The Key to Failure

In my bedroom there is a dresser. On top of that dresser is a jar filled with small pieces of paper. Each piece of paper has a quote that I read for the day. I know it is somewhat strange and maybe even cheesy, but it helps me to motivate myself to get going in the mornings. It also gives me something to work towards in the day. I fill the jar with things I want to remember, things that mean something to me. Today I drew the quote, "I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." Bill Cosby said this, and I have to say he is absolutely right. Often times when I find myself overwhelmed it is because I am spending my time trying to please everyone. I try to please my family, my professors, my friends, even complete strangers who don't even know me. Often, this is because I care about the people I am trying to please. I want them to be happy. In reality, however, this leaves little time for success. I will never make everyone happy. My writing will never be perfect, my personality will not always shine at it's most brilliant level, my wit will experience dry spells, my humor will hide away at times, and there will always be someone there telling me I need to do better. Cosby here has a point, though. Every time I set out to make everyone else happy with me, I fail. I suspect this has something to do with the necessity of pleasing yourself in the midst of all of this. So here is my advice to you, dear reader. Go out and do things for a reason other than pleasing everybody. Do things because they make you happy. Do things because they will help you or others around you to be better people. Choose the people you want to please carefully. I don't have any idea what they key to success is. I am with Cosby on that one. I do, however, have a sneaking suspicion that he is on to something here. Just another creative inspiration for your day.

Take the Time to be Lucky

I recently went to see The Blindside with my family. We decided it would be fun to go and watch a movie at the theatre (something we don't do together often) over this last Thanksgiving break. I thought it was a wonderful movie and it got me thinking about how lucky some of us are. In one scene of the movie, Michael is looking at a Norman Rockwell painting (left). Later on when the family gathers for Thanksgiving dinner, he sits at the dining room table, and the whole thing turns into a scene just like the one in the picture. I think that so often in life, we forget about the little things. I know that I don't sit down with my entire family very often for a meal. Instead, at least one member of my family is missing. My favorite part of Thanksgiving was getting to sit down as a family and eat dinner. The painting seems to present this as something that happens on a daily basis. It seems like our world has become so chaotic that we forget how lucky we are to have the people we have around us in our lives. We don't make an effort to sit down for a family dinner anymore because we have "other things" on our minds. These "other things" seem to take the front burner in our lives and we unconsciously shove everything else to the back. It seems like such a small thing, sitting down for dinner with the family, but it really means so much more. It means that we are taking time out of our lives to spend with those we care about. It means that we are willing to put that paper that is due next week or that big project at work on the backburner for a while and focus on the people and things in our lives that really matter. A promotion at work or an A in class may get you somewhere, but it costs something as well. It is important to balance the things in life that matter to you. It takes time to be lucky. You put in time at work to get that promotion, time at school to get that A, and time with your family to foster relationships that will last a lifetime. Just a thought inspired by a couple of creative people. :D

Sink or Swim...

Caught in the middle of a crossfire
Lost my balance on a high wire
Trying to figure out what to do.

Pushed to the edge of my reason
Everywhere around me it's treason
I don't want to do that to you

Kamikazi airplanes in the sky
Are we going down or will we fly?
This could be a shipwreck on the shore
Or we could fly away forevermore
This time, it's sink or swim, sink or swim.

Hearing the song in your laughter
A melody I chase after
No one else has done this to me

Kamikazi airplanes in the sky
Are we going down or will we fly?
This could be a shipwreck on the shore
Or we could fly away forevermore
This time, it's sink or swim, sink or swim.

Take a deep breath
No more time left
This is what I thought I wanted
Why am I afraid?

Kamikazi airplanes in the sky
Are we going down or will we fly?
This could be a shipwreck on the shore
Or we could fly away forevermore

Kamikazi airplanes in the sky
Are we going down or will we fly?
This could be a shipwreck on the shore
Or we could fly away forevermore
This time, it's sink or swim, sink or swim.

~Tyrone Wells

I love this song. The Pacific Ocean is my favorite body of water in the entire world. I absolutely love it. When I hear this song, it makes me think about the ocean. One of my friends introduced me to this song and I have been hooked ever since. It always inspires me to take a chance. I think it is so true all throughout life that when you take a real chance, things can go really well or they can go extremely horribly. Even if you crash and burn, though, you don't have to wonder what if. Just a small inspirational thought for the day. :D

Some Things Every Woman Should Have and Know

Maya Angelou's "What Every Woman Should Have"

Every woman should have
enough money within her control to move out and rent a place of her own,
even if she never wants to or needs to.

