National Best Friends Day

  I wish I could be happy this Best Friends Day. I wish I could say I was happy and secure in all of my relationships. Truth is, today got me more unhinged than I've been in weeks. Opening Instagram, I see my friends talking about how much they love each other, but no one mentioning me.

  It's so insignificant, but it really gets to me. People tell me that they love me, but usually only at times when I've expressed that I feel lonely. No one cares about me enough to immediately think to talk or post about it. I'm not in the forefront of anyone's mind.

Isolation

  Relationships of any type are extremely difficult when you feel worthless and unlovable. It can breed jealousy, resentment, and worse self-hatred. How do I know this? It is the world of isolation I've lived in for the past three years.

  Ever since I was little, I've been shy. It's so easy to just let friends come to me. After a few failed attempts to make friends at twelve, I shut myself off. Shyness, anxiety, and depression have thrived in the dark clam shell I created for myself. I've always blamed the people who initially hurt me. They did, after all, cause all the pain and fear of rejection that I have to deal with. Even so, some of the blame, perhaps most of it, rests on me.

  How many times have I pushed good people away? How many people who feel the same way I do have I failed to help? Have I caused the same feeling of nothingness and ostracization?

  My isolation is partially my fault. When I was hurt to begin with, I didn't deal with the problems correctly. I let my fears get the best of me and don't add to conversations. I avoid looking at people because I think they'll see all my flaws or say something cruel. Until the past week, whenever depression would rear its ugly head, I would let it take over me instead of fighting or asking for help. One time, a friend was upset, and for whatever reason, I didn't sit with her. And I wonder why I feel isolated.

  There are so many people who care about me that I ignore. When I was crying, a group of amazing girls ushered me outside and listened to my problems. Though some people do exclude me from circles of conversation, others welcome me. People who I barely know congratulate me when I do well or send me nice messages when they think I need it.

  "Goner" has a very special place in my heart, and the lyrics are becoming increasingly more important and urgent as time passes. The whole album Blurryface is about the lead singer's, Tyler's, insecurities. He takes them and makes them into the person named Blurryface. As the album goes on, you listen through Tyler's journey fighting Blurryface, and by the end, he realizes that Blurry is not who he is as a person. Blurryface is something that needs to be taken out, and "Goner" is his cry for help. Well, here's my cry for help. Please help me overcome my fears, insecurities, and anxieties, because if you don't, they will win. I don't want to think about what would happen if they won.

  I know it's my fault that I'm so sad, lonely, scared, and isolated. But if the past few months have shown me anything, it's that I don't have to carry this burden alone. My friend Anna has tried to convince me of that, but I think it's something that I needed to realize for myself. God made me in His image, which gives me a certain kind of worth. That human worth is what ties us together, and so I deserve to be allowed to ask for help simply by being alive.

  If anyone's held on to this point, thank you. I'm not sure exactly what I need you guys to do for me, but any kind of quality time is nice. Quality time is my love language, so words of affirmation or a couple of hugs won't help me as much as they help other people. If you see me, smile or wave so I know I can talk to you. If I sit with you, please, please acknowledge that I'm there.

  I want to be a better friend. But that's the end goal, not something I can do right away. Until I can be certain of my worth, that I'll be okay if one person rejects me, and that I am lovable, being a good friend will be hard, if not impossible.

"I need your help to take him out."

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in Five Words/Phrases

  Have you ever heard of a blind date with a book? Libraries and bookstores have started wrapping books in opaque paper and writing key words for readers to choose by, rather than just looking at the cover art. I think this is a great way to review a book, so here's my short, blind-date style review of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

• Magic
• Friendship
• Commentary on the foster care system
• Heroism
• Gripping

Love

Love comes in so many forms. 

Pity is not love.

I feel so loved coming out of Shine 2016. My real friends are just the best. My family is the best. 

As always, when I didn't break, there were the "I'm so sorry"s. Those are the worst. People who don't know or love me only care about how well I did and don't realize how much I hate pity.  

My friends were so supportive. They are one of the biggest blessings in my life, reminding me that if I gave 100% for God, He is pleased, that they first became friends with me before I broke and that me not breaking won't ruin our relationship, and even complimenting unrelated things (hair, face, body, clothes). It means the world that they love me no matter how I place and that I can succeed in other areas of my life. 

