Next, Then & Now: A Collection of Moments

Our lives are made up of a series of moments.
B i g moments.
Small moments.
 Moments that define you.
(Too many) that undermine you. 
Moments that test your faith
                       joy 
                strength

           courage 

                                      hope.

Moments that restore them.

There are countless senseless moments
which lead to painful moments
and painful moments which end up being
teaching moments.

Life is a constant replication of  moments.





it is our continual inner natural disaster - one chaos after another after another.
But it is how you choose to respond to those moments that ultimately shapes you. How you survive, again and again, to continue on restructuring your path and making each moments as new and unconventional as the last.

“The greatest crimes in the world are not committed by people breaking the rules, but by people following the rules.”- Banksy

The Fear

What is fear?

Fear is the unsettling sense of  trepidation; being unsure of the possible danger of what is coming next.

Fear is the pit in your stomach, that awareness of loss of control.

Fear is debilitating, terrifying, and exhilarating.

But the true question is,

how do you use your fear?

Do you let it stop you from success...

...perhaps you use it to help drive you to succeed?

Maybe the question is not what you do with your fear, but how you perceive it. 

The mode of human sense perception changes with humanity's entire mode of existence. 

- Walter Benjamin; The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

If you are one of those people who perceives your fear to be greater than your desire,

Change it.

The In-Between

"I shall limit myself here to recalling without effort certain things which, apart from any exertions on my part, have occassionally happened to me, things which, reaching me in unsuspecting ways, give me the measure of the particular grace and disgrace of which I am the object; I shall discuss these things without pre-established order, and according to the mood of the moment which lets whatever survives survive." (Nadja)

I stand in a sea of blurred faces, my focus on the distant figure shrouded in black. An ominous sign if I've ever seen one, I watch silently as the figure gets smaller and smaller. Suddenly, with no warning, I feel the presence of a hand lightly brush my shoulder. I turn around slowly, pivoting on my heel, a warning cry resonating in my head...

S

T

O
P

Unable to halt my turning progression, I find myself face to face with my greatest fear of all time

myself.

What are we? But the effervescent shadows of our former selves, trying to break free from the life, body and role we have been cast in. Lost in a world within a world; an inception of desires, fears, reality and ideas. 

Fantasy.

Nothing but a different perception on reality. 

An idea is always stronger than the reality.

How long can we last in the world that we want?

 Let's stay awhile in Neverland.

The After

"I urge you to do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance. Don’t bother with work you don’t believe in any more than you would a spouse you’re not crazy about… Resist the easy comforts of complacency, the specious glitter of materialism, the narcotic paralysis of self-satisfaction. Be worthy of your advantages. And read… read all the time… read as a matter of principle, as a matter of self-respect. Read as a nourishing staple of life. Develop and protect a moral sensibility and demonstrate the character to apply it. Dream big. Work hard. Think for yourself. Love everything you love, everyone you love, with all your might. And do so, please, with a sense of urgency, for every tick of the clock subtracts from fewer and fewer."

-David McCullough Jr.,

It's all about the after. After work, after school, after this responsibility and that life goal. "What's next?" That is the forever question. Yet I do not think it means more than when asked in the context of after graduation.


Well primarily, and on a less philosophical, life altering level, we no-longer-college students do what we do best; fiesta. Which I, unsurprisingly, have begun the preparations for..

I'm thinking BIG. 

Large scale. Bringing new definition to the word celebration. Fireworks. Band. Baton twirlers.

Picture a 4th of July celebration, but instead of celebrating the independence of our beautiful country, we celebrate the independence of OURSELVES.



"Suddenly, a silence prevails and the spectators turn their heads... The beat starts, anticipating the procession. The pavement begins to vibrate with the bass line making tiny pebbles jump up from the burning pavement as if they were popcorn. We feel the beat getting closer and closer with every second..."

Because that's all that graduating college really is, isn't it? The day that marks the beginning of the rest of our lives. The day we officially, in society's eyes, become responsible for ourselves and our future. The day we become truly independent.
That sounds like quite the fireworks, band-playing, baton-twirling moment to me.

The Spectacular Now

"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing worth knowing can be taught." 
Oscar Wilde, 1980.

Day 1: As we prepare to labourously finish those few pesky credit hours that stand as the only obstacle between ourselves and that long-awaited day of graduation, this year's senior class of Florida State University are likely to find ourselves caught in a spinning, unexpected ball of emotions.
First and foremost, I'm positive the majority (of our kind) is pondering the inescapable question of the graduating curse...what the hell are we doing next?

Why does "next" even matter? 

What about now? 

The spectacular now. 

Is the future so important that we must forego the sheer wonder that is the present? 

But what is the present but a preparation for the future? 

Live for the now. 

There is such an emphasis and societal pressure to live each day to the "fullest." 

But what is "full?" 

Is living life to the fullest a sugar-wrapped metaphor for going to work in a 9-5 job, to make money you spend to survive, on a new house, cute kids, new ride? 

How many people 

At the end of their time 

Can truly smile and say 

I lived it just fine

Graduation. Then what? 

Graduate school

(Or)

Workplace 

(Or) 

Home to live with parents 

That's 

What's 

EXPECTED 

of 

us...

But what do I want to do? 

What will make me

rich 

successful 

worthy

look good 

Happy?