The 9ot so Complex Thoughts of a 21-Year-Old Boy

Every day, a new experience lies in front of me on the path that is life. The journey of escaping from adolescence into adulthood is quite the complex one.

I feel like I am discovering new paths and obliterating old ones. The roads I am walking, I have walked before, but now I have a compass. I need to go somewhere different. Does that make sense? I am trying to say, when situations that bring me grief or stress, I feel as if I have been here before. The emotions attached to the situation aren’t new, so why would I even entertain the situation that has an outcome I am already familiar with?

I am looking for new experiences, and I am detaching myself from the things that don’t boost my well-being or push me towards becoming a better person. I want to create a new life for myself, and one that is not driven by materialistic pursuits, like career, money, and relationships. I want to make things that promote change, discussion, and build communities.

I woke up this morning, looked at my phone, and just sighed. I want my phone to explode sometimes. I think that when I wake up, I am going to spend the first two hours of my day phoneless. I want to have a fresh mind and not be immediately immersed in the second world that is social media. As someone who grew up with the rise of access to technology, I think it is important to remind myself that there was a period of my life when I didn’t have a phone or tablet, but books and crayons.

The ability to exist does not come from the technology we have; the Instagram grid does not define my being, but rather the person that I show up as in my real life. I want to find a way not to let the phone have so much power over my being and my day. We update our social media before we update our minds. That shouldn’t be the standard.

We should learn, or rather, I will learn how to keep my humanity in the ever-changing world that is built upon status, ego, and creative projects.

Ciao Ciao Amore,

Jair Nirel

Jair Nirel in New York with the Orange that directly inspired the logo.