My mom was amazing at this tournament. She had such an important job that kept her really busy, but she always took out time when I needed her. She's one of the only people who knows how hard I worked and so when she hugged me, it wasn't pity; it was understanding. She saw the work I put into preparing my speeches. She knew how much it would mean to me to break, but reminded me that I have other opportunities and that she loves me no less than my wildly successful siblings. 

My sister didn't lord it over me when she did better than me. She did call me selfish, but in general, she contained her excitement that she could have used to make me feel like nothing. 

My brother hugged me because he knows I love hugs (even though he doesn't). He's the reason I started in NCFCA and met all my amazing friends to start with.

Thank you guys. 

I love you. 

Truce

  There are no words I can use to explain how much this song means to me. Every word touches me in a way nothing ever has before. It combines all the beauty and tragedy of living and tells me it's worth it.

"I hope I'm not my only friend."

  This line breaks my heart. No matter how many words of affirmation I'm given, I never feel good enough. I always feel alone. In a way, it's my fault. I let anxieties and fears hold me back from new opportunities to not be alone because of what's happened in the past. Yet, in another way, I can't entirely control it. It's not a choice to start shaking, hyperventilating, or have heart palpitations whenever I talk to someone. It's not a choice that when a relationship doesn't work I feel entirely like a failure and empty. 

  I've learned to love myself, but I still don't really like myself. I take care of myself, physically, mentally, and spiritually, but it's only out of a sense of responsibility, not because I think I deserve it. I want friends to help, but they don't have that responsibility, so they'd have to like me, which seems impossible.

  

2016: The Year of My Truce

  I can't stand being alone, especially now that I've come to terms with the fact that it's because of me. The only "New Year's Resolution" is to be more open to new friendships. Instead of feeling sorry for myself when I'm alone, I'll make an effort to not be alone. Otherwise, I'm just hurting everyone. If my mental health is ever in jeopardy, I'll pull back.

   The truce is very simple- I'll pursue joy and relationships, but I won't let complacency or fear of rejection hold me back. I think it's the best way to combat depression. Preventing loneliness by surrounding myself with good, supportive people and shaking myself out of this stupor of pretending to be okay when I'm anything but which I've been in for three years. It's time for change. It's time for happiness. It will be hard to achieve, but that's why it's a truce. 

  No matter what happens, I'll stay alive.

Alone

DISCLAIMER

I never want to be one of those girls who writes about being sad in hopes of getting attention. I really don't. This is just a huge issue for me (and has been for the past few years) and it seems time to talk about it.

There are two types of loneliness that I experience. The first is feeling like you have no friends and the other is knowing you do, but not being able to be with them. 

I can't say either is worse, because they're basically the same feeling. At least for me, though, feeling like I don't have friends brings on a lot of other negative feelings like inadequacy and insignificance.

Last year was entirely the first type of loneliness, and though it's still a struggle for me, it is a lot less frequent. Now, the second kind is more common. I've taken the people who make me feel alone out of my life and found new friends, but I can't see or contact them (because I was too stupid to get their emails and whatever.) 

This time of year- after camp but before tournaments start- is always kind of depressing (and I'm not just saying that. I know as well as anyone what depression is). And this year, it's worse than normal. Neither of my brothers are home anymore; one's at college and the other moved out and got married. I especially miss Sam because we always do fun stuff together, and if he was here, he'd cheer me up.  

So basically, I'm lonely and miserable every day. I want to contact people, but I don't want to bother them. What should I do?

Previously on…

  Previously on The Mundane Adventures of an American Teenager-

"I'm not okay. But you can't help anyway."

 

"I love you, but you made me cry myself to sleep last night."

 

 "I don't like you as much as my other friends."

"Okay. . ." *crying* "I love you."

 "Fine. You know what? I'm done caring. No one's opinion about me matters except my own."

"I'm finally happy with myself."

"I am so alone."

  Okay, so that was a lot different than most of my blog posts. I was motivated by someone whose blog you should check out to write something, but I wasn't sure what. I looked up writing prompts, and one said to write, including what would be in the recap of my life if it was a TV show.

