The Wisdom of Old Bradley

HI EVERYONE! *crickets* It has been a WHILE...

I'm thirty at the moment, which I state just to kick this thing off. I'm aware that is not technically old, but you try reading a relentless anything-that-comes-to-mind blog that was mostly written in your teens and not feel like you've been languishing on this earth for thousands of years. 

So here, and in the notes on all the other posts on this blog, I shall refer to myself as Old Bradley (OB) and the bizarre, not-me personality that I was over 10 years ago as Young Bradley. (YB)

Young Bradley had... OPINIONS. As do I, I suppose, but I'm (hopefully) a little bit better at expressing them these days in a civilized and respectful fashion. As I've dived into this writing thing again, I've learned that I shouldn't be so free with my criticism of other writers - even if people who've found mainstream success are at least (somewhat) fair-game.

Because honestly, writing is HARD. Trying to get something out there that's precise, well crafted, and lives up to your vision is really difficult, and I respect anyone who tries. (The 2012 movie aside - I still feel like that was garbage, and I stand by YB's assessment of that.)

I've gone through the blog, and made some changes, mostly just because some of the grammar/spelling around there was causing me near-physical pain to look at. (No guarantee that I've gotten everything, but I've at least passed over it to my own satisfaction.) 

There was also another (slightly harder) choice to make, but I've removed a few things that I found mildly objectionable/made me feel bad, because I'd rather edit myself slightly than feel like I need to delete this blog. Or maybe hide it. But I think despite the changes I've made, I have managed to keep the general spirit of me at that age alive, which is something I sort of like to have around.

There's some funny stuff on here, that sort of cracked Old Bradley (this version of me) up A LOT. 

• Criticising bad writing in a blog post RIDDLED with spelling/grammar errors. (Was that an attempt at satire?) 
• Detailing my interactions with a 'hater' (Dear god, did I mean to use that term unironically?) 
• And rejecting - harshly - the advice of people who were just trying to help. (Which honestly made me laugh, but also cringe a bit. Who did this kid think he was?)

You see a lot of those fluffy posts online, asking something like "What advice would you give to your younger self?" and honestly, this blog seems to beg that question. But there's two problems with that.

The main one is that the things tripping me up in life at that point were very intangible. I'm not sure there was any way through them other than just letting life drive me out of them. How do you tell someone to stop being afraid? To look on the bright side more? To be kind to to other people? I feel like those were lessons I needed to be taught, not have handed to me by a well-meaning stranger.

The second problem is probably much bigger, and thanks to how much of a loud mouth YB was on here, much more publicly apparent. And that's because YB didn't take advice - he didn't think anybody understood him, and he certainly didn't think other people could be smarter than him. He was a well-read, overachieving nerd, and how DARE anyone else tell him what to do?

Young Bradley had all the answers, but he needed them. 

Old Bradley does not, and does not. And you know what? He's doing fine.

(If, for some reason, you've come here first, and you'd like to be taken to the paired post on my current blog, click the - hopefully lovely - logo I've come up for my new writing-related profile picture below.)