Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Humans.
Introvert to Extrovert
Am I an introvert or extrovert? Is that a question you've ever found yourself struggling with? It seems like such a silly thing to ask yourself, but if you're anything like me it's not necessarily the question that bothers you, but the constant differences in your mood that confuses you.
By Alivia Evans8 years ago in Humans
Friends Lunch Date
So, I'm sitting at lunch with a friend, we're having soup and salad Dutch-style. This lady and I try to take turns either treating each other or paying for our own lunches depending on how our economics are sitting at the time. We have known each other for about four years now, give or take. A mutual friend in the clergy introduced us when she moved to the area. She moved to the area probably a year after I did. He knew that we shared a mutual interest in Celtic Christianity and the Gaelic language, she, in fact, is a far-superior Gaelic speaker than I am and has taught me quite a lot. So we share these spiritual and cultural interests and are only about ten years apart in age. I may be old-fashioned, but I tend to think that people of a certain age grew up knowing certain things about manners that apply when you are at lunch or visiting with a friend you may not see but once or twice a month. The thing I am thinking of just now is that doggone cell phone and whether you take a call or not when at lunch with a friend. And I assumed that only younger people might not know this but this day at lunch made me think perhaps more people should hear this. Just because you have Bluetooth and a cell phone, does not mean that a ringing phone means you absolutely must answer a ringing phone when you are out with someone. Bluetooth or no, the person sitting across from you has now been cut off from you while sitting right across from you if you answer it. They are now isolated and alone. They are now left out of the conversation. If you are not being paid to answer that phone or waiting on some truly urgent call that absolutely must be answered, it would be far kinder to wait until you are not "with" that person. If you would only do [this] the kind thing, neither the other person in the room with you or on the other side of the phone can be the one feeling left out. No one, then, has to sit watching another conversation happening without them, while they eat their lunch alone.
By Morgana Campbell8 years ago in Humans
What You Learn During a Falling Out
Growing up, my mom and I tended to move from place to place, depending on our financial needs of the moment. Being the shy (and slightly geeky) girl that I continue to be today, I often found difficulties in making friends. That is, until I took up residence in a big city in California. There, I met a half dozen of the kindest, funniest, most genuine people that I had ever had the pleasure of calling friends. For about a decade, we shared school lunches, crushes, secrets, and jobs. We embraced good times and helped each other through bad ones.
By Autumn Rain8 years ago in Humans
The Story of Us
It was a bright and sunny day that seemed only grey to her hardened eyes. Through times and tragedy she had come to seemingly desensitize herself to the colors that consumed her. As she trailed in unnoticed through the prison-orange doors, focusing on her feet, but still seeing the faces of everyone she’s passed. God forbid she brush against someone’s shoulder, or, in worst case scenario, be pulled into actual conversation. She had made it past the cackling girls wearing Bass Pro Shop T-Shirts who all had their hair styled the same way and were waiting to join each other in Intensive Reading class. You know the ones, who wake up at five o’clock every morning to shower, put on just enough makeup to seem like they're not wearing any, and has about half a bottle of sprunch spray in their barely towel dried hair. Most of these girls lost their innocence years ago, but made a pretty face in church, giving them some sort of unearned entitlement. It was these girls that bothered her the most. She felt it very appropriate they chose to hover so close to those same entry way doors, casting a hideous orange reflection back at them. If they knew that she knew the them they’d long forgotten, they’d have probably noticed her more, so it’s for the best really that they were all somewhat afraid of her for no real apparent reason. Passing a crowd of faces, she could only manage to connect to broken bits of trauma through a series of unavoidable energy transfers. Her ears are soon soothed by the familiar buzz of clean energy flowing in glittering swirls surrounding what is seen as the darkest corner of the campus.
By Gaia Bliss8 years ago in Humans
My Butterflies Flew Away, and I’m so Glad
My boyfriend and I are long distance, we live on opposite sides of the United States. We met online and it was an instant connection, we fell in love almost immediately. There’s always doubt about meeting online though, you have to wonder if you’ll feel the same way with that person when you’re face to face with who they truly are. The first time we met, I was confident that the things we felt online were just as strong in person, if not more so, but for some reason, I rarely felt butterflies. The lack of giddy excitement upset me, and I questioned why that tingling sensation I love so much wasn’t there.
