What is it that makes people want to drink so much? Are their lives that dull and boring they want to escape? Is it because its ‘cool’? I know from my experiences, where for the past few years I drank quite a bit, you learn it’s never worth it. I used to drink because it was what everyone else was doing. I’d get sucked in by their excitement over drinking and adopt it as my own excitement.

Its disgusting that we live in a time where young people say things like “omg I haven’t had a drink for 3 days, I can’t wait to start again.” Who the hell cares how often you drink? Can’t people find something else to occupy their time with? I’m not trying to say drinking is bad. I don’t think that at all and of course, enjoy yourself occasionally. I’m saying drinking excessively 4 or 5 nights a week and living with the need for a drink all the time is bad. Being able to handle a certain number of drinks doesn’t make anyone who matters think any better of you. Nobody really cares what stupid things you get up to when you’re drunk. Yes, it’s funny to laugh over the next morning, but you’re not creating a person people will have respect for.

Also is a night really worthwhile not being able to get out of bed the next day for fear of throwing up? I know it’s definitely not. In the last few months I’ve really started to notice how often my friends say the “I can’t wait to get blind” sort of thing. It’s really made me think. I have to admit, most of the time I drink it’s because everyone else is doing it and I don’t want to be the sober one. It’s awful how when you say you don’t want to go out, or don’t feel like drinking, the answer you receive is not an understanding one, but a ”you’re so boring!” one. I have been guilty of handing out these responses, but generally it is just to mask my own uneasiness about what I am doing.

Obviously this sort of preaching is not going to make anyone change their mind about their excessive drinking and the stupid things they do. I don’t know what will, there are so many stories out there about accidents that happen as a result of alcohol, but nobody pays any attention to these. I guess people either have to experience something bad for themselves, or grow in maturity and realise that getting wasted is not an important part of life. For me, I believe the second one happened. Through my experiences last year and my realisation about many things and people, I believe I have grown in maturity and such trifle things are no longer important in my life and defining who I am.

This blog is for me to explore my concerns, ideas and feelings. We’ll see how it goes…

 Recently I’ve been interested in starting a blog, but when thinking about what to write about, I had no idea. I asked myself, do people actually care about what I have to say? Well it doesn’t matter if people do or not. Am I actually passionate about anything worth writing about it? This last question concerned me and gave me the topic for my first blog.

In recent conversation with my Mum I’ve been voicing concerns about whether I’m studying the right thing and whether I should even be studying when I don’t know what I want to do. It worries me that I don’t feel passionate about anything. Don’t get me wrong, I am incredibly passionate about my family, my close friends and life, all the good things in life. It’s not that that’s worrying me; it’s more what makes me interesting? What do I have to say? What about me stands out and defines who I am?

Now I don’t want to upset anyone by what I’m going to say next, but for me and what I am seeing with my peers, it is true. I think Generation Y, in some cases really is Generation “I don’t care.” In my concern for not having a passion I’ve asked a few friends why they are studying what they are and what they are truly passionate about? A few of the answers I’ve received to my first question were; “Because it’s better than an arts degree” or “It was expected of me.” The answers I received to my second question were a little more upsetting. “Drinking” was the most common answer. I know everyone enjoys a few drinks, but actually naming “drinking” as your passion is a bit of a concern.

So, while I was glad to learn I am not the only one with doubts about where my life is headed, I was a little disturbed at the fact that today’s students, who are our future and who are getting a better education than ever offered to students before, spend so much of their time partying and getting written off. Why is it that so many people are only studying out of pressure and have no real passions? In discussing this with my Mum, she pointed out that when I was little I had so much creativity and got so excited over everything, but she noticed, especially during high school, my passion and creativity diminished. In my defence I pointed out that at school I was passionate about fashion. To this I got the reply “Yes but so was every other girl at that school.”

I see this lack of passion and I don’t care attitude amongst many of my friends. It worries me that when my family ask me ‘What do you talk to your friends about?’ I have no real answer. The majority of things I talk about with my friends are so petty, that they are easily forgotten by the next day. I hate to sound like my mother, but it’s true, why do none of us talk about international affairs, different languages, travelling for the sake of learning new things, not just drinking and our futures? I’ve noticed it is because often if we don’t know how to discuss these things, we hide our not knowing with not caring. Or in my case, which I am sure is the case for many others, we feel our company doesn’t care, so why bother bringing it up? Why is this? Don’t you think discussing subjects that matter and have depth is far more interesting than what you wore on a Saturday night?