  I suppose I can't leave you all with just snippets of my life. You haven't seen every detail. You won't know every detail, but here are the general portions vital to your understanding.

  When I was 12, I felt very ignored. No one was as interested in me as I was in them. In all my immaturity, I was deeply offended and personally hurt. Going through the rest of my relations, I began to question the motives of everyone I knew and was cynical of anyone who tried to talk to me. I turned into the shyest, saddest, quietest person you could imagine. Eventually, it wasn't even about how much I was hurting or how lonely I was. It was just who I had turned into.

  Time dragged on and I found my sad, lonely self at a high school camp for the first time. I already had some friends, and since I was so shy I mostly only talked to them. In fact, I built my whole being and happiness around one individual. The one person in whom I put my trust was the only person who didn't deserve it. This individual went around sharing in camaraderie with a specific group of people and didn't associate with me on the level which I felt I deserved. I was so confused and hurt, and finally decided to talk to the person. I said that I had gathered that I wasn't as liked as this person's other friends. The individual confirmed all of my suspicions. There was no apology or gentle word. All the "friend" left was an empty hole and searing pain.
 

   The next few days are a blur. I can't even remember what happened, but I don't doubt it was anything short of misery. I might have despondently done schoolwork. I might have cried my eyes out. I just honestly don't know.

  Finally, whether it was a few days or a few weeks, I learned to stop caring. This person had the stupidest reasons to dislike me: I was different from her and I was shy. With this healing I forgot about the other pains and learned to move past those, too.

  Life is a lot better, but it's still not perfect. I am sometimes sad and lonely, but I am okay and I am happy with myself.

I love rock

You name almost any genre of rock or stemming from rock; I probably like it. If I don't like it, I probably haven't heard it.I like rock and roll, classic rock, hard rock, metal, screamo, punk, pop punk, indie rock, ska, etc. 

I used to listen to rock to cheer me up. Screaming music was one of the only things that could lift me out of depression. Even though I'm not always sad anymore, I'm very protective of the music I listen to. My music has helped me more than you'll ever know, and more than I'd like to remember. 

I absolutely hate it when people mock my music taste. Someone once told me that rock beat is satanic and that any help metal has given me is evil and fake. Just think about this: someone who's not a Christian catches you as you're falling off a bridge to save your life. Don't you have the responsibility to thank them? Or should you have pushed their hand away and let yourself die?

God has given us so much. One of the first things He gives everyone is them self. Your family may abandon you; your house might burn down; your pets could die. But as long as you're alive, you have yourself. And it's your responsibility to take care of yourself. Your body is a temple of The Lord and made in His image. God loves you, and you should love yourself and do what's best for you. What's best isn't lying around feeling depressed; what's best is you being thankful to God for His gifts and you using them to His honor. If music made by Atheists helps you get up and do this better than Christian music, listen to it. 

Black Veil Brides and Fall Out Boy make me happy. They give me hope and make me more thankful to God for His gift of music than most Christian artists. Is that a sin? I really don't think so. 

Now that I'm not emo anymore and I'm happy more than 50% of the time, music has a different role in my life. It's not as much about making me happy, but instead, keeping me happy. A smile creeps onto my face when I hear a song from American Beauty/ American Psycho. When I hear older songs that got me through tough times, I bittersweetly remember what I was like. It's sad to recall all that pain, but it's so good to see how much better I am now and that I'm finally okay.  

What was the original purpose of rock music, anyway? Nowadays, there are so many broken people that rockers make it their primary concer to fix them. I think that's great, but as someone who is now fixed, I can appreciate the more rebellious intent of classic rock. 

In the movie School of Rock, the theme of rock is stated as "sticking it to the man." Doing what you love, no matter the obstacles and opposition. This should be our motto. Don't care what other people think. It's your life. Live it.

To Anyone Who's Sad

I wish I could hug all the sad people and make you all okay. I wish I could wave my magic wand and make your problems disappear. But we all know it's never that easy. I'm crap at giving advice, but here's one thing that's helped me heal and finally be happy with myself.

Don't care what they think of you.

