When we dont 'date'

**In a way, Id like to consider myself a millennial, although maybe I cant exactly say I am one, either way, for the sake of this post, Im going to round out everyone in my age range so lets say 16-35 as a millennial.  **
 

   If you look around at people around you and society, there is one small thing I dont think anyone really notices.  Its small and overlooked but I feel important to address, the fact that we've created 'the hook up culture'.  Shake your head and disagree, thats fine but if you look into things a little more, and broaden your scope you will notice it is true.
   I was  talking to a woman at a bar the other day, she was about to turn 50(didn't look a day over 35 though) and she began telling me about her trial she embarked upon with online dating.  Her biggest drawback to it, apart from mens weak conversational skills over the internet, was the fact that 90% of the men who message her only want one thing.   She didnt understand when dating became straight sex without at least an established relationship.  She grew up in a time where a man would take a girl out a few times, fall in love and marry her, now its completely different.  That was when I really noticed what the millennials did to this entire society now.

When did we forget how to date?
  With apps out there(tinder, okc, zoosk) which are known to be just for hookups it takes away from the act of actually going out with a girl a few times, courting her, dating her for a while and then getting down and dirty.  Its gotten to be now that we just fuck like rabbits and hope for a phone call again sometime(or i suppose hope it doesnt happen).
  People wonder why chivalry is dead? 
 Its not dead, we diminished the need for it.  Why should a guy take you out to an expensive dinner and kiss you on your doorstep if he knows he can skip that shit and hook up with you without so much as sending a simple text message and hoping you look like your pictures.  People don't think there's a reason for dating and for people like me, who like to be courted and like to be cared about and not just kicked to the curb the next morning, it sucks.
  If you really think about it, its ruined for the younger crowds too.  Im talking those kids who are in elementary and middle school, growing up with this already fucked thought of 'its just sexual'.  We grew up with barbie and hot wheels, then social media came in and it was cool but now these kids are growing up with tinder, and since the idea of dating is already out the window there, they don't get to experience a lot of what they should.

Basically I wrote this to get some stuff off my chest after noticing and really opening my eyes to this world around me.  I understand that sex is "SO FUN" but is it really worth it?  Ladies and gentlemen, lets try to do this proper way, at least buy her dinner...you have to start somewhere.

Running and motivation

I'm one of those crazy people.  The kind you watch and wonder what the hell posses them to do what they are doing.  Those people known as runners.  To me, being a runner isn't about running around a track in a circle in no time, to me, a runner is someone that runs the distance.  I know I do.
My obsession with running started 7 years ago when my obsession with cheer leading seized.  Starting out, was hell.  I remember showing up at the dirt track at Willis Junior High School.  It was the middle of October and the air was chilly, which got worse throughout the season.  The two years I spent on the WJHS cross country team were the hardest years ever and I knew I could never continue running, I wasn't a runner.
I continued to run in high school.  I honestly can't say why, but I did.  Those were the years that defined my love and affection for running.  Freshman year, I learned what it really took to be a runner.  When I look back at my time from my first race I cringe, but looking at the races to follow, I smile.  Sophomore year and junior year were my years to prove to myself that I was going to go places with running, that this was the one thing that i excelled in.  But senior year I hit the wall, a term runners use when they can't go any faster or any further and there run kind of stalls.  For me, hitting the wall was like someone stabbing me.  Running never let me down, what was happening.  I spent my season pushing through pain and passion to be what I knew I could be, better.  Eventually I learned to stop pushing, the pain stopped making me stronger and ended up killing me internally and caused stress fractures.
Since then, running has been leaving my heart.  I'm in college at a beautiful campus built for all the things nature has for us.  I should be running my heart out, so why am I stepping back?

Thats one thing I can't answer.  I'm starting to realize how much i relied on running though.  How it kept me in shape.  I look in the mirror lately and I look away, ashamed and disgusted.  I look at the way my clothes cling to curves I've never had before, I look at the way my butt seems bigger.  I look at all these things and walk away hanging my head and telling myself to step my game up.  My biggest fear is being fat, obese, but my biggest fear is going to creep up if i don't step up my game first.

Running has never let me down, and I love it more than anything.  I need to stop running away from running.  It has no intentional harm and only wants to keep me with a good figure and endurance and for that I love it.  I could never and will never give up on running.  I just need to find the motivation I had.

This post isn't to reflect on my life, its to motivate you to do what you love.  If what you love is something that you can improve on, then always push to improve.  Nothing is impassable with the correct mindset.  Keep happy, keep motivated, and get out there and you do what the heart wants.