Summer of Thankfulness: Technology

Look at that, I am not too late with this one.

Today I am thankful for technology. I know many people think that technology has caused the world to be less personable and made it harder for face-to-face conversations, but I still think it is something to be appreciated. First of all, someone super smart, definitely smarter than me, comes up with an idea and then has enough knowledge to make that vision a reality. That is so cool, and bashing on technology is basically telling the creators of all the technology that we have that their life work is bad for people. That is not true, and we should not be discrediting their work, but instead thanking them for trying to make the world better and more connected, sorry if it makes your child a little less present at the dinner table (it does not take much to make a rule that says no technology during family time). Second, all the technology, especially phones, does in fact keep people more connected. Think about how hard it would be to get a group of people together last minute to go get lunch. Without technology, you would have to go to their house and knock on the door and hope that they are home so you can invite them. With technology, a person is a call or a text away and you can get a lunch set up really quickly. And you know what, if they plan to have lunch, then the technology actually helped create more face-to-face conversations. Third, technology only causes a problem when it is abused. Yeah, there are some people out there who are hermits and stay inside on the computer all day, but that is their own fault. The computer does not force them to not talk to other people. It is their own choice to stay home, and it is their own obsession with technology that causes them to not be able to have conversations with people. If we all learn to control our technology usage, then it can again be something to be glad about, not something we have to warn people to stay away from. Fourth and finally, I do not believe that technology has really done much damage to people’s ability to have one-on-one conversations. I see people all the time come together with other people they are in constant communication with on technology and be able to keep a conversation going for hours. I believe that if two people are really friends and they meet up, they will be able to talk about something. I know some people would bring up how technology prevents us from meeting new people and having conversations with strangers. I would respond with what the heck happened to stranger danger. In addition, having a conversation with someone you do not know well will always be awkward and difficult to keep going. You will never convince me differently.

I just believe that technology has gotten a bad reputation, that is not needed, the past couple of years. I do admit that there are some cases where technology has become an obsession in a person’s life and that obsession has lead to an anti-social life, but that is not the technology’s fault. We has people just need to learn some control. I am not saying I have control over my technology usage though. I am just saying that I see all the benefits of technology, like me being able to keep in touch with my college friends while I am home for the summer, so I am going to be appreciative of it instead of critical. I think everyone else should take this approach too, because it is a privilege that we get to have the gadgets and gizmos (I promise I am not a fifty year old man) that we do. It is all about the perspective we have on the issue.

Thnx technology 4 keepin us connected.

Summer of Thankfulness

Summer of Thankfulness: Lack of Athleticism

First of all, this is not a shot at anyone or meant in a hateful way towards anyone either. Man, you just know that a blog is going to be great when it starts out like that.

Today I am thankful for my lack of athletic ability. I know most people view incoordination and awkwardness in athletic events as a bad and undesirable thing, but I have chosen to look at it in a positive way. Do not get me wrong, if I could improve my athleticism just a little, I would, because anyone who knows me knows that I am basically not athletic at all, even though I try to fake it all the time (fake it until you make it, right?). However, I have been dealt the genes that lead to getting hit in the face by athletic equipment rather then the genes that allow you to properly use that athletic equipment, so I am just going to look at the bright side.

Here is why I am thankful that I was not athletic enough to play sports growing up: it would have consumed my life and become my identity. No offense to people who are athletic, because like I have said, I would definitely not say no to some more athletic genes, but I have seen too many people get wrapped up in sports. I have seen people in high school only define themselves by the sports they play and then people in college lose their identity because they are not playing sports anymore. I know this does not happen to everyone, and I know most of you must be thinking, “But Hayden, you are so strong and great that you would never let that happen to yourself.” Thanks for the compliment by the way, but trust me, I am too competitive for my own good, and that competitiveness would have driven me to make sports my life. I would have only wanted to be the best and would not have been satisfied with myself until I was the best. I would have defined myself based on how well I was performing and how much better or worse I was than other people. Also, my attitude would depend on my team’s, or my own, success in games. If I lost, then I would be mad and rude to everyone around me, but if I won, I would be cocky and over excited to everyone around me. And if I was not able play anymore for some reason like going to college or getting injured, then who knows what would have happened, but it would not have been good. If you haven’t figured it out yet, all the stuff I just mentioned is very unhealthy, and knowing my personality, that is what would have happened to me. I am very glad that I never had to experience that type of behavior and glad that I was able to find my true identity. The Lord definitely knew what he was doing when he made sure I was awkward and hit-in-the-face prone.

Therefore, if you are reading this and you are athletic, be thankful because that is something that not every has, but also know that being athletic and playing sports is not your identity. Also, if you are reading this and you are not athletic, be thankful that you avoided any chance at experiencing the negatives I mentioned above. Again, these are just my opinions on the issue. If you feel differently, then that is your right, and if you right a blog post about what you believe, I will read it.

Thnx non-athletic genes 4 helping me avoid bad habits.

