I feel very flattered when people tell me I look confident and natural when I’m doing any sort of public speaking, because often times I feel the exact opposite. However, I learned a few tricks when I was younger and they’ve certainly helped me out in many a situation, so hopefully they’ll help you, too.
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 I am no doubt the ultimate optimist, always looking on the bright side and finding the silver lining. I don't have time for party poopers raining on my parade--there is too much life to be lived and enjoyed. So, as I was having coffee with a friend, who had a pretty shitty 2017, I said to her a common response one might say in such situations, "Well, it can only get better from here!"
 There's a notion that successful people hang out with other successful people. I believe that applies to happy people, too. Of course, that doesn't mean we can't ever be sad. It's just that sometimes in life we come across people who may be perfectly lovely people, but they leave you feeling absolutely drained after each encounter. We call these people energy vampires, because they suck the living joy out of you.
For some reason, we've developed a culture of consistently comparing girls against girls based on appearance. Just look at Fashion Police and fashion magazines with their segments on "Who wore it better?" Does Fashion Police still exist? I don't know, because I stopped watching when it simply became a façade for bullying. That's a whole different blog though.
I am not a perfectionist. Sometimes I feel like that's a bad thing to say, but there was a time I tried very hard to be, and then eventually I realized it's just not me. Back in middle school, I remember I would sometimes spend more time re-writing my notes just so they looked just perfect, than actually studying my notes. I'm not sure why it was so important to me to make sure my handwriting was just right, and my notes organized just right, but I wasted a lot of time, ink, and paper writing and re-writing for Lord knows what reason. I had a friend I often studied with, who had impeccable handwriting and she was all-around a very smart, studious, and diligent girl, so maybe I was afraid to look like a slob next to her. I don't know.
 Someone once asked Pope Francis, "Who is Pope Francis?" That person wanted to know who is our pope, who is the man beneath the white robe. After a brief pause, Pope Francis responded simply, "A sinner."
 Dear Justine,
Looking back, I realized that I was a very lost and confused teenager. At times I might have thought I knew who I was, but there's who you are, who you think you are, who you strive to be, and then who you strive not to be, hope not to be, do everything possible not to be but sometimes still end up being.  I was having such a crummy day, and had three different things go wrong before 8am, so I spent the day trying to work them all out. Thankfully, two of them were resolved by the end of the day. I felt beat, but kept trying to remind myself throughout the day to find the good. For example, I was so stressed that the pain I have been feeling in my teeth for the past couple weeks seemed to disappear. My brain was probably so hyper focused on the chaos of the day that it didn't have time to feel the pain. I also kept reminding myself that there are worse things that could happen.
 Without humility, there is no charity...
Over the last weekend I was frustrated when a Turkish football derby was cancelled due to a “serious security threat,” and the national team also postponed its training for some international matches coming up. When you cannot play or watch a friendly sporting event, then your freedom is being taken away. What kind of evil feels the need to get in the way of football? |
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