By Jules Wright8 years ago in Humans
Exes
Distant memories; something we've all dealt with in our lives. If you haven't, likely you're going to at some point. Exes of our past remain in our minds regardless of whether or not we're thinking about them. Just because we think about them doesn't mean we're not over them, because in reality, they're major parts of who we are as individuals. Every breakup is different, whether its mutual, nasty, or blindsiding. Each of us has an ex we still dwell on, and each of us have some sort of emotion we feel whenever we see our exes either in public or on social media. Lust, jealousy, hatred, anger, sadness. In reality, we must ask ourselves one thing; do we ever truly get over our exes? Or do we tuck them into the back pocket of our minds until our memories are struck when we come across them again in the bottom of the washing machine?
By inactive account8 years ago in Humans
How to Endure a Long Distance Relationship
My fiancé and I met online. Yeah, I know. The scary, dangerous place that people say you should never meet someone. Well, of course, you have to be cautious of who you're talking to before you give out too much personal information, but it's like that with anyone, no matter if you meet them in person or online first. This article isn't really about that, though. It's about how my fiancé and I have endured three years as long distance.
By Alicia Cameron8 years ago in Humans
Put a Pin in It
If I wasn’t crazy before, which is up for debate depending on who you ask, I am now. The four years since suddenly losing my husband, Ryan, have been a roller coaster. I met someone relatively early on and the poor guy was given a crash course into my grief cycle antics. A combination of depression, insecurity, abandonment issues, and my newfound experience of addiction teetering with the ever present accountability boulder I now carried securely on my shoulders makes it hard to invest in relationships. I had four offspring on their own journey of grief, and the idea of me now being the last of the Mohicans as far as parents for them was constantly on my mind. That is my reality.
By Angela Brigance-Vance8 years ago in Humans
Does Social Media and Technology Conduct Isolation Within Users?
Cell phones, robotic pets, technology and all the advances that have come in the past twenty years—the past five years alone. The irony of everything is social media platforms. They're created to allow users to embrace the concept of making friends and keeping in touch with those who've been lost, but in the darkness of it all, establish a longing for actual human interaction. Countless studies have been completed to state the ideas of how social media makes users feel lonely and creates distractions. Instead of using various sites, the internet, and texting to connect between one another, they all make it easier to live within a virtual world.
By Natalie Santana8 years ago in Humans
Don't Give an Ugly Response
The world can be ugly, but that doesn't mean you have to be. It's no surprise we come across people on a regular that can be downright ugly. They could be having a bad day or they could be in a bad mood and sometimes they're just looking for people to take it out on. Our first response could be to respond in ugliness or to give them a dose of their own medicine. That's what honestly can feel natural to us. We want to show them how it feels.
By Karina Nistal8 years ago in Humans
I Don't Know If I Know What Love Is but I Know I Can't Live Without You
Setting: Winter time in Chicago around 8 PM. It was me, Patrick, his mother, Deena, and my mother, Lisa. We all were gathered around the firepit outside Patrick’s house down by the town middle school. The beginning hours were filled with pleasant conversation, memory recollection, and nostalgia while enjoying the home cooked meal Patrick and Deena had prepared for the evening. After dinner, we all were sitting outside on the patio, still, staring at the sky. this night, unlike others, was full of bright stars. It was a chilly night but no one seemed to care so long as they were huddled close enough to the brightly burning fire. Lisa and Deena were chatting amongst themselves when they finally fired a look at Patrick and me, batted their eyes and asked us to drive them to the world market. Patrick asked why they needed to go there and they answered: "for some Chardonnay, of course!"
By Isabel Graves8 years ago in Humans
The Estrogen vs Testosterone War
If you look back through history, many countries, including my country, the United States, have been involved in many battles in their existence: the Revolutionary War, World War I, World War II, the Mexican-American War, Vietnam, Afghanistan, the Iraqi War, the Korean War, and many other famous battles that I have not listed.
By Maurice Bernier8 years ago in Humans