Don't let anyone's thoughts about you change anything about you. Not who you are, not what you do, not how you see yourself. 

Focus on yourself, not the people bringing you down. You're the only person who will always be in your life. Take care of yourself because you're beautiful and you're God's creation and 100% worth it. 

Anxiety

  
  I think only one person knows this about me, but I get anxiety sometimes. I can't say whether it's chronic or medical, but it's real.

  The first time I can pinpoint that I have anxiety was when I was at a Christmas party at my older brother's friends' house. There were a lot of people I didn't know, and I had already been around people all day. As an introvert, I decided that I needed some alone time. I went into a room that looked empty, but there was already someone in there. My memories actually get fuzzy here. I remember I felt too warm, almost sick to my stomach, my heart was beating abnormally fast, and I couldn't breathe. The weird thing is, I remember swinging my head around, panicked, even though I know that never happened. I don't know if that gets the idea of sheer terror across to you, but it certainly does for me.

   For the rest of the evening, I was incredibly uncomfortable. I was shyer than usual and wanted nothing more than to leave. There was even a little bit of depression following my panic attack.

  The next few weeks were a lot better. I wasn't having panic attacks, but I was always scared that I would. The day before Superbowl Sunday was my next horrible outbreak. I was stressed about getting my school done, since if I wasn't done with everything, my grades were in jeopardy. Instead of working harder, I panicked. I couldn't breathe and basically just collapsed on my floor and sobbed for far too long. 

  I think part of anxiety for me is just feeling things to strongly. When I'm in line and people are smooshing against me, I freak out. If I start crying for whatever reason, I can't stop. When I get scared or upset, I start shaking. I feel nauseas or need to use the restroom if I even get a little excited.

  When I hear people laughing, I feel like they're laughing at me. I fear that I'll lose my friends or that if I do something that I need to, people will judge me for it. I can't order my own food or answer the phone sometimes. Even forcing myself to talk to my friends is hard, even though I really want to. 

  I make up crazy scenarios in my head and blame everything one myself. Everything. 

  Recently, I haven't suffered too badly with my symptoms except a little in social situations and with my dad. It's sad how much someone who I've know my whole life can worry me. My dad is an analyst. He makes sure that everything is right. I know that's important, but it's hell when I'm trying to do my schoolwork. I cannot do Spanish oral work if he's in the room. Last time I tried, I almost had a panic attack. I couldn't force myself to speak and I stalled, hoping that he'd finish what he was doing and leave. Finally, I burst out crying, and he got the idea.

  I'd really rather this didn't happen. I'd rather be able to practice Spanish in front of my dad and maybe even hold a conversation with someone. I just can't. It's not my choice to have crippling anxiety, and it's not fun or cute. 

  I don't know when I might randomly have a panic attack. So I guess I'm just telling all of you guys so I know someone knows. I don't mean to say that I want pity, I just want support. I don't need advise, that rarely helps. I think I just need to know I'm not alone. And if you have anxiety and no one knows, I'd reccomend telling someone you really trust. It's incredibly freeing. You're not alone in your struggle, it's estimated that roughly 40 million adults in the United States alone have chronic anxiety. 

Granite State Qualifier

I take back anything I might have said about Shine being the worst tournament ever. Granite State was a million times worse.

It wasn't that I was expecting to break that much- it's my 8th tournament, and I've never broken before. But everyone kept telling me that I would break and so I wasn't sure what to think.

Needless to say, I was more than disappointed with my results. I didn't do very well in either of my prepared speeches, 1-5 in LD (although I deserved at least 2-4; I had some of the worst debate judges ever), and apologetic ballots weren't very helpful or encouraging. The only speech I did very well in was impromptu. I got a first, second, and some thirds and fourths. If Region 10 were smaller in that event, I probably would've broken. This tournament was really only good for practice and knowing that if I want to break in impromptu, I need to practice a little more.

Yay for after-tournament rant!! Anyhow, everyone was super nice, even if saying "I'm sorry you didn't break," really doesn't help; I really appreciate all the support I got from my friends.

One thing I regret which is actually my fault is that I didn't get to know people better like I had planned. Unlike at Shine, that old devil social anxiety krept up and I had to hide in a cubby with Black Veil Brides and Fall Out Boy.

