Universe Contributor

'Why books (...) hated and feared? They show the pores of the face of life.' (Bradbury 82). The famous line from Ray Bradbury’s book “Fahrenheit 451”, outlines the reasoning behind the mass burning of books in a dystopian world. Bradbury’s novel explores the government’s fear of a world of individual thoughts and opinions, to such an extent that it leads to the destruction of the world’s history and knowledge. A dystopian world that may not be far from our own if we don’t take action.

At almost every birthday party, every church event, and every activity in between, I ignore the refreshments given to every other attendant and turn to my backpack, where I have a small variety of snacks. While everyone else has pizza or cookies, I enjoy some chips or fruit from a lunch bag. I have to carry my backpack everywhere I go, as it also contains my medicine. Having food allergies is rough. I am always on alert and always checking food labels. Every time I go to someone’s house, I have to ask about how everything was made, and I usually end up having to look through their fridge for something safe, which is always awkward even when they were the ones who told me I could.

In the world of sports and overall health, getting stronger can feel like climbing a tough hill. When I was growing up, I was immersed in sports, and my journey to gain muscle growth was a continuing challenge for me that resembled navigating challenging peaks and valleys of athletic pursuit. During my basketball off season, I stumbled upon Creatine Monohydrate (CrM), that showed promise in assisting me with my size and strength. However, there were various warnings for potential side effects across different articles often disagreeing with one another. Even my mom was very skeptical of this supplement, and this combination delayed my action to purchase it. Eventually I became impatient, and I gave CrM a shot. After only a month of consumption and weight training, I saw significant increases in performance, and I was led to do a deep dive into this strength building supplement.

When COVID-19 first started, everyone was looking for something to do in quarantine. People gained new at-home hobbies: baking, painting, exercising. In addition to these new hobbies, downtime was turned into screen time. I found myself constantly on my phone and on social media. I became obsessed. I would spend most of my screen time on my many different social media apps. I started using social media as a guide on how to live: what food to eat, how to dress, how to workout. I would get recipes and workouts from influencers in hopes to look like them. Even though I wasn’t with my friends, I knew they were doing the same things. We would send each other “healthy” recipes or workouts or posts of pretty girls in our grade. We might not have realized it, but we were comparing ourselves to the people we saw on social media for the better or for the worst. I was constantly looking at myself in the mirror and most of the time believed I was not good enough because I had the image of social media influencers on my mind. I started weighing myself and tracking my calories. I was proud when I ate under 1,200 calories in a day. Although I have made changes, this body and food outlook still affects me today.