To Gig Or Not To Gig?

As a slightly inexperienced - yet enthusiastic - concert goer the world of gigs is still fairly new to me. A few nights ago (23/11/14) I went to The Hunting Party Tour where I saw Linkin Park and Of Mice and Men at the o2 arena London; it was undoubtedly AMAZING.
However, at this gig (and others) I've noticed the same irritating patterns occurring. Don't get me wrong, I adore live music. I found myself singing along to the lyrics and smiling more than ever as the crowd moved and the lights flashed. The atmosphere is immense and everyone seems to transform once in the arena/venue. There might be occasional fights at concerts but mostly the hordes of fans are friendly, often striking up conversations with one another in the queues. Everyone knows they are there for the same reason and that they all share a common love of the band/artist. When you're there and the music is filling the air nobody cares. Nobody. Amongst the 20,000 populating the arena all that anyone felt was the music. It's pretty easy to get caught up in the positive vibes, the heat of the crowds, and the excitement of experiencing music with the ability to get your blood racing & your heart pumping. I may or may not have begun to sound like a bit of a hippy by now but idc, a gig is one of the few places where you can walk - run/skip/shove - your way through the doors, endure the ticket and security checks, going on to forget everything. Leave all your problems or worries outside and allow yourself to become immersed in the overwhelming lyrical projections accompanied by heavy bass vibrations or mellowing acoustics. You don't know when you'll see the band again or if you ever will, for first timers the music smashing through the crowds is a very different yet lively and appealing feeling.
The following 5 minor irritations would never ruin a gig for me, personally, but can get in the way of living within the moment, along with being able to squeeze every ounce of enjoyment from the experience in order to leave with memories that will leave you smiling for weeks. 



1) Not in the arena? In the camera!

I understand you want to capture memories through photos and videos; we all want something to look back on. But what on earth is the point of being there if you're going to WATCH THE ENTIRE GIG THROUGH THE SCREEN OF YOUR PHONE!!???? I will never understand this!! At least look up from the screen? Or maybe take a few photos, go mad and take enough to fill an album. But there's only a certain amount you can take before they all begin to look the same? Right? You paid good money to watch the gig, yet you're staring at the screen of your phone - not even smiling - and adding to the huge amount of crappy quality videos that are going to appear on youtube the next day? It's also extremely inconsiderate to hold your flippin' phone/camera so high that you block the smaller peoples view of the band *ahem.*

2) Checking Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/etc every 10 minutes.
Let me get this straight, you've paid £30-70 (or more?) for this show... and you're checking social media? You're more interested in the moany 'so tired today' tweets rather than the ACTUAL BAND PLAYING LIVE in front of you?? Fair enough, have a quick look every now n then, maybe between songs or whatever, but idegi. I cannot fathom why you wouldn't want to live in the moment and get into the music?

3) Getting so drunk you act like a dick or throw up.
At most concerts you see the caretaker scurry out at some point to clean something unpleasant up. Drinking at a concert? Fab. Have fun!! But please, don't be vomit guy. That's the worst kind. If you're in the standing area its just a stupid move to drink so much you throw up, leaving everyone else awkwardly dodging the messy area and putting up with the smell for the rest of the show. Yuck.

4) PUSH, SHOVE, PUSH.
Mosh pits and standing areas involve a lot of physical contact and shoving, that is to be expected. Yet people at the front of general admissions have earned their spot. They may have tirelessly stood outside for hours, or even camped out... just for some moron to shove their way right to the front? Fighting your way through the crowds to find a great place is always fun, but surely some kind of consideration can be maintained? Especially those who are 5'9+... why do you feel the need to stand in front of those who are 5'2? WHAT ARE YOU GAINING? To add to this aggravation, if you know you're going to be in general admissions, why take a massive bag in with you? It's just going to weigh you down and whack everyone around you.

5) Groping.
Usually concerts are full of rather young girls or adolescent females. Many - not all - males take this opportunity to commit casual sexual assault. Let's sum this up in 5 simple words eh? For those males who feel entitled to take what they want? GIG. GROPING. IS. NOT. ACCEPTABLE.
It's easy to bump into or touch someone inappropriately by mistake in packed spaces, but intentional groping? Really? Many young teenage girls will just let it happen, won't say anything, and many males know this. I could write a whole post on this, - but enough have been written - it's just degrading and disgusting. You're taking the opportunity to touch women without their consent which DOES count as a form of sexual assault, but you reckon it's just having a cheeky feel or 'banter'?
Cannot emphasize enough what an issue this is.*

The next time you're at a gig, don't be one of these people, just LIVE IN THE MOMENT and be considerate!! Why walk in there and do everything possible to irritate those attempting to rock out n have a laugh around you?


No fake tickets here:
http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/

* to be clear I am not being sexist, I simply specified males as although females commit casual sexual assault too the MAJORITY of perpetrators are statistically male.

HOW DO YOU STAY SO HAPPY?

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2014, the year of the seemingly average teenager being depressed. I'm not referring to clinical depression, but the general term indicating low-lows and continuously dampened moods. The question I often get asked from friends/twitter followers is something along the lines of 'How do you stay so happy/positive?' 

Excuse the bad grammar of this ask.fm anon, but it was too cute not to include.

