So I've Read Another Great Book...

This statement is entirely, one hundred percent true. Whenever I pick up a book that completely captures my attention and seems to consume my life I have a difficult time adjusting back to the real world. This just happened to me after I read I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella. 

Basically the main character Poppy, feels so lucky to be marrying her dream man until she loses the engagement ring in a hotel fire drill. Not only that, but she loses her cell phone that same day. She finds an abandoned cell phone just sitting in a trash bin that she immediately takes for herself and uses until she can get her own back. The phone she finds happens to be a company phone that a PA just tossed aside when she quit, so all emails pertaining to businessman, Sam, are there for Poppy to read. Sam of course wants the phone back, but Poppy refuses and bargains to forward all important emails and calls to him if she can keep it until she finds her ring. Poppy snoops through all the emails of course and finds out a lot about Sam's personal life, and eventually becomes involved in helping solve a major company scandal. She has to deal with all that along with wedding preparations and mysterious behavior from her boyfriend. 

It was a fantastic book! From the minute I picked it up I couldn't put it down, and when I eventually had to, it was all I could think about. The characters are all so real. There's also different parts of this story to follow along with as you read too which made it even more exciting. There's Poppy's problem of trying to find her lost engagement ring while hiding this fact from her boyfriend, the company scandal she gets sucked into, and mixed emotions. It's a sort of love story and a mystery all wrapped up into one. Then events seem to be going in one direction and then something entirely different happens which will make you go, "WHAT?!" multiple times throughout it. (In a good way!) The only part I wasn't too particularly fond of was the  f-bomb being dropped continuously throughout the novel, but it doesn't ruin the story at all. That's a personal complaint I had, but its very minor. 

So, check this book out! 

One Less Obstacle

Today my Introduction to Speech teacher told us to all link arms in a circle. Then she told us we were all connected and would be going through the very last speech of the course together, as one. It was powerful because we all went into the class not really knowing each other, and by the end we've become a big family who supports each other and doesn't judge, and realizes that we are all human so we make mistakes. We had created a comforting environment.

I can't believe I'm actually going to miss class, when in the very beginning I wanted to drop it so I wouldn't have to go through with the torture of getting up in front of the class to talk for an extended period of time. 

It's amazing how much I have changed since that very first class. I completely freaked out when I had that first speech where I had to compare myself to an inanimate object. And that was only for two minutes! I pretty much read off of my note cards and barely made any eye contact with the class. I also talked really really fast because I was so nervous. After giving that speech I dreaded the rest of the course. 

Then here it is, roughly five months later and I'm getting up ON STAGE to give an inspirational speech for eleven minutes. This time I wasn't crippled by nerves. I was actually excited to get up there and talk! 

I'm honestly proud of myself for sticking it out and not dropping the class when there was a chance to. I had enough courage to get over my fears of public speaking. If I can conquer a fear that had consumed a large part of my life for so long, then I can pretty much do anything I put my mind to.

I know it may not seem all that important, but to me it makes a huge impact because there is one less obstacle on the path on this journey of mine.

   

A Very Brief Post

Seriously, though. Always be awesome. Happy Friday! 

We Are Like Snowflakes

People are like snowflakes. Some snowflakes have branches that point out around the edges, while others are more rounded. Some snowflakes are big while others are small. No two are the same in any way yet they are all still beautiful. Just like looking different from everyone else still makes you a beautiful human being. And when all those snowflakes come together they create something magnificent. Every single human being contributes to the beauty of this world. It’s the differences that make the world amazing. Today I’m going to be talking about loving your imperfections and the importance of not comparing yourself to anyone else because everyone is unique and those “imperfections” are essentially what makes you, you!

When you really think about why you would pick out certain traits and label them as imperfect it’s easy to follow the path of thinking all the way back to what you've seen before to make you change your mind. If you had never looked at that picture in a magazine of the model with flawless, smooth skin, and a tiny waist, you would never look at yourself and compare. If you hadn’t seen another person who looked different than you, you wouldn’t take another look at yourself in the mirror and question anything. If nobody had anyone else to base their looks off of, we’d all look at ourselves and be happy with what we saw. Unfortunately this isn’t the case in our society today. Magazines have articles about how to have flawless skin and how to become a size zero. Models that are labeled as “plus size” aren’t overweight at all. If a girl isn’t an extremely low size then she is considered “plus”. This is absolutely ridiculous. The media shouldn’t be determining what is “beautiful” and what isn’t.

You also shouldn’t compare yourself to other people because everyone is different. That is where most of the self-conscious thoughts come from because once you start to compare yourself to someone else, you put yourself down because you don’t look the same way and start to believe that there’s something wrong with you. In reality, we are all different. We’re all perfect in our own special way. Next time you look in the mirror and think “imperfection” think “I’m perfection” instead, because it’s true. You really are perfect in your own way.

I've spent a lot of time dwelling on my own “imperfections” until I listened to Natasha Beddingfield's song "Freckles" and started to feel better about myself. She is completely right when she mentions how when you look in the mirror you instantly hate what you see because of all the influences from the media about beauty. Now that I think about it, all my imperfections truly are traits that make up who I am as a person and what makes me unique. I spent so much time hating all my freckles but I decided to embrace them and love them instead because they're a part of me. Everybody else out there who has a trait that they don’t like about themselves should try to embrace it instead of hating it. Whether it is freckles, or your hair style, or even your height, start acknowledging it as being a part of you that nobody can take away because it makes you truly amazing in your own way.   

To quote Natasha Beddingfield, “Those little imperfections make you beautiful, lovable, valuable, they show your personality inside your heart, reflecting who you are”.