I love this! I can genuinely agree with all of these points. I particularly like #14, 24 and 25!
I have 15 months left in my twenties. I plan on living the hell out of them!
LOL! Sorry, but this made me literally laugh out loud
(via thecolorof-rust)
Woman-to-woman advice: A moment of clarity
So I’m going about my usual routine as I do every Thursday, and as I passed by Bryant Park, I decided to stop and have lunch (and a glass of wine) at one of their outdoor cafes. Truth be told, I should already be back at the office. But my busy schedule doesn’t allow me much down time, so I’m currently stealing some.
A glass of sauvignon blanc, crisp. Hummus with roasted peppers and zucchini. Norah Jones and Frank Sinatra in the background. The moment of peace I needed has been found.
I haven’t written in a while, perhaps because I haven’t been inspired. But I needed to share this moment with whomever cared to listen: Life is fleeting. We get caught up in work, dating, family, friends, exercise, shopping; there is a reason “stop and smell the roses” is such a popular saying. So right now, I’m stopping and smelling the roses of my life. I’m appreciating my hard work, taking an extra long lunch, and indulging in the life I work so hard to build every day. I’m blessed to have this moment of peace, this I know.
I strongly encourage you to take a moment for yourself as well. Bask in the glory of YOU. You are unique. You are special. You are amazing in so many ways - ways that maybe only you recognize, but that’s ok, you owe no one an explanation of your life, and that makes you no less amazing.
Love your life. Find stillness in your crazy schedule, if only for a moment. And don’t forget to smell the roses. Celebrate your hard work. Exhale, and be free of everything but joy.
Peace & love (I sound like a hippie)
Xo,
CC
Dear beautiful brown-skinned girl,
I look into your eyes and see the light and hope of myself.
In this photo you are just about to turn 20, posing outside the television station where you were recently hired as a reporter. You’re proud of yourself for getting the job, but uncertain you’ll be able to manage all your college classes before 1 and arrive at the station by 1:30 for a full day’s work. Even so, your biggest concern is how to manage your love life with Bubba. Yes, you are dating someone named Bubba.
On this day you’ve brought him to the station to see where you work, hoping he’ll be proud, too. He seems less than impressed. The truth is, he’s intimidated. You don’t know this, though, because you can see yourself only through his eyes. A lesson you will have to learn again and again: to see yourself with your own eyes, to love yourself from your own heart.
You’ve spent too many days and years trying to please others and be what they wanted you to be. You will have to learn that the wounds of your past—rape, molestation, whippings for “stepping out of place,” and not being allowed to show anger or cry afterward—damaged your self-esteem. Yet through it all, you’ve held on to a belief in God and God’s belief in you.
That will be your single greatest gift: knowing there is a power greater than yourself and trusting that Force to guide you.
The trajectory of your life changed the day you answered the call from Chris Clark, the news director at WLAC-TV. Your response was ignited by the words of your then-favorite Bible verse, Philippians 3:14. “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Knowing there is a “high calling” is what will sustain and fulfill you.
From where I sit now, viewing your journey, there are few regrets. Only months before this picture was taken, you wrote a poem about a “woman becoming.” Even then you understood that success was a process and that moving with the flow of life and not against it would be your greatest achievement.
Love you deeply,
Oprah
(Source: jasfly)
Alison Hinds “Roll it Gal”
Lyrics:
Control it gal, roll it gal
When dem fly up in yuh face gal
Mek dem know dem place
Numba 1 inna di race gal
Could neva replace
Independent and ya strong gal
And you set di pace
Fit and healthy living long gal
Free yaself gal, you got class and you got pride
Come together cuz we strong and unified
When dem start to talk and chat gal
Let dem run dem mout
You believe in Father God gal
He will run dem out
Strength and wisdom you must have gal
Try to seek them out
Liberate yaself and live gal
Thank the Father that you’ve grown and still alive
If you feel me ladies, roll its time to rise
Go to school gal, and get ya degree
Nurture and tek care of ya pickney
Gal ya work hard to mek ya money
Roll it gal, roll it gal
If ya know ya smart and ya sexy
Neva let dem abuse ya body
Show it off gal and let di world see
Roll it gal, roll it gal
"
The Paradox of Our Time…
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life but not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less. These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or just hit delete.
"— George Carlin
Dating advice: The Runaway Girlfriend
Hey peeps. Been a long time, please excuse the absence. I have a confession to make…
I recently started seeing someone and it’s getting kinda serious. And as you’ve come to find out, I’m a bit of a commitment-phobe (bit is an understatement). Remember the movie, “Runaway Bride” with Julia Roberts? She literally ran out on a bunch of her own weddings, and frankly, for good reason: The grooms didn’t understand her. They didn’t get her. She wasn’t in love completely with any of them and she’d rather be single then to settle for marriage to a man she wasn’t completely head over heels in love with. This, of course, is my assessment. The movie lends you to believe she ran away just because she was afraid of marriage/commitment, but I appreciate the character’s defiance to pressure to get married.
In the end of the movie (spoiler alert), she finds a man that is the right man for her. They attempt to get married once, but overcome with fear, she flees. She eventually realizes that with him, there is nothing to be scared of, and she finds him in NY, proposes to him, and they get married. So here’s my confession: I’m a runner. No, I’ve never run out of my own wedding, but I run when I sense things getting serious with a guy. I come up with every excuse as to why things won’t work with him and then I sabotage whatever relationship we have and go back to being happily single. I would like to believe it’s because I knew deep down they weren’t my missing puzzle piece.
However, I have no interest in running away anymore. I’ve been doing some self-assessments and truth be told, I’m ready to retire my running shoes. Commitment is really scary to me. There’s a million options and how do I know if I’m picking the right one? (See http://4uloveme.tumblr.com/post/8966378141/dating-advice-8-million-people-in-nyc-you-cant-find) My ever-so-loving younger sister pointed out that my new guy is very different than my last few relationships - and that it’s a good thing. She reminded me that the men I usually go for are shallow and unproductive, but this one is the complete opposite. (I think she also just wants me to hurry up and give her a niece or nephew.)
In the “Runaway Bride” the main character is telling the man she really loves, “…and if we ride off into the sunset together, I want my own horse.” Well, I want my own horse! I want my own bank account. I want my own closet. I want to maintain my individuality and not be introduced as someone’s girlfriend, but as Carolyn who happens to moonlight as my girlfriend (or some nicer version of that).
The Runaway Bride found someone who appreciated her desire for her own horse, and I think I have too. When we single girls find someone who celebrates every fiber of our make-up and uniqueness, we need to stop running because he might not be every detail of our imagined fairy tale. We might not be every detail of his imagined fairy tale, who knows? But when love is so evidently in your face and in your heart, put those big girl panties on and don’t be afraid to jump on that horse. Happiness is a choice I strongly encourage you not to run from.
Dear Biological Clock,
Yes I know this is by far the cutest thing you have ever ever seen!
But do not go getting any ideas!
Thanks!
Management
(Source: runwaymassacre)
Yesterday I went on a long 10 mile run to the beach. Such beautiful scenery! Every time I’m at the beach I’m reminded that I’m such a small part of a great big universe, and how magnificent the possibilities of this world are.
The dreams we dream will forever remain dreams if we do not find the motivation to wake up. Don’t wait for someone else to paint a beautiful future for you; pick up the brush and start creating whatever you want.
My yoga mantra - “Breathe in the future, breathe out the past”
“Keep your heels, head and standards high” #womanwisdom
“Thou shalt not take shit”
LOL
Gotta love NYC dating LOL
