Self-Appreciation Saturdays

SAS: Not Sharing Your Feelings is Selfish. (5/26/18)

Hey, guys – welcome back to TNTH!

Man, I really don’t mean for these titles to be so clickbait like, but I swear: hear me out on this one.

I am one to avoid confrontation with a 10-foot pole. For the past couple of years, I never tried to bring up things or how I feel in situations because I’m always worried about how a person will respond to it. Instead, I try to just ignore my feelings and carry on with my day. While I thought doing so was a selfless act (I mean, I’m not hurting anyone’s feelings by doing so; I’m actually doing the other person a favor of letting it go), I slowly realized just how backward my logic was.

I went to see my therapist for my weekly appointment, and we discussed this concept of being avoidant. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been the type of person to think before they speak (or at least try to). I will always think how the other person would feel if I brought up something that was random and serious all of a sudden. Many of the time, I see myself continuously doing this because I am simply afraid that my feelings or my thoughts will create an even worse situation than I intended to do.

While it is always right to consider how a person might feel when deciding to talk about how you may feel, keeping how you really feel to spare the other person’s feelings isn’t as great of a deed you think it is.

It’s actually worse in retrospect.

Now, I’m not saying tell your friend that her dress is ugly after she told you she feels really good wearing it. I’m not saying that at all. What I’m saying is that the more you bottle up your emotions for the sake of avoiding conflict and/or discussion, you’re hurting not only yourself, but the person you are interacting with.

Personally, I find it hard to bring up my feelings about conflicting issues because the second I decide I want to bring it up, I constantly think “well, what happens if that person doesn’t take it well and it results in you guys fighting?” Instantly after that, I’m back at keeping it in and ignoring it. Doing so is such a temporary feeling to a long-term issue, and in all honesty, you’re not allowing the other person to have a say, hindering their opportunity to express themselves.

Not every situation will have a good turnout. There will be times where the other person will not agree with what you have to say, and that’s completely fine. Communication in social/personal/romantic relationships is such an important device when hashing out issues you may overall have. Plus, you never know: the other person might feel the same way you do as well.

You never know if you don’t talk.

Talking about your feelings and letting them be known to whoever is around you isn’t an act of being self-centered. Talking about how we are feeling creates honesty and compassion, and it makes you extremely self-aware of who you are and what makes you happy, sad, mad, etc. I’ve learned that anyone who is willing to call you self-centered or selfish because you share how you feel without a filter isn’t really interested in who you are as a person; they are typically just people who want to be around for a good time.

Be unapologetic for what you are feeling. Allow your thoughts to open up a conversation that might be needed in order to move forward with something. Give back what you want from people and listen to what they have to say; you would want the same thing in return.

And the same thought goes with hiding your feelings; you wouldn’t want someone who you care about just hiding how they are feeling when they are clearly upset over something. Also, you would want a chance to talk things out and move forward with whatever you and the other person are going through.

The next time you feel like hiding your true feelings about a situation for the sake of the other person involved, remember that you’re just showing them that it’s okay to shove things under the rug without resolving it, which will only come back up whenever you guys are in another sticky situation.

So start the conversation.

-Liz (:

Weekly Life Updates

Happy 25th Birthday, Obie!

Just a quick little shout out to my best friend of 8 years whose birthday is today! I met Obie when I was just 15 years old and he was 17, and I can’t believe that he’s now 25 years old. In honor of his birthday, I wanted to share 25 things that randomly pop up in my head about him and our very long friendship, but for the sake of time and my poor fingers that will literally be writing this all day, here are 10 things about it! 😀

