LIVED EXPERIENCES

HI!

Over the last few months things have really been… let’s use a phrase the kids say… “popping the f off.” Actually, it’s been the last few YEARS. A decade? IDK essentially the second I graduated from college, I stepped out into the world, looked around, and was like, “has everything always been ON FIRE like this?????” I mean that both literally and figuratively. I went to school in Boulder, Colorado and right after I graduated, there was a massive forest fire.

When I used to write this thing, it was filled with lols and jokes and I hoped that I could maybe break into a career in comedy writing (THAT is a joke, feel free to laugh at that). But the more I wrote, the more I realized I couldn’t just regale you with funny anecdotes about internet culture and my tragic dating life prior to 2016. I had to actually do the work to bring you along on the journey of understanding why the culture we consume is wildly problematic because it doesn’t accurately reflect the world in which so many of us live. It doesn’t reflect a “lived experience.” And part of modern culture is understanding lived experiences and how those experiences not only differ from our own, but how they impact the world around us in ways we often don’t even realize.

The internet and modern culture are designed to distract - to tear your eyes away from “reality” and entertain you to death.

BUT (my favorite word) when we have .09 seconds to breathe, to reflect, and to look a little deeper (this in itself is a privilege, I acknowledge that) we realize that there is plenty of light in this world. There is plenty of good. There is plenty of hope. By acknowledging that, we can all do better. We can take a break from the difficult, traumatic, horrible news and we can put our anxiety at bay and take action. We can reflect on the lived experiences of those around us and look at them first hand, and not through a screen. The internet has given us many things, but it’s also taken a great deal away from us. Two of those things are humanity and empathy - both fundamental to understanding differing lived experiences and fighting for a better world for those experiences to flourish.

Every morning I send my dad an email with three things I’m grateful for.

When I’m drowning in news or a heavy workload or just feeling deeply over THE WORLD, it can be really hard to write that note. But I know he appreciates it, so I force myself to do it anyway. Today I’m grateful for the shining sun, my faithful dog, my shelter, and TikTok. That’s four things. Last week was a good week. Not too much terribleness happened. And one REALLY good thing happened. Maybe we can all take that as a sign that things are healing. Maybe culture won’t be a dumpster fire of problematic nonsense forever. Maybe we are going to be okay.