Every woman should have
something perfect to wear if the employer
or date of her dreams wants to see her in an hour.

Every woman should have
a youth she's content to leave behind.

Every woman should have
a past juicy enough that she's looking forward to retelling it in her old age.

Every woman should have
a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black lace bra.

Every woman should have
one friend who always makes her laugh,
and one who lets her cry.

Every woman should have
a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in her family.

Every woman should have
eight matching plates,
wine glasses with stems,
and a recipe for a meal
that will make her guests feel honored.

Every woman should have
a feeling of control over her destiny.

Every woman should know
how to fall in love without losing herself.

Every woman should know
how to quit a job,
break up with a lover,
and confront a friend without ruining the friendship.

Every woman should know
when to try harder,
and when to walk away.

Every woman should know
that she can't change the length of her calves,
the width of her hips,
or the nature of her parents.

Every woman should know
that her childhood may not have been perfect, but it's over.

Every woman should know
what she would and wouldn't do for love or more.

Every woman should know
how to live alone, even if she doesn't like it.

Every woman should know
whom she can trust, whom she can't,
and why she shouldn't take it personally.

Every woman should know
where to go,
be it to her best friend's kitchen table
or a charming inn in the woods,
when her soul needs soothing.

Every woman should know
what she can and can't accomplish in a day, a month, and a year.

An inspiring poem from a creative woman. Enjoy.

Marilyn Monroe to Janice Dickenson: The Metamorphosis of Beauty

Just the other day, I was watching I Love Lucy with my sister. I was watching an episode where Lucy decides to go on a diet so that she can fit into the costume made for Ricky’s show. Then it hit me…she was dieting to fit into a size 12. That’s right…12! In our day and age this translates to a size large. As it turns out, Marilyn Monroe (whose craze hit a little before Lucille Ball’s) was a size 14. These women were the very definition of beauty. A generation or two later we start to see skeleton-like figures such as Madonna and Cher who redefined our image of beauty partially defined by a smaller body size.



Just the other day, I was watching I Love Lucy with my sister. I was watching an episode where Lucy decides to go on a diet so that she can fit into the costume made for Ricky’s show. Then it hit me…she was dieting to fit into a size 12. That’s right…12! In our day and age this translates to a size large. As it turns out, Marilyn Monroe (whose craze hit a little before Lucille Ball’s) was a size 14. These women were the very definition of beauty. A generation or two later we start to see skeleton-like figures such as Madonna and Cher who redefined our image of beauty partially defined by a smaller body size.

Today, we watch shows like America’s Next Top Model and The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency that tell us that the size 14 beauty queens of old are now required to be labeled as “plus-size.” They are indirectly (and in some cases not so indirectly) told that they simply don’t measure up. Perhaps Tyra Banks pretends to consider women of all sizes as beautiful, but in the end no plus-size model gets to “be on top.” In one episode, Janice Dickinson actually tells one of her models that she is getting "too fat" because she could barely squeeze into a size 3 skirt. The model says later on in an interview that she was happy with her body and felt more comfortable with her body and felt more healthy than she had in a long time. Unfortunately for her, she was forced to stand there while Janice berated her. As bad as this is on its own, add in the fact that young girls watch this show faithfully.

We need to stop and consider what messages we are sending young girls. As a country, we advocate small waistlines and minimal body weight every day in every form of the media, and yet we put on a false sense of alarm when we are forced to face the rising rates of bulimia and anorexia in our children. We tell girls every single day that they need to look like the photo-shopped images every actress and model broadcasts to the world (check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U ), and yet we are shocked when they resort to unrealistic and unhealthy means to do so. If we want girls to be healthy, perhaps we should start by showing them realistic, healthy bodies. Girls are expected to look photoshopped on a daily basis, and yet we frown on it if they feel the need to turn to eating disorders to do so. They are shunned if they have an eating disorder, and they are looked down on if they do not fit the picture-perfect mold set by size zero models.

If we really care about our youth, we should start by holding them to and advocating for realistic expectations. Being healthy is good, being a skeleton is not. If the generation that produces the image of beauty for our society cannot discern the difference, how can we expect anything more from our youth?