A circle is a never ending figure with no corners, no branching off, no turns, no backtracking, and no end. Just the same old thing over and over. A line is a never ending, straight arrow pointing in one direction. No turns, no branching off, no backtracking, and no end. Life is not a circle nor is it a line. While life possesses qualities of both, neither fully describe life. The only form that can include all aspects of our lives is the squiggle.

Life has its ups and downs, especially for teenagers, and too often it changes causing a turn in the line. We have a great day until lunch, then our worlds turn upside down. Our best friend becomes mad at us, or our significant other dumps us, or we begin to feel sick. This is an ongoing process, and everyday our happiness, successes, and moods change, therefore changing our out looks on life, and this causes our “life lines” to curve, to turn, and to ultimately make a big mess. Even when we look at the bigger picture, how we envision our pathway through life never really happens the way we think it will. The college we dreamed of for years does not even compare to the one we toured last week. Our dream job no longer appeals to us, and we decide to take a different pathway in life. And that is okay. It is normal. Things change, and that is what shapes our squiggle. Honestly, we can plan our whole lives right now, but we never really will know where life will take us. Take the red line that shows up on the monitor at the hospital as a good example. We breathe, and the point goes up. We let go, and our point goes down. We die, and the line goes flat. Sure, this heart monitor is a line, but, it is not a straight line. It is more of a squiggle, just like our lives. Except, our life lines portray success, emotion, trials, tribulations, and morals. Often, life repeats lessons and morals, and this is one reason why life is a squiggle. We take turns, repeats, and backtrack constantly. Also, in life, we realize that one path could take us the same way that we wanted to go more quickly than another. This realization creates a “u-turn”, a circle in our diagram.

Trees are great objects to relate to our lives as humans, they grow like us. They represent life like us. The branches grow wild and free, much like the young teens of today. Have you ever noticed that no two trees are the same? That is because they are not, just like us teens and our squiggles; nobody or their life line is the same. Trees have branches that grow untamed, and they intertwine with the branches of other trees. The way that the branches intertwine with others, symbolizes how our squiggles intertwine with the squiggle of people around us. When someone is brought into our life, we began to do things with them or for them, and their squiggle affects our squiggle. Their morals can become our morals too, and their dreams can help to re-shape our dreams.

As you may have noticed, our lives have many complicated aspects. Emotions, morals, goals, and even our dreams change everyday making our life lines a bending, confusing mess.