Not because I want to do my homework on a typewriter..(actually that’d be cool..) or wait three days for someone to call me back. I just want to know what it felt like to be young when everything seemed like it was so cool
I want to wear ridiculous clothes and have flowers in my hair. I want to sit on the hood of an old car with the radio playing while the sun goes down. I want to go to a record store and actually have to look through records instead of typing three words into a search bar. I want photographs that aren’t taken ten times because everyone is trying to get the perfect one.
the 60s that feels almost unreal from here.
The music, the colors, the posters, the cars, and the peace signs..
Of course, that’s the version that looks good from 2026.
The other version wasn’t as pretty.
There were major civil rights struggles, intense political conflict, war, protests, discrimination, and a lot of people who didn’t have the freedoms we casually expect now. Being a teenager in the 60s wouldn’t have meant living inside a vintage movie. Some of the things I love about the decade existed alongside some very ugly realities.
And then there’s the inconvenient fact that I would have to live without the internet. No Spotify. No Google. No texting. No more immediately finding out what happens at the end of a movie before you even finish it..that might take me out.
Still, I wish I could visit it. Not permanently. Just for a little while. I’d want to walk down a street in 1967(omg I said the thing) and see what everyone was wearing. I’d want to hear music coming through an open window. I’d want to sit somewhere crowded and watch people who had no idea that, decades later, someone my age would look back at their ordinary lives and think they looked magical.
I’m missing a version of the 60s that exists in my head. That version has really good music.
One of the weirdest questions you can ask someone is, “What makes you you?”
Not your favorite color, not your music taste, not what you order at your favorite restaurant, I mean you.
Because your body changes, your hair changes, your face changes, your clothes change, your opinions change, and even your personality can change so much that you can look back at an old picture of yourself and think, yikes..Who even was that? Even though, obviously, you still know that was you.
The little kid who hated veggies, an awkward middle-school version of you, the person you are right now, the person you might be ten years from now. They’re all supposed to be the same person. Which I find strange.
Because like, imagine this, someone loses most of their memories. Would they still be you? Obviously, they would still have your body, but what if the things that made you feel like you were gone?
Or imagine replacing parts of your body one by one, a new heart, a new kidney, maybe someday, somehow, even parts of a brain. At what point would you stop being you? Who even gets to decide that?
That’s where the whole idea of a soul becomes interesting to me. There is something comforting about believing that underneath all the physical stuff, there is a part of you that isn’t constantly being replaced. That thing doesn’t disappear every time you change your mind, grow older, lose a memory, or become a completely different version of yourself.
Because I don’t think I’m just my face. I’m not my hair, or my height, or my voice, or the body I happen to have right now. I’m not even entirely my personality, because my personality has changed before. I’m sure it will change again. I’m a collection of memories and feelings and mistakes and dreams, but even those things don’t seem like enough.
There has to be something underneath all of that, no?
I believe that’s why the thought of a soul has lasted for so long. People have been asking these questions for thousands and thousands of years because nobody can really point to one specific thing and say, There. Right there. That’s the exact piece of me that makes me me.
Being a person isn’t as simple as having the right body or remembering the right things. There’s a part of us that can’t be measured or photographed or held in someone’s mere hands. Something that makes you look at an old photograph and say, “That’s me,” even though almost everything about you has changed.
The strangest thing about love is that almost everyone knows what it feels like, yet almost no one can explain what it is. Including me.
We use the word casually. We love our parents, our friends, our pets, our favorite books, even places we like to go. The same word carries all of these feelings, even though they are not identical. To love a person is different from loving a place, and loving a friend is different from loving someone romantically. Yet something connects them. Love seems to begin when something outside of ourselves becomes important enough to change us.
That may be exactly why love is so difficult to define. A definition gives something boundaries, while love seems to exist by crossing them. It makes another person’s happiness feel connected to our own. It makes their absence noticeable. It can even change the meaning of ordinary things simply because someone we love is attached to them.
Romantic love is perhaps the clearest example I can think of. A stranger can become part of the way someone imagines their future. Decisions that once belonged entirely to one person begin to include another. Where should I live? What should I sacrifice? What kind of life do I want? The questions remain personal, but the answers no longer belong entirely to you, because now you’re considering them aswell. This is why romantic love can seem irrational. It can make people hopeful without certainty and vulnerable without guarantees. We do not simply see the person we love. We begin to see the world with their existence included in it.
