Connections from the Articles

What I gained, learned and understand from the article is that everything doesn’t always work out, but if you try your hardest at accomplishing something you may find what you’re looking for all along.  

The most interesting connection is that both Brooks’ article “It’s Not About You” and Graham’s article “Confessions of a Quit Addict” are about dreamers.  Both articles talk about expectations and how one is expected to live their life.  Some might think Brook’s article is a little negative.  He talks about college kids graduating and what lies before them. I did get the impression he feels strongly that his generation misleads my generation into thinking that anything is possible, when, in reality, everyone ends up making concessions when it comes to life’s big decisions. 

Graham, on the other hand, openly admits that she not only quit college once, but actually twice.  She shunned the previous generation’s guidance and expectations to go after what she thought would be a better reality. It turns out that she realized the grass never was actually greener on the other side.

Another way the articles relate is that Brooks mentions how young people are often told to “find their passion and then pursue their dreams.” This is a very “abstract” idea. I think that Graham took that idea to the “concrete” level.  She actually did go out and try to find her passion. I did not get the impression that she ever really found it. She did physically go on a quest for it.  It would seem that she feels like she is a better person for it as well.  I liked that at the end of her article she gives the impression that she might still be looking for her passion.

The interesting part about Barbra Graham’s article “Confessions of a Quit Addict” is when she quits college and leaves everything behind and accomplishes what she really wants to do in her life. I find this fascinating- that someone would want to give up her old life and discover her passion on her own. I wouldn’t think of doing that. It would give me anxiety and make me confused at the same time. I would not know what to start first.

The discussion in class sort of helped me understand the articles because most all their thinking was concrete ideas like facts, but some were abstract. For example, in Brooks’ article he says young people are often told to find their passion and pursue it. That is mostly his opinion. In Barbra Graham’s article, she is analyzing her thoughts and sharing what really happened to her. Barbra doesn’t want her elders to tell her what passion to persue, she wants to find it herself. In the end, she found that she wants to be a writer.

In conclusion, I am really fascinated by these articles. They are pretty good. I really like Barbara’s article and looking forward to hearing more about her stories in the future. As for David Brooks, I really enjoy his articles and I hope he keeps up the good work with writing new ones.

          

My Experience with Anxiety and Worries

I have anxiety and worries all the time, I have it when I fail, forget, am late to class, making choices, etc. I even have it by doing homework, which is a big bummer.

The two flavors of worry mentioned in David Brooks’ article “The Epidemic of Worry” are original worry and spiraling worry. Spiraling worry gets me all the time, because when I actually get worried I feel dizzy all the time. I even have to lay down.

There are so many examples of anxiety and worries that I am unsure where I should even start.

Last year in A&M’s PATHS program, the days I had bookwork, quizzes, or tests I would walk back in forth in my dorm to figure the questions. As for tests, I would always bite my pencil or tap it on the table if I didn’t know the question. It was a real pain.

Although you would think video games mean fun, but nope you are wrong. I take video games seriously- can you believe that? I have anxiety written all over when it comes to an online showdown. I’m nervous. When it comes to a final boss match, I am extremely worried. When I have to defeat the villain at max level and I have to do my very best, I’m scared.

Anyway, we all enjoy TV Shows. We think the characters are real people, but they are fictional. There is only one show in which we think the characters are real and we are worried about them, including me. It’s just a TV show. That TV show is The Walking Dead. Oh man if you didn’t catch the season 7 premiere last week, it had anxiety and worries all over it. Even my mother was worried. No spoilers- I promise it’s a good show, though.

In any event, we all have anxiety and worries. Taking the presidential election that’s coming up for example, I am not worried at all about who will be president. Clinton and Trump both have good and bad points. I will be grateful for whoever becomes our president and with the choices they make.

Even David Brooks is having anxiety with the election, but he made an interesting familiar catchphrase at the end of his article: “Hakuna Matata”, which means no worries, from my favorite Disney movie the Lion King.