  1. The first day of my sophomore year, I had third-period Physics with a bunch of seniors (I was really good in science). Anyway, my teacher had asked the class what “E=mc²” was, and when I raised my hand to answer it, Obie had looked at me and said, “okay, Liz!” At this time, Obie only knew me briefly; we unofficially met in a math class I had my freshman year but after that little encounter…
  2. … We became friends because we sang in the same choir. In my All About 2010 post, I explain that I was in Performing Choir for the first time and it holds a special place in my heart because it’s where Obie and I officially became friends. Our choir was intense; we had after-school rehearsals for shows that we were going to do, and we traveled to a lot of places to perform. You can say we spent a lot of time together, and we just became close because of it.
  3. Back to physics: when we became official friends, I helped him out with physics whenever he didn’t get or understand something. During one test, I allowed Obie to copy some answers on my test and when our teacher caught him, he practically begged him to just penalize him and not me. I found it quite endearing that he would take full blame. That’s when I was like “alright, I fuck with you. You’re cool beans.” On another occasion, I had completed pages and pages of extra credit homework he had to do or else he wouldn’t graduate on time. Let’s just say we had each other’s backs hardbody. (And still do, under other circumstances).
  4. He is a man of many talents. Not only was he a baritone in Performing Choir, but he also ran his own dance group, Bad Intentionz, and created the choreography for it. I told him back then that his true calling was dancing and teaching it. He denied it. 8 years later, and now he teaches dance to middle school kids. I always knew it was his calling.
  5. He once watched me down an entire Big Mac on a coach bus on our way home from a performance. It’s not as dirty as it sounds. Literally, I was eating a Big Mac and he turned around from his seat and watched me eat it. I asked him afterward why would he even want to see me do so, and he responded with “you’re such a little girl with little hands; it was cute seeing you eat.” Eight years later, and he says the same thing whenever we eat together.
  6. In a turn of events, he was my first kiss. I was a 15-year-old girl surrounded by girls with boyfriends and who had their first kiss checked off their bucket lists. Me? I didn’t have anything checked off from mine. I always dreamt about how mine would be like and how special I wanted it to be. When I met Obie and started to get close to him, I became attracted to him (I used to have this thing where if boys used to give me the time of day and be my best friend I would instantly fall for them, hence why I had so many crushed in elementary and middle school). Obie felt different, and something in me was telling me to go for it whenever I had the chance, and I did. Most girls look back at their first kiss and cringe because it was with some boy that they never liked or did it just for the sake of doing it. I still don’t regret mine.
  7. Because I had this little crush on him in high-school, I use to be really eager to leave my English class just so that I saw him leave his government class a few doors down. It’s funny, because one time, I got out of class to go to my next one, and when we both met up in the hallway, he took me to find his boy that kept on bothering me at lunch. In the middle of the hallway, he was telling this boy off and telling him to leave me alone, and one of my friends passed by us and went “is that him?” Man as nervous and anxious I was then, it was cute of him to do so.
  8. So, Obie was actually at my high-school prom, and not as my date. He was dating a girl at the time and came as her date, but I was so excited for him to be there and experience my prom with me. Occasionally we danced (I remember dancing to “Beez in the Trap” by Nicki Minaj with him, which I don’t even know why we chose that song to dance to) but it was insanely fun and possibly one of the “few” highlights of my senior Prom. Spoiler: most of it sucked.
  9. I’m a girl who is constantly evolving. I learn from my mistakes and I try to become better out of them, but in the process, I’ve lost best friends who couldn’t handle my transitions. Obie has been my best friend for 8 years for a reason, and it’s not because I’ve had this strong attraction to him. Obie is a great example of a friend. When you know a person will always have your back whenever you fall down, you know that person is a good friend. I realized that about him when…
  10. … I fell into a major depression 5 years ago. As mentioned in my All About 2012 post, I was not in the right mind space. I’ve lost friends due to rumors and gossip, and despite it all, Obie never really left my side. There was damage made on both sides of our friendship, but he never thought about leaving me. Every year on our friendaversary, I thank him for never giving up on me because everyone in my life has given up on me at one point, and it’s a blessing to have someone who didn’t, and won’t.

Of course, I have 8 years worth of stuff to write about, but some of it is better left for us to laugh and cringe about. I’ve honestly watched him grow up into the man he is today, and the transformation (and glo’ up) have been surreal. There’s still so much left to learn about each other, and so many adventures to have and memories to make, so hey – here’s to 8 years of an amazing friendship, and 25 years of an amazing person.

 

Have a great day, Gemini! >:]

-Liz (:

Self-Appreciation Saturdays

Self-Appreciation Saturday. (5/27/17)

As graduation season comes this year, you may know someone that is a part of the Class of 2017. If that’s the case, then make sure to congratulate them at every given moment because they deserve it due to their hard work and accomplishments. You do realize though, that you’re not graduating with them, and once they graduate from the school you guys go through, they don’t come back in the following school year. It’s normal to be sad; you won’t get to see them as often as you want, yet alone in school anymore. All in all, it’s hard to be happy for your friends because you’re feeling sad for their departure.

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Throwback Thursdays

#TBT: All About 2010.