My disappointment for myself in no way lessens my happiness for my friends. I'm so excited that Naomi got third in TP and Anna got fourth. Love you guys!! 

Perfectionism

  You know what the most annoying thing ever is? Being a perfectionist without talent. People I know tell me that I should just stop comparing myself to others, but that's not the problem. I don't compare myself to people because they're not me. I don't want to be someone else; I just want to be the best me.
  
  Take speech and debate for an example. I know I have the capacity to do well. I've won exactly half of my LD rounds. If I had done just a tiny bit better in one freaking round, I would've gotten to Reg10nals from my first Lincoln-Douglas tournament ever. That's encouraging to everyone in my club, but not to me. I was so close, and to them, that's really good. But to me, it's discouraging. 

  A few months ago, I got over the worst time in my life. I've been a lot happier, less depressed and anxious, and I've decided to be myself. There is still, however, some residual pessimism. I use it to try to combat pain or disappointment, but even if I don't do well in something, I feel sad. 

  Mediocrity isn't okay. When I almost do well enough, it feels like I'll never get to be good enough. And what's the purpose of all that hard work and disappointment if I'm not getting better?
                                                                                                                                       
  Sorry for having such a long, rambly rant. If anyone actually reads this far, thank you. If anyone is struggling with disappointment or anxiety, you can know that you're not alone. Also, comment somewhere whether or not you're a perfectionist.

Take Me to Church

  I know that this song was written to be a mockery of religion (the artist's words about it are here), but I think that we as Christians have a valuable lesson which we can learn from it. Instead of it being a song about sex, we can listen to it as a song about obsession. When we love something too much, we tend to idolize it. As a professional fangirl, I start getting obsessed with certain things at certain times. That's OK, as long as I don't devote my entire life to it.

    We learn from the Bible that idolatry is wrong. This is the first commandment for a reason. God created us, and our purpose is to glorify and enjoy Him forever. Any sin, really, is idolatry. We want what we want more than what God has given or told us. Obsession is a good example of this. When our priorities are wrong, we love something that may be good, but not as good as God.    

  This song is an example of how much idolatry can hurt us. The singer has lost his place in society, his innocence, and basically all he is because of his unethical love for an immoral woman. Psalm 16:4 says "The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips." 

  I said before that I'm a fangirl. Part of this (at least for me) is roleplaying. I really love a character, so I try to get to know them and write their character into different situations. Recently, I watched the Fox crime drama Gracepoint. Once the show finished, I made a roleplay blog on tumblr for the main character, Emmett Carver. As I "got to know" Emmett, I decided that "Take Me to Church" would be his favorite song. Now that I think about it, it's easy to see why.

   Emmett is a very awkward character. He shrugs off physical affection, but he's still human; he still needs love. The words of the classic song, "It'll be forever or I won't fall in love," ring true for him. It takes a lot of trust for Emmett to fall in love, and when that trust is violated, he's left broken. Before the series started, he even ruined his reputation for the good of someone he loved.

Percy Jackson

  I really love the original Percy Jackson series. I hated the first movie, and I'm still making up my mind on whether or not I like the Heroes of Olympus. I think I do, but the author adds a lot of extraneous information and some of his attempts at humor fail. I do like the ideas a lot, but they maybe could've been worked out better.

  I know you're gonna hate me, but I really love Nico. He's such a well-written character, and I feel like I can relate to him. People make choices that hurt my feelings. Sometimes I don't get to say goodbye to people I love. And there's never enough "emo" characters in popular books.

  I don't really like Jason for the same reason I hate Rose from Doctor Who. Rose is a generic nice girl, and Jason is a generic hero. Nothing in particular to love.

Some Random Thoughts

  We're all made in God's image. That's SOMETHING to love in everyone, and it manifests itself in different ways. Sometimes it's that one thing that keeps you from wringing that jerk's neck. Sometimes it's the one thing that makes you want to kiss the nice boy's face.Whatever it is, it's there.

