We might be in the gutter, but some of us are Chinese bamboo trees.

What if I told you that you're not your followers. 

You're not your facebook likes. You're not your 'goals' and you are most definitely not your Instagram account. Before all of that, we were just kids doing what kids do.We were dependent. We learned to walk by falling, we learned what foods we liked and the ones we didn't. We went to school on rainy days and learned in classrooms that smelled like damp jumpers. We learned how to speak Irish (an bhfuil cead agam dul go dti on leathras, anyone?) and we lined up in the playground at 11.15 for the all determining game of cops and robbers. Communion, cash. Confirmation, cash. Christmas? Yes please, Santa. We sat the junior cert, believing it to be the most important exam of our lives;and then we sat the Leaving Cert (believing it to be the most important exam in our lives).
And we learned that the world offered us an infinite amount of opportunities if we chose to believe that it did. We could be mammies and daddies, nurses and doctors or cops and robbers.

While innocent, I still recall instances of childhood where the realities of life seemed to creep into my little world of naivety. Wearing torn up shoes to school because my single mother couldn't afford to buy us new shoes, waiting on my father on Saturdays, only for him to never show up, and never understanding why I wasn't the same as other boys. Life's gaping head seemed to peer through whether we liked it or not, but we chose to ignore it, or failed to understand it. We clung to the idea that at one point or another, we could make something of ourselves, even a future that never seemed likely. Our generation has been raised to believe that anything is possible, if not that we should expect it to be. And perhaps we should; but what happens if our expectations are not met? What happens when a twenty something year old graduate looks in the mirror on some unsuspecting Monday, only to realize that life hasn't amounted to what he expected it to be. And what happens to the one who never had the opportunity to graduate in the first place?

The sad reality is that life brings challenges, and setbacks, and it is hard. Coupled with the fact that in this social media era, every time we sign online it seems like everyone is doing better than we are. But what if I told you that not everyone is a self-made entrepreneur, and that even my instagram reputation amounts to a feeble 87 followers (while some blonde taking selfies has scored a whopping 87 million). This blog is a voice for the beat down contender, not the pretender. Those who have real lives and real struggles. If you're reading this and you feel like you have been dealt an unfair pair of cards, bear with me, If you're reading this and you disagree with my 'pessimism', bear with me. Social media is deceiving. It;s where we have 2000 friends yet can barely count ten real ones on our own hands. It's where bodies are photoshopped and 11 year old girls(and boys) are made to feel insecure. And everyone's eating a salad for lunch, all the time. We create online personalities,  And as we fabricate our best self(ie), we lose a piece of what we were, My aim isn't to knock those who channel their energy and work into social media, but to say that if you base your identity upon it, your hopes and dreams begin and end there.

The consolation is that while it might seem like we are going nowhere, even nowhere is a start. And if you feel like you haven't met your expectations, it's because you just haven't arrived yet. You see, we the unfulfilled and overwhelmed are much like Chinese bamboo trees.What is profound about the Chinese bamboo tree is that it grows in a manner that is contrary to the growth pattern of normal trees. Where most trees grow over a linear period, the Chinese bamboo tree fails to grow for the first four years. However, what is remarkable is that on the fifth year, the Chinese bamboo tree grows an at exponential rate, growing up to 90 feet in five weeks! My growth spurt to a humble 5'9 pales in comparison. I can imagine the farmer's disappointment as he planted the tree, only to return for the first four summers to see little reward yielded. However, what he never saw was that the roots had been forming all along. In the same way, many of us feel a little lost. Today was the same as yesterday, and we fail to differentiate it from the future. We feel stagnant, like a dormant volcano waiting to erupt. You might feel this in your career, if you're working in a job that is unfulfilling (My hat goes off to you. Nobody works a job they dislike unless they have real priorities like providing for a family). You might feel like this in the gym if your deadlift has stalled and your bodyfat is not decreasing. And you might feel like the imagination you once had has been locked away in that damp smelling primary school room, waiting for a rainy day.  But rest assured, you growing. You might not feel it, and you might not see it today or tomorrow, but your roots are forming. This hurt; this lack of purpose? It will all make sense one day. I'm not telling you to become a self-entrepreneur and I'm not telling you to quit your job and your responsibilities. But I am telling you to hang on. The majority of us are like the disappointed farmer, waiting for the bamboo tree to bloom. But how worth it will it be? We might not grow ninety feet tall,but I guarantee you,when your tree grows, it will grow extraordinarily.

Turn off that smartphone, or atleast unfollow that 'inspirational' blogger who's doing more to bring you down than build you up. Don't feel guilty for not having arrived to where you want to be. Most of the successful bloggers you see online haven't arrived at where they want to be either. No Marilyn Monroe quote is going to bring you fulfillment, no matter how many times you share it on facebook. And Oscar Wilde won't save us either. ''We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.'' True, some of us are in the gutter, but some of us are Chinese bamboo trees.