my friend laura is incredible
(Source: vanillapetrol)
twenty
from a friend:
in honour of the fact that life is short wear your white shirts.
get them pressed.
use your good dishes — everyday.
shave on weekends. do not wait for special occasions.
do not tuck your best away in the drawers, in the back of the closet, in your heart.
don’t wait for holidays or invitations. declare that your today is the special occasion.
call instead of emailing. (it feels so good to connect.)
go for coffee.
quit.
renounce your glory days. you’ve told all of those stories more than twice.
focus forward.
wear perfume for yourself.
toss your only-wear-around-the-house clothes and let your good clothes graduate to around-the-house status. intend to feel good all of the time.
write your book.
launch.
make great sex a priority. (this alone will make you more creative and free. on your death bed, you will think about all the great sex you had this lifetime.)
burn your to-do list.
write poetry. one a day.
make a point to be as encouraging as possible, as much as possible, to everyone possible.
don’t look back.
if you feel like you’re always failing, consider that this is part of being an artist. let it be a divine inclination.
keep going.
enter.
leave.
eat real food.
often refuse to be in the presence of people who make you feel repressed, anxious, or pull your frequency down.
do not entertain haters. send light to the haters.
give it away. you probably don’t need it and someone else does.
turn off the tv.
let it be easy.
burn candles. during the day.
fall in love. with yourself. with the person you’re with. with the persons in your orbit. because no one is perfect, but you can let the love be perfect for the both of you.
because everyone — everyone — is a doorway to God. because you can get there from here.
because life is short.
nineteen.
what is it?
that feeling. it’s one with no name, one that hides deep down in my soul.
a few times, not often, it’s made itself present inside me
and it makes me feel different.
when people ask, i tell them i’m ok or i’m fine. it’s rubbish, i’ve never been a great liar.
not since the time i lied to dad that i was at a sleepover, when really i was ‘drunk’ at a house party. i was only 14. i didn’t know better.
the words that came out of his mouth, the words “i can’t trust you anymore” are ones that are so deeply engrained in me, to the point where i cannot lie anymore.
this feeling makes me confused.
maybe i’m unfulfilled, or unhappy; about work, about home, about life. or maybe i’m just complaining.
i need to leave. to escape. to have time to just ‘be’.
this feeling, is lost.
eighteen.
this is beautiful: found whilst wandering through the net
When things in your life seem, almost too much to handle,
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,
Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.
A professor stood before his philosophy class
and had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly,
He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
And proceeded to fill it with golf balls.
He then asked the students, if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.
The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured
them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between the golf balls.
He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’
The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively
filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.
‘Now,’ said the professor, as the laughter subsided,
‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things - family,
children, health, Friends, and Favorite passions –
Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, Your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.
The sand is everything else —The small stuff.
‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ He continued,
there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.
If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are important to you.
So…
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play With your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.
There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.
‘Take care of the golf balls first —
The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.
The professor smiled
‘I’m glad you asked’.
It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
There’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.’
seventeen.
there are those days.
you know, the ones that feel dark, gloomy and maybe even a little ominous.
they give you a feeling like you’ve literally woken up on the wrong side of the bed, in another world.
today is one of those days. it’s dark. i can’t say much.
the dam that i call strength, opens unwillingly before others and i lose control.
what encourages me to keep going, is that days turn into nights. they eventually end.
and whilst the pain may be great on those days, it too eventually ends.
sixteen.
death is very likely the single best invention of life
it’s life’s change agent
it clears out the old to make way for the new
your time is limited so don’t waste it living someone else’s life
steve jobs
fifteen.
a favourite of mine. incredible lyrics. have a geez at the song here…
Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ‘99
Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.
The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proven by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience…
I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….
You’re not as fat as you imagine.
Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm
on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you
Sing
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss
Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s. Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own..
Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasise that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you’re 40, it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen…
eleven.
being single doesn’t always mean you are available. sometimes you just need to put a ‘do not disturb’ sign over your heart.