I've never been quite sure of how to answer this question, but as I've become more accepting of my own state of mind, I've wanted to help other people change their way of thinking. Firstly, nobody is happy every single second for 365 days a year. Nobody. Human nature is to experience a variety of emotions including happiness, but also sadness, anger, jealously, excitement, confusion... and many more!! I don't think I would want to be happy all the time because I would become something of an emotionless robot. There is no secret. Just one key word. Perspective.

You can always take control of your emotions and guide them to a certain extent. Yes, they are spontaneous and somewhat out of your control, but your way of thinking can certainly trigger positive emotions. This may sound far easier said than done, but it's actually not. Life throws circumstances at you that inevitably make you feel sad/negative. Bad exam results? Relationship problems? Insecurities? Family issues? It's not an easy ride. But 'life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it.' For example, person A might miss their train, miss half their first lesson of the day at college, only to arrive and find out they got a bad grade in a mock exam. They feel awfully discouraged, almost hopeless. They feel as though they are failing at everything, that this is the grade they are stuck with and that the lessons topic is harder to understand due to missing half an hour of it. Coincidentally, person B had exactly the same morning. However, they realise this mock grade is only a stepping stone. Yes, it was a disappointment, but they have feedback on what to improve on and are more determined than ever to do better. This resolve continues and motivates them to spend extra time on the topic covered in that mornings lesson as they missed teaching time.

Perspective.

Both positivity and negativity are incredibly contagious. You spend time with someone who smiles often, you will begin to. You spend time with someone who is always in a negative mood, you will begin to feel the same way. All in all it comes down to surrounding yourself with remarkably clichéd thinking patterns that can actually be exceedingly effective in maintaining a positive attitude. Upbeat music that triggers love n positivity (The Kooks always work without fail), reading your favourite book, looking at old photos, watching a comedy... anything!!! Everyone has 'happy triggers.'
When sadness looms it may be conquerable by simply thinking "you know what, screw this, I want to be happy so I'm going to be happy." This must be your choice for you!!! Nobody else. To benefit you. You have the ability to deal with the issue or push it to the back of your mind, whichever it takes to make yourself happy. Let's be clear, I don't mean make yourself in reference to 'fake smiling' and pretending. I mean genuinely changing your current emotion. Making yourself think happy. Think positive. Think sparkles n love because you can?? Because you have that ability?? Because a little sadness sporadically is a healthy outlet, but too much of it is mentally, physically, and socially damaging!!
If you're trying to drag yourself out of weeks (or even months) of misery, despondency, despair and negative thinking suddenly 'being' happy won't feel natural. It won't. It may even feel like you're pretending. Maybe you are? But trying, trying to believe it, and wanting it, deciding you've had enough works. You'll get into the habit of thinking positively and being in a natural state of happiness just as quickly as one may have got into a frenzy of hardcore gloominess.

***DISCLAIMER: this post is aimed at those who are stuck in or suffering with low moods. Not those diagnosed with clinical depression or other ongoing symptoms as I understand there may be a biological/chemical cause and you cannot simply 'change' that or just 'be' happy, although adjusting your basic thinking patterns may still help.***

Samaritans UK:

Confidential support for people experiencing feelings of distress or despair.

Phone: 08457 90 90 90 (24-hour helpline)

List of mental health helplines UK:

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/pages/mental-health-helplines.aspx

Curious Introduction

Well, this is my first ever blog post - the first of hopefully many to come. I'm not happy with my URL and I will figure one out eventually but for now, my twitter/instagram username shall do; shameless self promotion already!??
Maybe we should start with the 5 w's (can you tell I'm an English student?) - who? what? when? where? why?

I'm - currently - a 17 year old college student living in London. Avid reader, aspiring psychologist, amazing procrastinator, and advocate of all things pretty n sparkly. My perpetual positivity essentially results in someone who is ridiculously happy all the time, whether that's annoying or not is your decision to make. I started this blog as I have a passion for writing and expressing my views, the feeble allowance of 140 characters on twitter just isn't enough anymore to satisfy my need for opinionated expression.
The term 'dream' has always seemed somewhat soppy to me, yet if it needs to be put that way, my dream is indeed to become a clinical psychologist.
"The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water." - Sigmund Freud.
I believe that you can never discover the entirety of any one iceberg, yet you can look at innumerable icebergs and discover a significant pattern. The mind is truly captivating. There will never be one quite like another, every minor experience can have an immense impact on our behaviour as well as essentially our existential being. The human mind is comparable to the view from the window of a train journey. Every time you take a look at it, something different will appear, another path, another kink, another explanation. If you separate the human mind and all its many complexities from the body what are you left with? An empty case, a shell of a being, a loss of fragility? We are our minds, nothing else.

Along with being in awe of anything psychology related, I'm obsessed with bands (the kooks, alt-j, blink 182, moose blood, twenty one pilots, death cab for cutie, you me at six, the wonder years etcetc), books, and the wonderful Joseph Gordon-Levitt; I will never tire of 500 Days of Summer.

Whether nobody reads this, a few people do, or the majority of my 16,000+ twitter followers (plsSss what world am I in now, am I delusional?) it's for the purpose of enhancing my writing skills, and simply expressing my views on social issues.