expression, your peace ... I promise it's there. I promise that if you work at it, you will heal from things you did not think possible. But you shouldn't try and do it all alone. Humans need each other to survive. That includes you. That includes me. When you're at your lowest, a grudge will not check on you. Being petty will not bring peace; it'll tear your soul to shreds. That doesn't have to happen.

So try feeling something today.