  There's this nine-year-old boy at my church. He makes "kissy faces" at older girl and is mean to younger girls. But one time, he randomly said, "My mom is beautiful." And I melted. If there's someone you used to love, but with whom you've had a falling-out, remember what made you fall in love with him in the first place.

  Sorry for this randomness. XD

My Story

  So. . . I've been using a lot of school time (meaning all week besides Sunday) writing a story for fun. Now that I'm done, I'm sad :( I loved those characters A LOT and now I can't write about them.

  I'm going to write a Creepypasta fanfiction, but I like characters that I've made myself better. And this last one was awesome because it was more intense and for an older audience. I have a few stories that I've been meaning to write, but they're for kids. :( Well, that's life. . .

NJQ 2014

New Jersey Qualifier 2014 
  Last week, the New Jersey Qualifier made Region X history! It was the first tournament in our region with double octafinals and our first double loss. Thankfully, the debaters didn't get disqualified.

  I normally HATE host housing, but our hosts were awesome. They gave us food, were really nice, and the house was beautiful. I really didn't want to share an air mattress with my sister, so I decided to sleep on the Thomas the Tank Engine bed. It was really uncomfortable, so I slept on the floor the last two nights.

Photo credit to Johanna Florez

  My club did awesome. :) All of our TP clubs (except one) and our LD debater broke. Both of my siblings broke in speech, so I get to go to Regionals. :)

  One of my friends, Caleb, won Thematic! He hadn't broken in that speech at any of the other three tournaments he went to. (: During the awards ceremony, I was sitting with a bunch of people from club, at when we saw he was in top three, we were sitting on the edges of our seats.

Photo credit to Steve Min

  What I love about the awards picture is how diverse everyone's reactions are. The shortest one, Nina, is just so happy she got to finals, even though she got seventh. Paul (the Asian guy) and Robert (the tall one with dark hair) look kind of like, "We knew we'd do well." And you know, that's okay. They've been competing for years and they do really well. And Caleb is so shocked and happy because he didn't think he'd break at all. :)                            
 

Doctor Who

 
  My sister Johanna and I watch Doctor Who together. We're currently on the third series. Last Sunday, we watched Blink. It was the best episode so far, easy. I love Sally Sparrow and the non-linear timeline stuff. And then, of course: "Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey. . . STUFF."

  I was afraid I wouldn't like a Doctor-light episode, but it was amazing!! When the angel got right up in Laurence's face, I screamed. Haha.

  We met the Master a few episodes ago. It was really confusing, but really awesome how he showed up. We still have one more episode in that story line (from what my brother told me.) I can see why series 3 is his favorite with Ten.

  Sorry that this was a kind of lame post. But honestly, if you comment hate, I'll hurt you with me laser screwdriver. :)


Have an awesome day!!

Untitled :)

  I'm Emma. I'm a teenage Christian and a huge nerd. I compete in the speech and debate league NCFCA.

  One of the things I love most about life is music. I like all sorts of music from film scores and worship music to metal and dubstep. It would be a waste of time to list my favorite bands because there are so many and I'd miss a lot of them. Just listen to my YouTube favorites playlist.You'll get the idea ;)

  I like the shows Doctor Who and Sherlock. . . maybe a little too much. Although I "waste" a lot of time watching them, I've learned so much and they have helped me in my speeches. For example, in the first episode of Sherlock ("A Study in Pink") the female detective says to John, "Sherlock is a great man. And maybe one day, if you're very, very lucky, he'll be a good man."

  In the first series of the "New Who" an enemy called the Slitheen appears twice. In the second time you see them, it's the episode "Boom Town." The Slitheen are aliens, and they need human bodies. One of them was going to kill a young woman for her body, but she heard the woman was pregnant. She didn't want to kill two humans, so she let them go.
  Later in the episode, she was pleading with the Doctor (who at the time was Christopher Eccleston) for her life. She said, "I'm changing. I just let a woman go. There's hope for me."
  The Doctor said, "Sometimes we do good things so we can live with ourselves. That doesn't change who we are."

 I'm really weird and random. I love writing fiction and reading amateur horror. I like comic books, especially Marvel and manga, a Japanese comic style. I really like drawing, but I can only make a good picture if I take several days to complete it. Even then, it's very mediocre. See for yourself: