DJ

  What are you afraid of? Wake Up To Reality Most readers of this personal essay will relate to this scenario—as a child, teachers told your parents that you were “above average” in some sort of way, put into special programs, and told you were “destined for success.” Following this comes a sort of indomitable self-confidence, a belief that you could pull off anything. You rarely experience failure to the point where on the rare occasion you do it becomes a devastating blow. You build a work ethic much later than everyone else, only until the difficulty level has caught up to you. Nonetheless, this ambition, whether intrinsic or extrinsic, is something I’ve witnessed in both myself and countless other people who have had a similar upbringing. Of course, the deluded don’t know they live in a delusion, and for years I have firmly believed I would inherit a wealthy successful future, simply because of my callow ambition.  My north star has always been to achieve my personal defin...

How much do you curse and why? I don’t curse. Only rarely does one profanity slip out accidentally—I keep a firm filter on my words. My journey with profanity has been a long one with many winding twists and turns as my environment, personal beliefs, and the ideas around me evolved throughout my life, but I strongly believe my position now is where I will reside for the rest of my existence. Growing up in a Christian household, I never swore. The school and church environments that I was placed in allowed me to be surrounded by people my age with similar beliefs and values, so until the age of ten I would sustain the belief that “stupid” was defamation, and comparing a fellow classmate to any mildly-negative word was the highest atrocity possible—I was once sent to the principal’s office for calling my friend that “i” -word in a moment of heated weakness. In my middle school years, I received unrestricted access to the internet and sustained a majority of my education and learning thro...