But romantic love is not the only kind capable of changing us. Friendship. It doesn’t always involve the same promises as romance, but it can still make another person’s happiness feel drastically important. Perhaps, then, romantic love is not necessarily deeper than friendship? They may simply be different ways of allowing another person to matter… Human beings like to categorize things because categories make uncertainty easier to handle. That’s a fact. We call one relationship friendship and another romance, as though feelings will always respect those boundaries. But they do not always. Friendship can become romance. Romance can become friendship. Some connections refuse either name. Maybe that is the uncomfortable truth about love: we want to understand it because understanding makes things feel more controllable But love is rarely controllable. To love is to admit that something has gained the power to hurt us by becoming important. Yet avoiding that vulnerability would also mean avoiding one of the things that makes relationships meaningful? So the question is not, “What kind of love is this?” Perhaps it is, “What has this love taught me to care about?” Love may be romantic, friendly, familial, or something that refuses a name. There may never be one definition capable of containing all of it. That is fitting, I think. Some things become less true when we reduce them to an explanation. Love may be one of them. We recognize it not because we can perfectly describe it, but because somehow, someway, another person, place, creature, or memory has ceased to be merely part of the world and has become part of our orbit.
I may be alone in this, but sometimes one mean comment can ruin my entire week. It doesn’t even have to be something huge. Someone can make a little joke about you, say something unnecessarily rude, or make a comment that they probably forget five minutes later. But I’m still thinking about it three days later. Why did they say that? Did they mean it? Is that really what people think about me? We’re all guilty of letting other people’s words get in our heads. Something I’ve been learning is that not everything people say deserves a permanent place in our head. Accept your feelings and then let them go
People say mean things because they’re angry. People are trying to be funny and take it too far. Someone is insecure and wants someone else to feel small. Sometimes, people are just mean. That doesn’t make what they said true. That’s where I get confused. I hear something negative about me, and because someone else said it out loud, I start wondering if it must be true.
But someone else’s opinion is still just an opinion. If someone tells you that you’re annoying, that doesn’t make you annoting to the next person. If someone makes fun of something you like, that doesn’t make liking it embarrassing. If someone doesn’t like you, that doesn’t mean there is something wrong with you.
Not taking something to heart isn’t saying it didn’t hurt. If someone says something mean and you feel upset, that’s natural. Trust me, I’d know. You don’t have to be completely unaffected by everything. You shouldn’t want to become emotionless. You should want to learn how to feel something without letting it become your entire view of things. You can think, “Wow, that really hurts my feelings,” without thinking, “They must be right about me.”Those are two different thoughts.
The next time someone says something that gets under your skin, ask yourself one question
Do I actually believe this about myself?
If the answer is no, then why are you letting someone else’s opinion take up so much space in your head, bruh? And if the answer is yes, maybe that’s something worth thinking about..not because that person was right to be mean, but because you need to understand why their words affected you. You can’t control what people say, you can’t make everyone like you, you definitely can’t stop people from being rude. But..you can decide how much power their words get to have on your day. Next time someone says something mean, let yourself be upset if you want. I do. Then take a deep breath, remind yourself who you are, ask yourself whether those words are true. If they are, figure out why it hurt to hear the truth, if they aren’t, LET IT GO BRUUUUHHHH.
Hello everypony, my middle school self would like to formally apologize for the amount of friendship drama I witnessed…and caused
There was this girl I used to be friends with who had a specific way of dealing with conflict..she just ghosted you..in person. You could walk right up to her and start talking, and she would just walk away. This was her solution to literally everything.
That friendship definitely taught me something, though. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become a lot more conscious of how I deal with conflict. I’ve made my own mistakes, obviously. I’ve argued over text. I’ve complained to other friends when I should have just talked to the person involved. I’ve said things while I was angry that probably would have sounded a lot better if I had waited five minutes. I’ve also learned that friendships are going to have uncomfortable moments. What matters is your conflict resolution.
It could be your friend has been acting weird and you have no idea why, you got left out of something, there’s a boy involved, someone said something that bothered you or maybe you don’t even know who is mad and why. Whatever the situation is, here’s what I’ve learned about dealing with it.
First, figure out what you’re trying to say.
You don’t need to write a speech or prepare a ten-page argument. Just know what’s bothering you. Before I talk to them, I think: What happened? Why am I upset? What do I want them to understand? What do I want to happen? If you’re nervous, write it down. Put everything in your notes app. Tell your mom. Talk to someone you trust.
And please, do not have the argument through text. I know it’s easy. You can type out exactly what you want to say, read it seventeen times, and send it without having to look at their face. Sounds amazing. Right? WRONG. If you can, talk face-to-face.. Sit somewhere quiet. Find somewhere you both feel comfortable enough to talk. AND DON’T INVOLVE PEOPLE WHO DON’T NEED TO BE INVOLVED.
Now, I start with the friendship, and not the problem. Before immediately listing everything they’ve done wrong, tell them why you’re having this conversation instead of just dropping them. Something as simple as, “I really care about you, and that’s why I don’t want to just ignore what’s been happening between us.” is usually my go to. That one sentence can completely change their mindset.
You’re not saying, Here is everything I hate about you. You’re saying, Our friendship matters enough to me that I really want to fix this.
There is nothing embarrassing about admitting that something hurt you. When you explain what happened, try to focus on your experience instead of attacking theirs. Instead of saying something like…
“You’ve been treating me like garbage.”
