The Good & The Bad

There is good and bad in all things. Although it’s simple to say, this is still an important lesson to learn, and I promise it will all make sense by the end of this blog.

Now, to prove my original point, I am going to throw some generic memories your way, and ask you to hear me out with an open mind.

How about your Senior Prom? A magical night, certainly, and yet there’s a good chance it didn’t go perfect. There’s also a good chance you are remembering some of it as worse than it was.

An example? Well, while I agree that you weren’t “tearing it up” when you struggled with the ol’ slow dance with your date, I promise nobody saw you accidentally step on her toes. And if I do say so myself, you looked like real-pro when you kind of spun her that one time, and she almost tripped but she didn’t.

And yes, I know the music was not “banging,” but I need you to admit that when Sean Paul announced that he had the right temperature to shelter your girl from the storm, things did start to heat up on the dance floor for a few quick minutes.

Sure, you looked like an idiot with your shirt off, the accompanying vest still on, and the tie around your head, but I want you to give yourself some credit for your performance at the after-party, champ. I’d bet anything you handled those warm Tito’s shots better than you should have at 4 in the morning.

Do you see my point yet? No? Need another example? I have plenty to throw your way.

How about your first semester of college. While sure, it wasn’t great when you slept through nearly every single Friday lecture that first fall, I am almost certain that it was in the comfort of your dorm room where you finally realized how to deal with hangovers, and bounce back like the degenerate you are today. Those high school “hangovers” that used to leave you bed-ridden for a day or two were really nothing more than little headaches, when compared with the way you felt every Friday morning, in that obnoxiously undersized bedroom of your’s. And guess what? You learned what it took to stumble down to breakfast at two in the afternoon, with a coffee in your hand that you were hoping would right all your wrongs from the night before. And as the semester progressed, you had finally built yourself into a machine that was back on its feet in time for the pregame at your sophomore buddy’s apartment that same Friday night. See? Pros and cons, baby.

Now, let’s forget about Prom and teenage hangovers, although I imagine most of you were able to connect with at least some part of what I said. Even in the short-term though, my point stands true. I’ll use myself as an example to take some of the heat off of you and your high school and/or dorm room flashbacks that you should be experiencing by this point in the reading.

I’m now a junior in college, and I am completely embarrassed with the not-so-suave pick up line (shouted in a packed bar) of “can I get your snap?” that I was using as recently as 6 months ago. First off, what even is that for a starter? Second, maybe catch her real name before you assume she would just be thrilled to deal with your shitty selfies everyday. BUT, you know what stands out as not-so-bad from those nights of yesteryear? I used to go out on Tuesdays more frequently because I was drinking the $1 well vodka and water special, and I was hoping to make an impression with only a couple extra crumbled-up “ones” in my jean pocket, rather than spend a small fortune on the weekend. If you’re going to strike-out, do so with a cheap bat, ya know what I mean?

So, now that I’ve proven that there is good and bad in all things, what should we do with this new realization? May I suggest a deep breath, and then taking a few chances these next couple months? Start that fitness IG you’ve been thinking about. Get a guitar and start strumming on it. Publish that poem that has been sitting in your notes app for a while. Buy a camera and take some photos. Learn to dance if you’d like, or maybe you want to become a roller-blader. I don’t know what it is that has been sitting on your heart, but take this as the message telling you to take the chance on it, because no matter how bad you’ll think it’s going, there will certainly be some good to come out of the process as well.