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Even though I’ve got plenty of other things I should probably be doing, I didn’t want to leave too long a gap in-between blog posts. And that’s what got me onto this topic: Getting Involved. A lot of people in our world are afraid to get involved. Whether it be with an event, a committee, being silly with friends, or a relationship with another person. Sometimes it’s a fear of failure, but I think most of the time people just lack the motivation and don’t want to step out there.
I know it’s especially hard for teenagers to get really involved with anything because they don’t want to stand out. They don’t want to be the person who does more than they have to and gets noticed for it by everyone else. Why volunteer for a school committee or team if there’s no reason to? It’d only lead to their friends saying, “Why’re you doing that? That’s just a stupid waste of time.”
The reality is, we all only have one, very short lifetime on Earth. We cannot waste it only doing what we have to and worrying about being the odd one out. If we have an interest in something and think we might be able to do some good through it, then we should pursue it!
Now that doesn’t mean that you should all go out and start volunteering for every organisation or club out there, as awesome a thing as that would be. It just means that if you’re offered an opportunity to do something new, gaining new experiences and possibly doing things for a good cause, then why not do it?
One of my problems, is that I’m trying to do too much with my life. I’ve always got some kind of work I could be doing for something. It’s a lot to balance. But I’d rather be putting in that extra bit of effort to do as much as I can than coast through doing nothing that I don’t have to.
Other kids at school may look at me and ask, “Why do that? It’s just a bunch of extra work for no reason”, but the fact is that I do it because I feel compelled to. A lot of people don’t realise how much opportunity is out there available to them through their youth, and how quickly those opportunities disappear as they grow older. I want to take full advantage of these years of my life, and all the years that will follow.
As one of my good friends has said to me, although many of us may think otherwise, our high school years aren’t just a “practice run” to get us ready for real life. Real life is now. It’s been happening this whole time. We don’t need to wait until we’re outside of school to make something of ourselves, we can do it right this very moment, right this very day. In fact, with so many opportunities available to us, these are probably some of the best years to do so!
So please, go forth and break that “lazy generation” label we’ve been slapped with. I mean, why not? At worst you’ll have had some new experiences. If all goes well, you’ll look awesome.
