Category: Fear

Don’t Stop Believin’

The true masterpiece behind the song “Don’t Stop Believin'”- Journey

Compiled from author: Tristar

The song is about the common search for love and the fear of loneliness. The lyrics are focusing on a metaphor for all of the things we use to fill the void in our lives so we don’t feel the pain of emptiness and loneliness. 

Yes, it’s a lonely world, and finding someone is hard, but hope makes it all bearable (believing that there is someone there for you). It also addresses escaping from your past, whatever it may be, and looking toward a better tomorrow.

There is a commonality between us all, regardless of our backgrounds, the loneliness of adolescence, escaping from your past.

We are so desperate to not be lonely that we’ll form a relationship simply on the basis of a smile (again metaphorical, though often literal). This scene is repeatedly played out day in and out – we’re all searching for love and companionship.

“Strangers waiting”: We are all strangers to each other, no one has experienced exactly what you have, and there is a certain inherent isolation in that. Everywhere, every town, every person, through all life experience. 

Shadows are our own inner darkness (or demons, our deepest secrets). We are haunted by our personal ghosts, and are seeking someone who will understand and relate to us despite who we are. The shadows aren’t really seeking (since shadows aren’t actually anything, but the absence of light), but us seeking someone with whom we can share who we really are. 

What we project ourselves to be to the world – how we want people to see us. 

“Living just to find emotion”: We are isolated and seeking meaningful relationships, but willing to settle for something to make us feel less empty, so we will fill that void with any sort of connection. Any sort of superficial emotional connection seems to be preferable to being alone in the darkness.

Putting forth a great deal of effort to make those connections, the fact that we often substitute cheap thrills (sex?) for true meaning and connection in relationships.

We will sacrifice a great deal to avoid being lonely, even if the reward is fleeting. 

“Some will win, some will lose”: Some will find a true, meaningful relationship, some won’t, some never will. 

This cycle goes on and on, just the players change over time.

Don’t give up hope, keep searching for that meaningful relationship regardless of how difficult and trying the search is.

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Media- Negative Effects

“Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.” 

– Jim Morrison

This is so true and just scary to think about. The media does control our minds, especially the youth. Young people are growing up in a world where there is a database telling them what to think, how to act, what is cool, what is not, who to love, who to hate, what to be, what to look like, etc.

Things like this can be so dangerous. All these kids are now growing up with body issues and self-confidence issues, they have to see what they’re not and what they don’t have everyday. They have to grow up in a world where there is constant comparison.

Databases control our thinking in a more literal way as well. The internet, with all these search engines, is tailored to each and every person individually; it collects data on them and only presents them with what it thinks they’ll like. It controls our information, it controls the way we receive our information, and it controls how we distribute our information.

Not saying that all media is bad, if you use it the right way it can be good. Nevertheless, we have to acknowledge the ever present negative effects that it has on our youth, and society as a whole.

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Life’s Little Wisdoms

Thought this was cute! How about you 😊??

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Everyone wants to see the fortune but never wants to eat the cookie

Everyone wants the reassurance but never wants to do the work that comes with it

…

But we all know you have to eat the cookie for the fortune to come true 😉 

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Hard Things To Hear

I recently had the privilege of listening to some amazing and heart-wrenching stories from people who have either experienced homelessness, faced poverty, or been through the justice system. This is something I took out of that experience…

“You don’t know what you would do if you were actually put in that situation- you simply don’t, and you can’t say you wouldn’t have done the same thing.”

You can not say you know what someone is going through if you have not been there yourself. You can be empathetic and be supportive, but never say you know what it’s like. And never say you wouldn’t have done something, because you’ll never know unless you experience that situation.

This is how we pass snap-judgements. We judge others’ actions without taking the time to understand their motives or the situation.

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You are a family of five that is living in poverty. You have just used the last of your paycheck since getting fired from your already low-paying job. You have three young children and a sick partner to feed and take care of- How will you manage? Getting a new job takes time and involves lots of paperwork. What if it’s too late by the time you find one? But wait! You are offered something. It involving dealing illegal drugs- will you take it?

There are three turnouts to this scenario …
  1. You take the job and get enough money to keep your family alive
  2. You take the job, get caught, and are sent to jail- your family starves
  3. You don’t take the job and you and your family starve to death

If this was your last option to keep your family from starving, if this was the only way, you can’t say you wouldn’t have taken it!

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If you yourself just read about a case involving a man caught selling drugs, your first thought would probably be ‘what a horrible person’ or ‘who is stupid enough to get involved with that’ or ‘he deserves what he’ll get’. But, what if the man convicted did that solely to save his family. You never know, and you can’t say you wouldn’t have done the exact same thing.

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What If Money Was No Object?

We go through life with a goal: to make it through. Often times, we get so caught up in this natural instinct that we forget to actually live.

How often do you ask yourself… ‘Is this what I really want?’

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When you chose your career, did you choose it because it was your dream? Or because it was stable?
When you ended your old flame, was it because it wasn’t working? Or because you were scared that it was working?
When you discovered your true passion, did you pursue the idea? Or put it down because it was ‘unreasonable’?
When you make a decision, do you ask your own self first? Or do you go to someone who you feel would have a rational answer?
If you had an opportunity of the lifetime, would you pull your kids out of school for a memory they will never forget? Or would you stick with the safe option, and dismiss it?
If you only had a month to live, would you continue on as if it wasn’t real? Or would you really start to live?

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“Its absolutely stupid to spend your time doing things you don’t like; to teach your children to follow in the same track. We are bringing up children and educating them to live the same lives we are living so that they might find satisfaction in bringing up their children to do the same.”

What would you do if money was no object?

What would you do if you could do anything in the world?

Where would you go if you could go anywhere?

What do you really desire?

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It’s My Life

It’s my life
It’s now or never
I ain’t gonna live forever

“I just wanna live while I’m alive”

Bon Jovi- It’s My Life

There is so much truth in this! Something as simple as a song lyric can change your perspective. 🙂

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Making Our Mark

“I’m going to die one day probably without ever having left my mark on this silly little planet. I’m going to die an anonymous, meaningless speck of dust.”

I feel a lot of us have this fear that we aren’t going to leave our marks. We constantly have this question in our minds about what our purpose is in life. I myself am scared to leave this world without leaving my mark. When you think about it, what is the point in living if you don’t make some kind of difference- if you don’t somehow justify your existence. It is really scary to think about.

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I wanna do something better with the time I’ve been given

I wanna try to touch a few hearts in this life

And leave nothing less than something that says, “I was here”

– “I Was Here,” sung by “Lady Antebellum.”

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“Maybe we have this mindset because we have always been told things like “you only live once” and deep down we all want that ‘once’ to be just significant enough. Although we do know that our ‘once’ isn’t gonna make any difference to this world with such a vast number of people all living their ‘once’. “Oblivion is inevitable” (John Green). But still who wouldn’t want to leave a trace of their existence knowing that this is all you are gonna get. We all know that one day, we are gonna die. For a while our loved ones will be devastated, they will cry. But eventually, they will move past it because they will get busy with their ‘once’. Years after, your great grand children will not even know your name- even though you are the reason for their mere existence, yet they possibly wouldn’t care about yours.” –a wise soul

But, this is how life works. This is what our existence is for. It isn’t to be remembered for who we were, but for what we did. People don’t have to know our names for something to really count. It is about the nameless gestures that we do, the things we do when nobody is watching, the things we do that we don’t even realize. Making a mark in this world, in our lives, doesn’t have to be big. Something as simple as touching one person by doing on single thing is making a mark. Who knows, that one thing could even change the trajectory of that person’s whole life- and shouldn’t that be enough?

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