Authenticity is Key.

I've lost track of the number of times I've edited, deleted, and rewritten this post until finally I realized just how hypocritical that was. The topic is authenticity, so rather than spend hours selecting the perfect word or trading one sentence for the next, I've decided to compose this piece based on the polar opposite of composure: raw emotion. Brace yourself.

I'm so fed up with our messed up generation of entitlement and sheer ignorance of reality. Technology was intended for furthering ourselves mentally, for providing access to all the information in the world at the click of a button, and for allowing minds to be stretched in ways they were never capable of before. But we all know that isn't what most people use their smartphones and laptops for; there are apps too good to pass up and updates and endless selfies to be posted just in case your friends have forgotten what you look like in the last few days or are dying to know that you are in fact going shopping at this very moment. The creation of social media has to be one of the biggest mistakes ever made. It's a brilliant concept, but it's so vastly and grossly misused that it quickly loses all it's grandeur effects. The constant need for connection is sickening due to the fact that no honest, genuine connections are being made. People are fronting fake personas with endless filters and digital edits on the pictures they have to post to prove themselves, to prove that their happy. Endless ridiculous drama is infecting social media like the plague. People are demanding to be heard; all I need is a whisper in a world that only shouts. I want something more not just nasty and bitter. I want something real not just hashtags and Twitter.

I fear that people have forgotten altogether what an authentic friendship is or what authenticity is, period. I heard this song on the radio the other day and the chorus caught my attention. It goes "you're one of a kind living in a world gone plastic. Baby, you're so classic." You've got to be kidding me. If someone isn't plastic that doesn't qualify them as a retrotastic blast from the past. It qualifies them as a normal human being. It's sad that the trend people can identify with is going "plastic" but at the same time I couldn't think of a more perfect word to describe my generation and most of America in general right now. People plaster on fake smiles to pose for fake friends. Furthermore, (and perhaps most disappointing) when people are looking to improve how others view them and treat them, they look first to changing their appearance and not to improving themselves as a person. If only the plasticity was merely skin deep. Unfortunately, it has seeped heavily into the way we interact with one another. Conversations are no longer held eye to eye. They've come down to merely waiting for one word replies. And it's made it so simple, so easy to form friendships through lies and disguise. Authenticity is fleeting. 

To have a genuine and authentic friendship in today's world is a special thing, a possession of the highest value. I'm very lucky to have a few. What concerns me most is how unwilling people are to create them; how blatantly unwilling people are to form friendships based off of values and understanding each other to the deepest level and then going on to understand and interpret the world together. Independence remains completely intact, but each other's company and opinion is always welcome. The type of authenticity where a friend listens not to respond, but to understand. A real connection where time spent together is face-to-face and treasured because each moment is a gift, a memory in the making. A friendship built upon a foundation of understanding that becomes a towering city of accomplishments that never would have been possible without the proper support when each brick feels a bit heavier than the last. A friendship, a connection. A real, true, honest, genuine, authentic connection. Never throw that away. It's one of the only ways to deepen one's life. And in the grand scheme of things, length will never ever mean as much as depth when it comes to the number of years you've lived.

Before people can form authentic friendships, they must make sure that they are authentic themselves in their words and their actions. Authenticity has much to do with honesty. It's incredible when people constantly say things that they don't mean. Promises broken just like that become the fast track to being cemented into one's past. Honesty is better than any sugarcoated lie will ever be. I take words very seriously. I thoroughly enjoy hanging onto every syllable as it rolls off my tongue dripping with emotion and meaning and purpose. Consequently, it's upsetting when people toss around words as if they carry no weight and no meaning at all. Every word has a different weight. Some words are physically so hard to rattle off, to gain the strength to lift out of our minds and carry away from the back of our throats. And some words get lighter with time until they seemingly levitate out into the open with no effort at all. But all words carry meaning and should be treated as such. Nothing should be said that isn't meant because once it travels to other ears or eyes, it's their weight to bear. And trust me, you don't need strong fists when your words are heavy and your voice is steady. The blows are far more damaging. So choose wisely.

I love people who are authentic and just plain real. They don't pretend to be someone else because that would be an injustice to who they are. They don't change to please people or pretend to like things that other people like just to force a connection because that would be unauthentic and quite frankly a waste of time. They are who they are based off of the decisions that they've made and they own it with seemingly unwavering confidence. So many people today are forced into someone they're not in order to fit into a system that is broken. Don't give in. Stand your ground and be confident in all the beautiful things that you are and all of the things that you are not. No one but yourself is worth changing for. It's so important to remain true to yourself and develop a sureness so powerful and strong that you are able to entertain thoughts without accepting them and are always able to keep an open mind to the world but most importantly, you must be able to welcome introspection and change when necessary.

Remain authentic because authenticity is beautiful. I can only hope that more people chose to take part in creating themselves offline and that more people become willing to take the time to form and welcome authentic friendships because Authenticity is Key.