I’d say somethin like…
“I’ve felt really distant from you lately, and I honestly haven’t known what I did wrong.”
Same feeling. Just not as dramatic. And once you’ve said your part, stop talking and let them answer.
This is probably the hardest part for me because I might hear something I don’t agree with. Maybe they misunderstood something. Maybe they’re upset about something completely different. Maybe they have a perspective I never even considered.
You don’t have to immediately defend yourself against every sentence. You can say, “I didn’t realize you felt that way,” or even just, “I need a little time to think about that.”
Finally, don’t make the ending awkward just because the conversation was awkward. You don’t have to walk away with everything magically fixed. Sometimes the best ending is simply agreeing that you’ll both try to communicate better next time. You could say, “Can we just promise that if something is bothering us, we’ll actually say something next time?”
I know this is scary. Confrontation feels so so scary, but it’s a necessary part of growing up. So don’t be too scared to confront a bad friend!
This is something I am disgustingly over-educated in. I’ve seen it all. XO kitty, my life with the Walter boys, The summer I turned pretty, even Ginny and Georgia. I’m a sucker for something that I can watch without using any of the important parts of my brain. The lower the budget of the show, the better. I personally tend to stick with the Netflix originals.
If you’re a teenage girl you’ve probably seen at least one of the “To all the boys but I’ve loved before” movies. Kitty was Laura-Jean’s annoying little sister who sent the letters. XO Kitty is a spin-off revolving around Kitty as she moves to Seoul, Korea to go to a school called KISS. (Korea Independent School of Seoul).
Kitty had an online boyfriend who also went there named Dae. Kitty made the dumb decision to NOT tell Dae that she not only got into KISS but also was planning to surprise him AT KISS. Ugh. When she arrived at KISS, she learned that Dae, in fact, had a girlfriend there. This was the first major conflict in the show, and after that it never ends. It’s dramatic plot point after dramatic plot point. It has me hooked.
Another show I’ve been into as of late is called “My Life with the Walter Boys.” It is so stupid, but so addicting. The show follows a girl named Jackie, who has this tragic backstory that causes her to move to a small town in Colorado called Silver Falls. The people she moves in with is this big family called the Walters. The parents have so many children. I believe it’s 8 children plus two nephews, and now Jackie. 11 kids plus parents all under one roof. When Jackie arrives, she’s immediately interested in two of the brothers. Alex and Cole. This is like my very own team Edward or team Jacob. I’m on Team NEITHER. They both make very toxic boyfriends in their own way. Now, I know I have to pick one. So, I guess it’d depend on the season. Season one I’m going with Alex all day, but season two is going to have to be Cole. See, season one Cole was the bad boy player while Alex was the sweet one, but in season 2 it all kind of switches. Alex goes away all summer to some horse camp and when he comes back, he’s kind of a jerk. Meanwhile, Cole actually starts caring about school. It’s just drama after drama. I love it. Season three just came out, and I can’t wait to see how it unfolds. Okay love ya bye!
Hello everypony. I’m going to come up with a clever greeting soon enough, but for now we’re just getting words out. My blog is going to be a place that I HOPE feels like a conversation during a family gathering with your cool aunt. I want to talk about EVERYTHING here. I never want you to be afraid to tell me that my blog needs work or that it just sucks. I’m always open to criticism. The main topics I know I’ll talk about at least once are listed below.
Marvel
DC
Religion
My friends
School
Life hacks
Organization tips (it’s kind of ma thing)
Many more!
First impressions are very important, and this is mine. I hate when I meet someone and all they do is talk about themself, so why would I make MY first impression something I hate? Instead, I’ll describe how I hope you’ll interpret my blogs, my ideal reader, and a surprise topic. Wait. Those are kind of all about me. Yikes. I tried, people, I tried. Anyways! I hope my blog will feel like a one-on-one conversation with a friend. I never want someone to feel discriminated against or offended by anything I put here. Despite the fact I’m basically talking to myself here, I want you to feel like this is somewhere you can open up.
Without further ado…my ideal reader! My ideal reader would be a teenager for sure. Someone who doesn’t judge people before knowing them. A TEA DRINKER. An enjoyer of cinema and books. A person who was born in the summer. Wait. That was oddly specific? Because I just snuck my about me in on you!! It felt too vain to say, “I’m Bailey now read all about ME!” So, you read about me unknowingly. Boom. Obviously, I’m not my own ideal reader. My ideal reader is anyone who wants to read this
Next topic!
I know I may look boring, but I’ve got taste, people. Might I introduce you to my favorite thing? MY LITTLE PONY. Peak cinema. I grew up with My Little Pony. It’s hard to beat. I like to think I’m the most like Twilight and Pinkie pie, but of course that isn’t up to me.
I’ve had many people come up to me in the past and tell me that I’m too for My Little Pony. I think that’s silly. You should always do what makes YOU happy.
I think this concludes my first blog. Thanks for hanging with me. Love you, bye!!!
