As teenagers many of us listened to depressing music, wore dark clothing and hated everything. Now most of us listen to uplifting music, wear patterns and colors without boundaries and appear to love everything. Anything that is new and thrown at us we love and I would like to think that we have all somehow evolved. I would like to think that we have grown to love the world around us and the people in it.  I would like to think that what we do now is better than what was popular to do back then. I would like to believe these things, but I don’t.  Plus looking back I think System of a Down, Nine Inch Nails, Metallica and even Rob Zombie made some decent points about the human condition.

We have only moved from one extreme to the other, like a drug addict who was given religion and now refuses to leave his house without a bible in hand. Yes, I’d rather he be hooked on phonics than cocaine, but I’d also rather he not be hooked on anything. Let’s keep comparing ourselves to how bad things used to be and we will never be able to move on to how much better things could be.

Now more than ever I am running across people with issues finding their purpose in life. I remember just two years ago being taken to see Avenue Q on my birthday and connecting with the main puppet who had trouble finding his purpose.  I can finally say that I have found my purpose in this world and some people never do. For this, I am grateful. However, finding your life’s purpose is not always easy. It takes going back to a time when you were your full self, when you were honest to yourself and others and saw the world for what it is. Not the cotton candy dimension many of us live now, but the truth.  Learn to love the truth, not avoid it. We are all mechanics in this world who specialize in different things. How will you ever know your purpose if you refuse to look at what needs to be fixed?

I love the world and I love life.  For me to have to defend my love of this life every time I smack the sugar coating out of it is pure insanity. Who loves life more than the people who do not look away when it shows us how ugly it can be? Who loves life more than the people who disagree with and attempt to change the horrible and powerful things created by people? I believe in loving the rain for what it is. I believe in dancing in it. I value my feelings of fear, loneliness, disapproval and shame just as much as I value feelings of love, light and energy.

We are allowed to not like certain things. We are allowed to know the difference between what’s good and what’s bad, without being judged. We are allowed to point out the ridiculous hypocrisy we see on a daily basis without being seen as negative. Not speaking about something will not make it go away. Life will give you things that you did not ask for, but unless you dive in, all of your valuable time will be used in vain.

See it all, be it all and do some things along the way to make things around you better. Sugar coating is the rug people sweep life under. Let’s keep it healthy.

My life is naturally sweetened. No artificial ingredients needed.