It’s really crazy to think that 2010 was 7 years ago. People who were born in 2010 are turning 7 this year. People born this year are in the 1st grade. In 2010, I was a sophomore in high-school experiencing tons of new things and was introduced to what it was really like to be a teenager. No seriously. Before 2010, I was this innocent child that didn’t do teenage things yet. This was a different type of year. 

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This is 16-year old Liz. A little, naive, curious teenage girl who wanted to explore every aspect of life. Regarding school, this was my first year being a part of the vocal program’s highest-ranking choir, Performing Choir. I was one of 6 sophomores to be put into the choir during this year, and the adventures I had this year with my choir members were amazing. We traveled to many places, such as various churches all throughout the borough, we went to NYSSMA and received the first ever “Gold with Distinction” award BHSA got within all of the performing arts program, and we performed at Albany for Music in Our Schools Month. 

Just notice how awkward I looked standing in the front row. This day and performance was memorable because this was the first time that I noticed just how powerful we were as a choir. 25 of us sounded like 60 people singing, and a lot of these people had soul and passion in their voice. I am still honored that I was a part of such an amazing bunch. Performing Choir ’10 wasn’t just the beginning of a tedious vocal adventure and exploration I went on, but it was solely the reason how I met my best friend, Obie.

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Fetus, Afro Obie. (He’s going to kill me for it. Lol)

I met Obie unofficially during my freshman year when I was in the same math class as him. Of course, I wasn’t really paying attention to my surroundings, so I vaguely remember him talking to me and making me laugh a lot. I was intimidated by him; he was a junior when I was a freshman and at first I wasn’t interested in making friends with the upperclassmen. Once I started my sophomore year, Obie was in my Physics class. I was in Physics as a sophomore because I was actually really good in science, so I was put in classes that most seniors took, and Obie was a senior when I was a sophomore. I still remember the first day of Physics, we were talking about what “e=mc²” stood for, and I remember answering most of the questions, and Obie said in the back of the class “Okay, Liz!” It made me smile, I can’t front. Later that day, I found out that he was also in Performing Choir, and that’s how we began to know each other. On October 9th, 2009, I gave him my AIM screen-name, and the rest is history.

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When he gets into this pose, it means he wants his picture taken.

Obie, now 24 with a head full of dreads and a nice scruff on his face, and he’s still my best friend. He’s actually more than just that, but he’s… how do I say this without sounding like a complete cheese-ball… honestly he’s my everything. Obie and I’s friendship isn’t your typical friendship and it didn’t stay platonic for long. As mentioned in my post The “I love you” Story, our friendship developed into something more serious and connective. He’s been there through the ups and downs, the very good and very bad, and nothing has changed since. I think back at all the times we traveled together to Performing Choir performances and back, I remember sitting next to Obie, who was yelling out of the B44 bus window after NYSSMA saying, “I got gold with distinction, I don’t need this!” I remember all the trouble we got into during that summer, and all the adventures we had during it too. We’ve had a really great first year of friendship in 2010, and I wouldn’t change anything about it.

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Summer 2010: Poolside in Staten Island, NY

Towards the end of 2010, I had to start my school year without my best friend being there. I managed to actually spend some time with old friends, such as my Pershing (JHS) friends during a reunion we had.

Lmfaoooo, Bianca’s face though.

As well as hang out with some new friends from my high-school (I was even invited to my very first Sweet Sixteen party!)

Nina, Angelica, and I during gym.
Racquel’s Sweet Sixteen.

All in all, 2010 was a great year because I honestly thought that I grew up as a person. I had many firsts this year, and I experienced a lot of new things that I never experienced before, and I believe this was just the start of the person that I am now, aka the girl who isn’t all uptight and close-minded about things that are “bad” and “life-altering” like sex and smoking weed. 

Man, I’m glad I’m not that girl anymore. Thank you, 2010!

-Liz (:

Creative Pieces

Scene: “Best-friend bonfire.”

EXT. JENNIFER’S LIVING ROOM (2007) – NIGHT:

In a dark living room with just the fireplace lighting up the room, two best friends sit on their sleeping bags, drinking hot chocolate. The lights are out due to a bad thunderstorm happening outside, and everyone else in the house are sleeping. JENNIFER, a spunky, 15-year old red-head tomboy with a tough-as-nails demeanor, plays with the spoon in her mug while her best friend, MILO, an awkward, long haired, soft-spoken boy, tries to turn on his Sidekick phone. He fails.

Jennifer watches Milo, now frustrated, drops his phone on the ground and looks at the fire; the battery’s dead.

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