Summer of Thankfulness

Just Call Me “The Epitome of Awkwardness”

Well, I said on January 31 that I was gonna start blogging every week, but it is now February 22 and I am just now blogging again, so obviously that once a week thing did not happen. My life has been really busy, and I just haven’t really gotten around to blogging. Ohh well, its not like many people read this anyway, it is more for me to get to write about stuff that I am thinking about. But, if people are actually reading this, then great!

Okay, I did not write this to just talk about how I am not blogging consistently, so here we go. If you haven’t noticed, I am kind of really awkward. And don’t underestimate just what I mean when I say I am awkward. Its bad. Sometimes I am convinced that I have some sort of medical condition that makes it hard for me to have normal interactions. I think it might even be genetic, and if you have met my dad and sister, then you would believe me. I guess it just comes with my last name. My mom is probably one of the most social people you will ever meet, and since her maiden name is different than what her last name is now, then I just have to believe that the name is cursed.

If you don’t believe me, then here are some examples. I’ll keep the examples contained to this school year, because if I listed all of my awkward moments I have ever had, wait, scratch that, I would never be able to list all of them because I would probably die of old age before I finished the list. I’ll begin this list with things that happen on a regular basis and then give some pretty great specific instances when my awkwardness reached new levels. First of all, I do not think there is a day that goes by where I do not trip on a crack in a sidewalk or on stairs and then say “oops” and then walk off as quickly as possible with my head down. The worst part is that it always happens when I am walking in a highly populated area, probably because I am trying not to look awkward or make awkward eye contact with anyone I don’t know. Unfortunately, my awkwardness always reveals itself in some way or another. The next general case is when I am in a group of people. When I walk up to a group of people or when I am with someone and a group of people walk up to us, I normally just stand there without saying anything until someone finally addresses that I am there. I do not know what it is, but I just never really feel compelled to start up conversation or even introduce myself if I do not know some of the people. I just stand there awkwardly. Luckily, someone usually notices the awkwardness and asks me something, but if it was not for that, then I would just stand there until the group broke up. The worst part is, I know it is awkward, but I can never think of anything to do to fix it.

Okay, now a couple of prime examples of the extent of my true awkwardness. The first one was at the beginning of this school year. The first part starts with the fact that I got lost going to a class that I had already been to at least ten times, and as if that is not bad enough, the story gets even better. I was walking through the halls of a building and as I was turing a corner, I was so focused on remembering where the class was that I was quickly walking and not paying attention, and I ran right into some random girl. Not just brushed shoulders either, it was a legitimate straight on collision. Then, to top it off, I was so flustered that instead of stopping to see if she was okay, I just ducked my head mumbled “I’m sorry,” and ran off.

That was not the last time I ran into someone either. A few weeks later it happened again! Except, this time I was walking out of the library. I was not really paying attention for some reason, so as I was going to open the door to leave the library, someone else was opening it to get in. Instead of stepping back to let them in, I still had not realized that they were there, so I kept on walking. I ended up running into the person, then got slammed against the door when I bounced off of them, and then I slipped on the tiny slope right before the door as I was trying to rush away. The person said some comment that I didn’t hear and I responded with some random sound and hustled away.

My awkward moments do not just happen when I am walking either. So, for Young Life, I go up to the school to eat lunch with the kids for contact work. Well, this one time I told this kid that I would sit with him and his friends at lunch the next time I went, so the next time I was at lunches I tried to sit with them. I sat down and said “Hey, what’s up?” and they all looked at me and looked away. I then made awkward eye contact with the guy I told I would sit with him and gave him the head nod only to be reciprocated with an eye roll and a look away. So, instead of catching the hint, I just kind of sat there for the next ten minutes just listening to their conversation trying to get into it, but it never worked. I finally got up and left after the awkwardness got so intense that it became uncomfortable for everyone.

This blog is getting really long, so I will only give one more example. This just happened today. I was walking through campus and I saw someone I knew, but it was cold, so I did not really want to take my hand out of my pocket to wave. I decided to just smile at them, but they ignored me, and it was pretty obvious because we made eye contact and then they looked away. I was not really upset about it because I just met the person a week ago, so I understood why they just kinda kept walking, but I was concerned with how weird I looked smiling at someone who pretended that they did not know me. To try and cover this up I decided to just dedicate to the smile, which meant that I kept on smiling at random people. Then, I realized that this makes me seem even more awkward. I was just walking on the sidewalk giving this weird, almost confused, smile to everyone. When I finally realized what I was doing, it was too late. Too many people had already been affected by this smile.

If you still do not believe that I am probably one of the most awkward people you will ever meet, then you must be pretty awkward yourself. But, that’s okay, just embrace it. I have no bitterness about it, I actually think it is pretty funny and I joke about it all the time (for example, this entire blog). I have learned to live with mine, but that does not mean that it will not stop happening. So, be warned, if you are ever around me, my awkwardness may come out at any moment.

From The Life of Hayden