self-enslavement & rehabilitation.

What does it mean to be a slave? Literally, "a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them."  Growing up in the United States we are afforded the opportunity to not be literally, or legally, enslaved by another but I believe we, figuratively, enslave ourselves.  

As we age we immerse ourselves more and more into the societal addiction we develop through our, slowly becoming, innate need to feel "connected."  This, combined with our need to stay "ahead of the curve" or "in the know," has forcefully taken over our lives.  Have you ever noticed how no one posts anything on their respective social media accounts that isn't overly "happy," or exciting?  We've perpetuated this need to maintain a picture perfect outward appearance out of our need to maintain an, often outrageous, image of happiness.  We are so uncomfortable with the fact that self-establishment, within the world outside of college - "the real world," is a long, strenuous, and individualized process that we begin to lose functionality and saneness when we cannot project an appearance of "keeping up."  

We force ourselves into a, concurrent, enslavement to our environment as well as to the social media stratosphere.  Our constant maintenance of our various social media outlets has become an, almost, unhealthy obsession.  Insert smartphones, and our other various devices, here and we have no real way of, ever, escaping the madness.  Spontaneity has gone so far out of the window that should we ever have the urge indulge in it now requires an endless amount of planning.  Group messaging, twitter, the - now basic - ability to reach a people in a mass communicatory manner has contrarily distanced us from one another.  We no longer call to make plans, we text.  We no longer meet with friends to "catch up," we tweet.  

I recently made the plunge into the deep end - I finally bought an iphone.  After spending a little bit over a year only somewhat addicted to my windows phone - my first smart phone - I made the transition to the long-loved Apple product thinking I would be able to manage the addiction that I saw, so many of, my friends enduring.  Years of hating on instagram and twitter, claiming to never make an account for either, I did.  Though I can cite the need to post show photos, as an attempt to help build the social media umbrella, for the music venue I work as an intern for - I can't honestly say that I don't use either of the applications for personal use as well.  I, shamelessly, admit to being an iPhone & social media addict.  It is almost as if my iPhone has become an extension of my arm, never far enough out of reach that I can't hear a tweet, text, or phone call.  

I, shamelessly, admit that I am a, figurative, slave.  Figurative because I am not being forcefully contracted by another individual, every manner in which I feel enslaved is self-induced, self-enforced, self- imposed.  Though I have slowly managed to come to terms with my over-indulgence into this lifestyle, it was a hard struggle.  I'm not sure if this how others may feel about the subject, when observed in their own lives, but definitely - for me - I struggled between my want to maintain my individuality, by not creating accounts on multiple social media applications, and the want to connect with people on various levels.  This level of connection that we, myself included, crave to have between ourselves and our peers has created a highly pressurized society where, I think, we are basically succumbing to environmental-induced peer pressure.  This is something we fear.  

Though we are living in a culture that praises and values individuality as seen through the importance we place on celebrity, we somehow seek to achieve this in a society that is lacking in originality and built on the monotony we built through our "#addiction" to technology and connectedness.  We are all living oxymorons through our enslavement to the devices, and vices, that this technology provides us.  We will never be truly individual until we are willing, and able, to disconnect from these devices and reconnect with ourselves, and our peers, on a more intimate and emotional level.  Do you think we can find our paths to rehabilitation? Could we ever be able to live contentedly in a world where we don't sit in the same room, as those we call our friends, without spending a majority of our time connected to those we are not immediately with?  This rehabilitation will be found, again, once we place a higher value on the interpersonal connections and relationships we have with others over the social media presence we maintain to impress people we barely know.

forget about hope.

What is hope?

It's an idea.  It's a theory.  It's a simple concept which we cling to in order to make our lives seem as though they hold meaning.  But why do we force ourselves to hope for meaning and self-worth rather than decide what will establish these things, in our lives, and proactively go after them.  

We spend such a great deal of our teens, early and mid-twenties hoping that "things" will improve, that we will figure out who we are, that we will decide what we want out of life, and we will figure out our individualized plan in order to achieve these things.  Though these goals are well-intentioned and grand - they achieve nothing.  We spend so much of our time thinking, analyzing, and over-analyzing the external factors that, we believe, guide our paths in life that we ignore ourselves to the point that we become completely out of touch with who we are.  We hope for happiness and success, so much so that we allow others to determine what will bring these things into our lives rather than attempting any sort of self-discovery that will encourage "self-specialized" passions and successes.  

I think it's time to move one from these externally formed hopes.  It's time to move on from the interpretations of success and happiness that society has built for us.  It's time to become ourselves.  No path is the "right" path, no path is the "wrong" path.  I think that as long as the path we choose to follow allows us the opportunity to determine our own dreams, follow said dreams, and, either, succeed or fail at those dreams - we have no need for hope.  We all have the ability to build our own destiny and create our own happiness - all we have left to do is to realize that we are our own creators.  

So why do we bother with hope?  We allow it to have complete control over our emotional well-being.  We allow it to determine the roller-coaster like fluctuations that sway our moods.  I say we forget about hope and we proactively determine our future, our successes, and our happiness.  I say we find ourselves.  I say we determine our own paths.  I say we do whatever the hell we want and we take control of our lives.