how do I play the Sicilian?

According to the chess.com opening explorer the Sicilian defense is the best opening for black, the only problem is I don't know how to play it properly.

U should spend 10+ years of your life to learn it properly. 

STOP...

Rating and skillswise, you're nowhere near ready to be playing the Sicilian.  Stick with the basics for now, and keep it simple.

Opening Principles:

1. Control the center squares – d4-e4-d5-e5
2. Develop your minor pieces toward the center – piece activity is the key
3. Castle
4. Connect your rooks

Tactics...tactics...tactics...

The objective of development is about improving the value of your pieces by increasing the importance of their roles. Well-developed pieces have more fire-power than undeveloped pieces and they do more in helping you gain control.

Now we will look at 5 practical things you can do to help you achieve your development objective.

They are:

1. Give priority to your least active pieces.

• Which piece needs to be developed (which piece is the least active)
• Where should it go (where can its role be maximized)

2. Exchange your least active pieces for your opponent’s active pieces.
3. Restrict the development of your opponent’s pieces.
4. Neutralize your opponent’s best piece.
5. Secure strong squares for your pieces.

Don’t help your opponent develop.

There are 2 common mistakes whereby you will simply be helping your opponent to develop:

1. Making a weak threat that can easily be blocked
2. Making an exchange that helps your opponent to develop a piece

Pre Move Checklist:

1. Make sure all your pieces are safe.
2. Look for forcing moves: Checks, captures, threats. You want to look at ALL forcing moves (even the bad ones) as this will force you look at, and see the entire board.
3. If there are no forcing moves, you then want to remove any of your opponent’s pieces from your side of the board.
4. If your opponent doesn’t have any of his pieces on your side of the board, then you want to improve the position of your least active piece.
5. After each move by your opponent, ask yourself: "What is my opponent trying to do?"

if I shouldn't play the Sicilian, then why do i see it at the highest levels of play, and what opening should i play.

..."highest levels of play..." You answered your own question.  It takes YEARS to understand.

Just to give you some type of idea, that studying openings is not the issue.  BUT...If you are insisting on studying openings.  DO NOT just blindly memorize moves.  What you want to learn is the piece placement, and pawn structure behind the openings you study.

Around 2010, IM John Watson wrote, "... For players with very limited experience, ... the Sicilian Defence ... normally leaves you with little room to manoeuvre and is best left until your positional skills develop. ... I'm still not excited about my students playing the Sicilian Defence at [the stage where they have a moderate level of experience and some opening competence], because it almost always means playing with less space and development, and in some cases with exotic and not particularly instructive pawn-structures. ... if you're taking the Sicilian up at [say, 1700 Elo and above], you should put in a lot of serious study time, as well as commit to playing it for a few years. ..."

There are some who are sympathetic to trying the Sicilian at an early stage. If you want to keep at it, it might be helpful to look at Starting Out: The Sicilian, 2nd Edition by GM John Emms (2009).
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627122350/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen123.pdf
For the purpose of switching, one could look at First Steps 1 e4 e5.
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7790.pdf
For a discussion of opening principles, there is Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006).
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf

The best mountain-climbers in the world might feel that Mount Everest is the best mountain to climb. That doesn't mean that it's the best mountain for a beginner to climb.

 I also disagree with IMBacon. I started using the Sicilian Dragon as a 500, immediately shot up to 1000, switched to the Najdorf Sicilian and am rising very quickly.

But I do agree with IMBacon on doing tactics, for that is basically the only reason I think I am winning against players in tournaments at my level. 

In todays world of "Im offended" and "How dare you have a different opinion from me"

Here is a shocker...Im ok with anyone disagreeing with me.

Coming from someone that has played against the Sicilian many times, let me say that if you want to play the Sicilian well, you gotta know your lines. There are SO many lines Black has to prepare against the Sicilian. Many players make the mistake of memorizing the first 10-15 moves of a Sicilian variation, and when middlegame comes, they don't know what to do and collapse. This is one reason why I love playing against the Sicilian Dragon because a lot of people who play it don't really know it, which makes for some embarrassing and quick mates. 

