I'm Laughing At My Own Jokes

Chapter Fourteen: Philosophy Of Life

*I WROTE THIS FOR SCHOOL, ENJOY*

Philosophy of life? This is something that if I were just in my room, laying in my bed, staring at the ceiling, I would involuntarily think about, but now that I have a little less than an hour to write about it, I can't think of anything to say.

Wow... The word philosophy is such a big word for such a small concept. Then again, that seems to make me feel smarter for thinking I have one of these. I mean, I have an opinion about the meaning of life, more than a lot of the chuckle heads I'm surrounded by. All the time, I listen to them gripe and moan about having to write about themselves and what they think. This is a dream come true for me! My opinion, being heard!

I think that's important. Being heard. My entire life, I've been shushed and ignored and been made to feel unimportant. And it sucked. When my English teacher had us write our autobiography, everyone seemed to think it was dumb and unimportant, but as someone who holds all of her feelings inside, I was ecstatic. I wrote down my story, worked on it when I had the chance, created a cover that I love, I even made art for the book when it was all said and done. My best friend, Tashia, begged to read it and thanks to my tendency to be a bit of a pushover, I finally let her. She took one day before saying how much of a great writer I was and how I should continue. Then I thought about it. I'm a good writer, I know I am. I can't speak without fumbling and looking like an even bigger dork than I originally thought was possible. I want to be heard. I decided to continue, get on one of those websites where you can write books and other people on the website can read them, write my story, be heard. I've written what I wanted, with no fear that I will be judged. I wrote in great detail about depression, anxiety, I even responded to old journal entries. Tashia has been reading it. It's scary. I've never been open about what I went through. Now it's out there for the world to see. I think I'm okay with that, because I also know I'm being heard, and that's something I've always wanted.

I look at everyone around me and cringe at all the hatred and sorrow. Everyone thinks it's all about them and their life sucks, when they should be trying to make the best of it. I understand mental illness can mess with that happiness, trust me, I know, but I also know, I was trying so hard to not enjoy anything, so I had a bigger excuse to be sad. That's not okay. We need to enjoy our short time on this earth. Unless reincarnation is real, we only get one life. And even then, we won't remember our previous life. So rather than text your friend about some boy, call them and just ask about them, talk about you. Rather than stay inside with the beautiful video games and internet, go outside, take a walk, write how you feel, take pictures, whatever you enjoy, but don't waste away your time.

There are many philosophies I have, but I don't have the time or paper to write them all. The philosophies I'm writing about today, right now, are three basic, very easy things if people are willing to try. Be heard, live the life you were given, and what I will writing about in the following paragraphs. Treat people the way you want to be treated and treat people how they treat you.

Now this can be a confusing concept, to do both, I stared at the sky for a long time thinking about it after I saw a post on the internet that said, "Should I treat people the way I want to be treat, or treat them the way they treat me?" and I responded with the word, "both" automatically. Just after I hit enter the comment was there, I thought about it. Is that possible? Can you do both? The answer for me is yes.

There's a new kid at school, he/she doesn't know anyone and he/she seems weird. You might not really want him/her to sit with you at lunch, but you know you'd want someone to invite you over. Treat them the way you want to be treated.

There's this person you've been texting, but you always have to start the conversation. One day, you stop texting them and wait for them to text you. They don't. Do you text them or continue to ignore them? Personally, unless they were really close to me, I would ignore them. If they don't care about me enough to send me a text, I don't see a reason care about them either.

There's so much more I want to write about, but the assignment was two pages and I'm already on my third. I think life sucks. I also think life is beautiful. Appreciate your surroundings. Someone created your surroundings, maybe someone created that chair, maybe science created the sky.

Appreciate the fact someone did that. I appreciate the life I was given? Do you?