I miss you

http://www.postsecret.com/

"I find comfort in checking the weather where my husband is incarcerated... It makes me feel closer to him"

This weeks Postsecret is about missing someone. I think we can all relate to this person because we all have missed either a family member, a loved one, or a moment in time. I cannot imagine how hard it is to have your loved one away for such a long period of time and just constantly missing him/her, especially if that one person is what got you through each day.

I think we sometimes do not want to admit this but I believe that missing someone is beneficial to a relationship. I think that you cannot appreciate a person until you know how it is to be without them. Most of the time we need certain people in our lives to motivate us, to make us feel better, to make each day happier but if that person is there everyday, all the time, their actions and prescence in your life looses meaning.

Additionaly, I want to mention that we sadly are reliant on other people. As much as we like to think we live for ourselves, I think we don't; I think we live for others. The woman in the secret is checking the weather where her husband is to in a small way, suffer with him in prison. His well-being is more important than hers at that moment.

Missing the past is normal, natural, bound-to-happen but my last words on this topic are that if one ever wants to proceed with life, he or she has to let go of the past and forget it and look into the future.

Lost Heart

http://www.postsecret.com/

This weeks secrets were all Valentine's Day themed and this one caught my attention because of how "messed up" the situation was. The person went out of her way to see an ex-boyfriend and lied about it to her family because she was ashamed. The reason she gives for doing this is following her heart; which may seem a little crazy but love can make a person do crazy things. I read many articles that say that being in love releases the same chemicals and makes you feel a comparable way to the high one gets from cocaine. Love is immensely powerful and thinking about it can be a little scary sometimes.

Another aspect of this secret that appealed to me is the spontaneity and adventurous spirit of the girl who wrote it. It is almost consoling in a way that people can let go of their lives and let go of their brain trying to stop them from making dumb choices and just be free and live life. This choice she made may have not been the smartest but it did increase her happiness, even if for a weekend. I guess what I am trying to say is that I admire people who do not overthink life, instead, they just live it day by day and do whatever they feel like. Having freedom like this, to me, is the best way to live life because it allows you to have no regrets about things you did not do. In addition, looking at the postcard, the secret has nothing to do with the image of cheese; they both highly contradict each other. I guess this was supposed to further support that the writer is a “free soul” and show how she does not follow norms or expectations.

One of my favorite quotes is:  “A prayer for the wild at heart, kept in cages” which goes perfectly with this week’s postsecret.

Trapped



http://www.postsecret.com/

 Humans are creatures of habits. Once we get used to doing something one way, even if it makes us miserable, we do not want life to change. I think we can all somewhat relate to this fifty year-old person. We all have those moments where we are miserable with our lives and want to "start over" but seldom do we have the courage to do so. I have some theories as to why change is so scary to us. One of them is that we would hate to lose our comfort. We do not want to make ourselves worse-off than we already are and therefore we are not prone to change aspects of our lives that we do not know the outcomes of. Another theory is that change and fear can be synonymous. Going into the unknown is frightening and we would rather have the feeling of security.

But here is my question. Is it better to risk comfort and security for a potential better life? I would answer yes. I think change is good and that change is healthy. It is hard to adapt to change but I think it is necessary for all of us to attempt to do it. Are we really getting the full meaning out of life if we adapt to our daily routines? I think life is about experiencing everything once and we need change in order to do so.

To further explain, I believe that we are only unhappy because we choose to be unhappy. We are unwilling to change things in our lives because of fear and loss of comfort. I am a firm believer that the happiest people are the ones that are most adaptable to change and I think that this Postsecret is trying to explain that starting over and changing is a road to happiness.

Strangers on the Train



(http://www.postsecret.com/)

 This week, out of the twenty secrets posted on the website, this one stuck me the most because of its blatant truthfulness. I believe that as a society, it has become harder for each and every one of us (especially Americans) to start conversations with strangers. As this postcard depicts, even when we see people doing 'suspicious' things, like a person drawing pictures of others on the train, we hesitate to ask them about it. I think that this lack of being conversational is due to the increase in technology. Everyone nowadays is in their own little world on their iphones or laptops and could care less about what is going on around them. We no longer have conversations with people around us, only people we specifically choose to talk to.

I'd like to contrast this with my summer visits to Poland. I grew up in a fairly rural town called Nowy Sacz and I visit my family there every summer. People in this neighborhood do not own iPhones or any sort of 'new age' technology because it is too expensive and not as popular as it is in America. Instead of technology, they rely on conversations. It is not unlikely to go to the market and be stopped by strangers on the street who are saying "good morning" or "how are you today?" This type of interaction is VERY normal and it is even considered rude to not talk to a person you pass on the street, even if he or she is a complete stranger. To me, this type of social interaction is very pleasant and meeting new people every day is an amazing experience.

So what went wrong in America? I guess technology makes us feel that we do not need the rest of the world; we only need the people in our contact lists on our phones, since they are so easily accessible.