Friday, December 16, 2016

Self Reflection

Today’s post is a writing challenge. This is how it works: participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once and all the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, here’s a fun twist; no one who’s participating knows who got their words and in what direction the writer will take them. Until now.

My words are: Matt Damon, diamond in the rough, bonus, coffee, predicament, potatoes. They were submitted by: http://theberghamchronicles.blogspot.com

uh...I didn't really intend this to be about me especially given I wrote it in 3rd person. I had the first sentence, and I thought I might write around it...maybe spin it into some fiction. But once I got started, it just sort of evolved from there until it's pretty much a self reflection. Hope you enjoy anyway. xo
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All throughout her life, every partner she ever had would probably be considered a diamond in the rough. Think Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting. She doesn’t want someone who has their shit together, maybe because she doesn’t have her shit together despite all outward appearances. But also maybe because she wants someone to grow with knowing she needs someone who has that same drive to be the absolute best version of themselves, who understands you get one shot at life, and you might as well live it to the very fullest. She wants someone who understands money is a necessity, but the amount of money in your pocket isn’t proportionate to the fullness of your life, that success isn’t defined by your career, your wallet, or the number of people who add you on Facebook.

One of the best feelings in the world, she knows, is when someone picks up on her little idiosyncracies—like how she takes her coffee, like the fact that she drinks coffee both in the morning to wake up and at night to wind down. She wants someone to know that she likes to buy bonus sizes so she *really* gets her money’s worth even if it’s just an extra 10%. Anyone who loves her should know she still loves cartoons but she’s passionate about topics that matter, that she needs her space but loves to have her hair played with, and that no matter what boss bitch image she projects outwardly, her heart is pretty fucking fragile. And they should probably also know the way to win her over any time they fight is to apologize with carbs…specifically potatoes and candy. Not simultaneously, of course.

She doesn’t want love to be a predicament, and she really doesn’t understand the current culture’s obsession with drama, reality tv, and side chicks. A relationship, she knows, isn’t easy. It’s work, it’s compromise, it’s fucking tough, but it should never break her. If it’s love, real love, she shouldn’t think of it as a situation she’s gotten herself into. She’s not hard to please, and she’s not high maintenance, but she expects her partner to really give things 100%, for the two to tackle everything 50/50 and to be able to hide from adulting in blanket fort if their stress level demands it.

In a nutshell, she knows she’s a little quirky with her mostly black clothes and nostalgia obsession. She’s Lisa Frank on an emo day, a hypnotic mix of a Purple Pizzazz and Onyx. She’s an old soul who is perfectly content with her vinyl records and for real books (oh the feel of the paper) who stays pretty chill until you bring up politics and social issues. She can be contradictory and complicated but not impossible, and she knows it. She demands attention without being histrionic, and she needs someone willing to talk to her about everything they think and feel and read and do.

And she thinks, “fuck anyone who doesn’t like it.” Not because she’s THAT “edgy” but because she doesn’t know how to be someone other than herself, and all she wants is for that to be good enough.

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Links to the other “Use Your Words” posts:



Baking In A Tornado http://www.bakinginatornado.com/2016/12/use-your-words-work-of-angels.html

Southern Belle Charm http://www.southernbellecharm.com

Not That Sarah Michelle http://notthatsarahmichelle.blogspot.com

Spatulas on Parade http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com/2016/12/christmas-with-pearl-and-william-uyw.html

Friday, December 9, 2016

Mirror, Mirror

Welcome to a Secret Subject Swap. This week 13 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts.



My “Secret Subject” is:

The mirror never lies. Or does it?

It was submitted by: http://mybrainonkids.net

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Does the mirror lie? Scientifically speaking, that depends on several factors. The quality of the glass, whether it’s concave, straight, or convex, and the type of lighting can all have an effect on the image you see in the looking glass. But there’s more to what you see than science can explain...at least not that kind of science.... Of course people make it a little more complicated.

Our own self perceptions play a role in what the mirror shows or at least in how we interpret it.

The narcissist, with his grandiose sense of self, may see his physical image far more favorably than anyone else. Donald Trump is a great example. He complained directly to the press about photos that were taken of him straight on with a smile on his face and how those photos weren’t flattering. Now, I will admit several news sources do intentionally post unflattering photos of every politician Trump included, but the photo he chose to complain about is exactly how the man looks. To him, the mirror shows something a bit more positive, and when he sees photos of himself, he balks. He can’t believe that’s the real him. The trouble comes from the “media” like with every other problem he has and not with his own thinking or actions.

It’s the complete opposite for me, and it’s something that requires a lot of hard work to overcome. And to be honest, I am nowhere near overcoming it fully. Body dysmorphia and self image issues play a large role in how I see myself. I do have good days and feel cute as fuck, but a lot of the time when I look in the mirror I see someone who is a hundred pounds heavier with a face too big for her features, ridiculous hair, and zero makeup skills. There’s a disconnect some days between reality and what my own self-image causes me to see. And that’s not to say that I’m not a chubby girl or that I don’t have bad hair days or bad makeup days, but it’s not the same as that. Some days it’s absolute despair to look into a mirror and see what I see which is nothing like what other people see…or so they say. I don’t really trust compliments either for fuck’s sake. It’s a tough road.

Somewhere in the back of my head even on bad days I know it’s what I’m seeing not necessarily what’s there, but it’s a powerful thing, that distorted image in the mirror in front of me. I fight it some days hoping to come out on top and others it’s just too much and I sink back into old habits of crying and avoiding and hiding out in the house instead of going to do the things I need to do.

But is that the mirror or me?

The mirror being an object based on a bit of science should be absolutely objective in the image it projects back to you, but life isn’t ever really so simple. Humans are so adept at fucking up objectivity. I mean, let’s be honest we’re adept at fucking up just about everything we touch, but that would take us down a rabbit hole none of us have the time to really explore. The mirror does lie to some of us, but that’s because we lie to ourselves. What we see is something we’ve created in our own minds shaped by experience, loss, trauma, abuse, resonating voices from the past, love, hope, the fight in us, and sometimes mental illness. It’s more complex that the pathway of light and color playing on our eyes from a straight cut of reflective glass that science would have us believe.

Maybe one day I’ll see exactly what’s there without all the baggage I’ve accumulated over the years, but as long as I have more good days than bad, I’ll take it.

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Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts. Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

Baking In A Tornado http://www.bakinginatornado.com/2016/12/secret-subject-swap-looking-back-while.html

Not That Sarah Michelle http://notthatsarahmichelle.blogspot.com

The Bergham Chronicles http://berghamchronicles.blogspot.com

Spatulas on Parade http://spatulasonparade.blogspot.com

The Diary of an Alzheimer’s Caregiver http://www.thediaryofanalzheimerscaregiver.com/blog.html

The Lieber Family Blog http://www.thelieberfamily.com/2016/12/my-best-memory-of-2016.html

Dinosaur Superhero Mommy http://dinoheromommy.com/?p=12126&preview=true

Never Ever Give Up Hope http://batteredhope.blogspot.com

Simply Shannon http://mybrainonkids.net

A Little Piece of Peace http://little-piece-of-peace.blogspot.com/2016/12/december-secret-subject-swap.html
Confessions of a part time working mom http://thethreegerbers.blogspot.com/2016/12/december-secret-subject-swap-three.html

The Angrivated Mom Blog http://www.angrivatedmom.wordpress.com/