Twenty years old feels like a game of tug of war. You’re pulling at life trying to find yourself, and it seems like the weight of adulthood is pulling against you. When you stop pulling, it's as if you're simply existing. You're going to your classes, partying on the weekends and maybe waitressing on the side. But when you're gaining more inches of the rope, you're gaining more of yourself. You’re learning how to live the life you want to live. For me, this is embarking on projects that harness my creativity or learning of passions I didn't know I had.
I tend to rely on the occasional quote for guidance. I'm a nerd for words and how they can be put together a certain way to inspire and evoke emotions. When I'm lacking inspiration, and I feel like the world is pulling against me, I seek comfort in words. Here are some of my recent reads:
1. "There is the eternal war between those who are in the world for what they can get out of it…and those who are in the world to make it a better place for everybody to live in." — George Bernard Shaw
2. "Re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever insults your own soul." — Walt Whitman
Follow your moral compass.
3. "People respond well to people who are sure of what they want." — Anna Wintour
...and sure of themselves. Sometimes confidence is the most powerful credential.
4."By being natural and sincere, one can often create revolutions without having sought them." — Christian Dior
5. "… for some people, their day consists of walking 12 miles for four buckets of water. And so there are lessons that you can’t get out of a book that are waiting for you at the end of that flight." — Henry Rollins on travelling
6. "... I have a contribution to make. I am not just taking up space in this life. ..." — Lauren Bacall
7. "If you want to walk on water, you’ve got to get out of the boat." — paraphrased from Matthew 14:29
I actually heard this first in a Jay Z lyric.
8. "By believing passionately in something that still does not exist, we create it. The nonexistent is whatever we have not sufficiently desired." — Franz Kafka
Your only limitations are the ones you set for yourself.
9. "The sexiest people are thinkers." — Vivienne Westwood
You don’t need bigger boobs, you need to read more books.
10. "Make your interactions with people transformational, not just transactional." — Patti Smith
Don't hang out with mediocre people.
11. "Your life unfolds in proportion to your courage" — Danielle LaPorte
12. "The highest form of human intelligence is to observe yourself without judgment." — Jiddu Krishnamurti
13. "You’ll turn out ordinary if you’re not careful." –Ann Brashares
If you lead a formulaic life.
