The Human Race

People suck.

Very cynical opening, I know. But it’s true, 90% of the time, they will hurt you. They will disappoint you, leave you broken; in the heart, in the brain, and sometimes, even in the soul. Now don’t get me wrong, this article is based purely off of my personal experiences, and so I urge you - whoever is reading this - to not take this seriously, at all.

Despite having lived on this planet for 18 years, I am still to discover what the big deal is. Everyone hates everyone for all sorts of reasons, whether it’s because of their skin colour, their personal beliefs, or if they’re team Edward or team Jacob (personally I don’t think Bella deserved either of them...)

The fact of the matter is, there will always be something wrong with this place. That’s the one lesson I’ve learned that has always stuck with me: the only person who will truly always have your back, is yourself. People are selfish. However, that being said, there are some redeeming qualities that comes with this fucked up experience we call ‘life’.

And I am making it my job to figure them out, and share them with you.

After all, “you only live once”, and all that artificial, incredibly naive bullshit.

I am currently experiencing the latter of my teenage years in the middle of a global epidemic. Who would’ve seen that coming! It’s perfect irony: finally reaching the age of freedom in all senses - old enough to vote, old enough to drive, old enough to drink (legally), old enough to travel abroad on an airplane without adult supervision, old enough to have sex (!), old enough to attend music festivals, and old enough to move out of my childhood home, amongst other things. And yet, within the first three months of 2020, myself and everyone else my age (as well as the rest of the fucking world) are placed into a year-long lockdown. No friends, no extended family, no university, no 18th birthday parties, no prom, no graduation, no travelling, and no leaving the house. Instead of my favourite pair of earrings in my jacket pocket, a disposable face mask takes up residence. A bottle of hand sanitizer replaces the spot in my purse that was previously used for a tube of lip balm, house keys, and any spare change or notes left from a night out. All businesses - including hospitality - were to be shut down, effective immediately. No one leaves the house other than to go to one of the very few supermarkets that were left open for essential products only, such as toilet roll, which in fact every store in the UK had run out of within the first week. Each customer was conditioned to a certain amount of produce, but there was a limitation on alcoholic beverages and cleaning products (the former being the only thing with the ability to keep me sane for the next 12 months...)

It almost sounds made up, doesn’t it?

The plot of a distopian-future-themed film that everyone would watch and then after think to themselves ‘well thank god that wasn’t me’ while leaving the theatre. But no. This was (and still is) very much real. And to add to the chaos of it all, 2020 was chock-full of some of the worst political and humanitarian issues the world has seen since the Holocaust. Racism (against all minorities) is as rife as ever, resulting in a worldwide uptake of the BLM movement like it’s the newest trend, the concept of women’s rights have become the worlds most common punchline, millions of people are losing their families and their lives to COVID19, as well as suicide caused by lockdown itself, along with concentration camps based in Xinjiang in China, and to make matters unbelievably worse, Donald Trump was president of the United States throughout it all. What a shitshow.

I could go on for hours talking about all the terrible things that have happened over the past year, but you’ll already know it all. With there being no other forms of communication, it feels like everyone has been online more over this past year than in the last decade. It is physically impossible to not know about it all. It is emotionally exhausting. So instead of focusing on all the big bad problems that we as a society face today, I’ve decided to give everyone a break and focus in on the completely superficial struggles of everyday life as a teenager growing up in the middle of a pandemic. That is not implying that teenagers struggles are unimportant in any way shape or form - if anything there has never been a more important time to pay attention to our mental health and how everything is affecting us as the world as we know it has been flipped upside down. If anything, the majority of the content on my page is being uploaded for those who feel they are going through this alone, and simply need an escape. I am one of those people. To be entirely honest, I am currently writing this piece in my room with a cup of tea after having my monthly mental breakdown - which usually spurs me on to retire from social media all together, however this time, I have taken a different approach.

Anyhow, this was a starter piece to initially get my voice out into the world and see who - if anyone - responds. A little taster of what’s to come. Believe me, I have more than enough time on my hands and a shit ton of crazy experiences and internal monologue to give you content for the next year - and I’m a HUGE oversharer. How exciting!

If you have enjoyed reading this, or even if you just want someone to talk to, please feel free to shoot me a message on my Instagram @maya.lcn , and if you feel so inclined, any donations or tips would be much appreciated, as I am broke as fuck!

Love, Maya