Also, the style of the opening itself tends to be kind of passive, which can allow White to gain a big advantage. I wouldn't recommend a novice to play this kind of game, because it's very easy to collapse. So I would say if you want to play the Sicilian, you really need to commit to it. Or play 1...e5 and have a jolly good time. 

thanks i have a lot less trouble in daily games because i spend as much time as i need on a move

Capitals >

i'm to lazy

Indeed. When I first started playing chess, no one ever told me that the Sicilian was the "best" to the King's pawn. My late Uncle just taught me how to play the Ruy Lopez, Guioco, Scotch, KGD etc...basically answering 1. P-K4 with 1. ... P-K4 (I was 8yrs old). Obviously, as I got older (and starting beating my favorite uncle) reading any chess books I could get my hands on (as well as comic books heh) I became interested in other e4 defences. Namely, the Sicilian Najdorf due to Bobby Fischer. I got a book of his games, plus various others about him (Pandolfini's is my all-time fav) and basically learned how to play it by religiously playing each game over and over. Anyways, yeah I took my lumps earlier on because my tactical prowess was lacking when my more advanced opponents deviated from book lines back then. Guess it shows my age. As it is, I have never wavered from it because it's become a part of my identity as a player. As my tactical sense became keen over the years to match my strategic nature and endgame foundation, so has my feel for playing the Najdorf. My opinion is basically more or less of the various commentators my friend: play the Sicilian not because ppl say it's the "best", likewise not because ppl say you're not at that "level". Rather, play it because you like the Sicilian. That's it. Best wishes.

Thanks Bobby, i kinda figured we'd be on the same page,  While i do agree with you that if youre going to learn an opening, you should start early.  The reason i said no was that it seems like the majority of beginners learning openings dont want to take the time to learn them properly.  The OP has played nothing but rapid, blitz, and bullet.  I dont see how they expect to properly learn an opening playing fast time controls.  That is where i was coming from.

You seem to have a rating that is a few hundred points higher than some of the other Sicilian enthusiasts around here.

+kindaspongey Heh. Cool. I've been playing this game for 30+ years and only then, off & on. I don't give a rip about my rating on this site, I just like giving real time advice in the real world, you know? The OP just wants advice. A normal question for any player starting out. Realistically, he's not going to face a Wesley So or Hikaru or Fabiano OTB. I don't think he has aspirations of winning the WC title anytime soon. Heh. I think how I was back then...He just wants to be play well. And embracing an opening repertoire earlier on enables him to do that. I've advocated with many people that having a solid opening repertoire is just a step above a casual novice. Of course the basic necessities of learning mating patterns, tactics, positional themes, end game positions are a part of a player too, but I firmly believe at any level, your opening repertoire is the first block.

I have a lot of sympathy with the idea of taking steps towards an opening repertoire, although I am somewhat less comfortable with referring to it as "the first block". Indeed, I am uncomfortable with any advice that seems too pushy, since almost any procedure may work well for one person and not-so-well for another. Best, I think, to encourage an individual to be aware of the potential advantages and pitfalls with a course of action.

Indeed. I totally understand. Everyone who's come to me for tutelage always asks the same question: "What to play as white and black?" I'm more of a Mentor, than say, an instructor or teacher because hey...I haven't any such credentials to speak of. Heh. And that's no lie. I just love the game. Anyways, depending on their overall skill set, experience I never hesitate to quote Bobby Fischer, "Read the MCO front to back, even footnotes; AND for the next lesson, YOU DO IT AGAIN!" Heh. Paraphrasing there but I love it. But ok, no I don't expect them to do THAT (I never did either but by the looks of my many MCOs, GCOs, NCOs, ECOs you'd think otherwise!) I just rundown a few lines from what I consider solid. Mainline. Distilled gold from many generations. Practice runs like Chernev of old, move by move. Make note of known opening traps and analyse obvious blunders. Blitz runs at first then slowing it down gradually then speed up again. Whew! Getting kind of lengthy there. As it is, for someone starting out, you can't get a good game (these days with databases, opening explorer) on just opening principles alone. It's like sending soldiers off to war with only a "guide to being a soldier" to rely on. You have to have some kind of repertoire to rely on. Especially in this Century. Young kids are using laptops in grade school nowadays. In my days, I was lucky to be able to get the latest lines. Granted, I was advanced but you know...With gamers (XBox, PS4 etc) they expect the latest gamepaks and such n such! Geez. Sufficed to say, I'm not worried in the least of what beginners can handle or not these days. Heh. Ok. Nuff said.