Anyone Can be A John Green.

" Don't think of it as a problem think of it as a challenge. There can be many forms of John Green . Or wouldn't it be great if there were more people like him in all areas of life."  - My Mom

"I just love him and have such respect for how he’s made the world safe for a lot of kids to be who they are. It took me to age 35 to be who I was; if I were 15 now, John would save me years of angst. He is a holy man."  - Laurie Halse Anderson on John Green. 

I want to be John Green. This is something I have just recently come to terms with. And not just in the, "I make YouTube videos and am working on a book" kind of way. In the, "hey I really like what this guy stands for and would really like to emulate that" kind of way, (okay maybe also a little bit of the making YouTube videos writing way but that's not the point). Upon the discovery that I wanted to be just like a 36 year old man who has an army of teenagers at his command, I started to ask myself some questions.


"What makes me want to be John Green?"


"How could I ever even COMPARE to such a highly regarded person?"


"What do I even mean when I say I want to be John Green?"

~


A little over a year ago I attended John and Hank Green's Evening of Awesome at Carnegie Hall. It was an experience that effected me in a way that I've never fully expressed, one memory from that night that sticks out to me involves, you guessed it, wanting to be John Green. My friend and I were waiting in the long line to get merch and we struck up a conversation with the girls standing in front of us. They we're extremely friendly and polite (as nerdfighters often are) and were both college students. When I asked them what they were majoring in, one girl responded, "Creative Writing... so basically I'm majoring in being a barista at your local Starbucks haha". Although in the back of my mind I kind of agreed I told her, "that's not fair! You never know what could happen!". She chuckled, sighed, and responded with,"Yeah I guess my problem is I want to be John Green."


I've thought about that a lot since that night. And I've come to the conclusion that we should all want to be a little bit like John Green. Even if this only means finally writing that book you've had the idea for, for years. John and Hank Green have created a safe haven for the different, the dreamers and the people who simply demand more out of life. They do enormous amounts of work for charity, through the annual Project for Awesome, enormous donations from their own profits, and many other things. John himself, suffers from severe anxiety and has only recently overcome a nasty case of depression. He has stated multiple times that he loves meeting his beloved nerdfighters in public, however he only asks that they do not ask for a hug, because the answer will be no. When he was in college he was told that his writing was terrible, and based off of talks and interviews, he would agree.

^this is a video in which John addresses his depression




http://fishingboatproceeds.tumblr.com/post/65003063968/john-i-have-really-really-bad-anxiety-i-know-in-the

^this is a post John made regarding his anxiety.


To me, being a John Green means following your dreams despite handicaps and hold backs. Being a John Green is showing compassion for others and treating those younger than you with the same respect as you would treat someone of your age or older. It means not getting a big head if you do achieve your dreams. It means having a sense of humor when discussing big issues. Being a John Green means staying energetic and positive in order to inspire and motivate young and old people alike to do something great.

I don't think the girl at Carnegie Hall a little over a year had the problem of "wanting to be John Green".


I think she had the right idea.



I think we should all want to be John Green.

Escape the Labyrinth

“You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.”

—

Albert Camus, The Stranger Something I have often caught myself doing, is thinking too much. I can't just accept things for the way they are. I feel a need to analyze every social norm, rule and even emotion. Because of this I find myself missing out on "real life" because I am too busy thinking about what "real life" really is and what is the proper way to live it. It's almost as if I get stuck in the "labyrinth" of my own mind. Many of my close friends have told me that they also tend to get stuck in these states of deep thought which often times leads to states of anxiety over the inevitability of death and our insignificance  in the greater scheme of the world. The title of this post can be attributed to a favorite quote of mine by my favorite author of all time; John Green. The quote reads as follows;  “You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking how you'll escape one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.”                                   - John Green, Looking for Alaska.  Although this is not what the quote was originally meant to be interpreted as, I tend to read this as a warning to not spend your whole life thinking about the future or what would be worth doing, but rather experience the future and experiment with what could be worth doing. The context of the quote is as follows; a young lady called Alaska is talking to her very nervous and uptight (not quite) love interest about her philosophies on life. Alaska believes in living fast and frankly a little irresponsibly. She spends most of the novel smoking cigarettes, having sex and buying illegal wine from a local liquor store. However her male counterpart to whom she is talking to, is completely crazy over her and despite his best interest and typically responsible lifestyle, he finds himself being dragged along on Alaska's crazy adventures. This young man was one of these deep thinkers. One of these people who spend much of their time stuck in their own heads.  SPOILER ALERT  Alaska's life ultimately comes to an early end about half way through the book. Cause of death; a terrible car accident that is suspected to be a suicide.  So the question is, Should you live your life as an "Alaska" (experiencing life to the fullest despite the consequences) or live your life as her male counterpart and narrator of the book, "Pudge" ( always caught up in your own thoughts and plagued with severe anxiety).  I believe that a lot of people I know, including myself, should find a healthy balance between the two.  Step outside of your own thoughts, but still be thoughtful .  -Ellen