Monthly Archives: May 2012

Permission to go kind of bat shit

going through a break up

The coolest thing about going through a break up is that it gives you permission to go kind of bat shit crazy for a little while.  You can…

Spend Saturday night finger-painting alone in your bedroom.  Listen to Radiohead, “In Rainbows” on repeat.  Pound wine. 
 
Question your life’s purpose.  Sob in the middle of the workday.  Then remember the starving children in Africa.  Feel guilty.  Cry again. Blame your puffy eyes on allergies.
Obsessively watch CW shows about teens with magical powers.  Buy potted plants.  Forget to water them.  Wonder if it’s symbolic. 
 
Come home from Traget with a $300 industrial juicer, kale and intentions of a vegan lifestyle. Fantasize about quitting your job to surf in Costa Rica…paint in India….eat croissants in Paris…teach yoga in Bali…then remember how lucky you are to get payed to play on twitter all day.
 
Fill a prescription for Xanax.  Use it once and decide it’s not for you. Leave rambling voicemails on your friends’ answering machines at 3am.  Wonder if you’ll ever have sex again.  Consider dating women. Quickly decide against it.
 
Cackle with your girlfriends about how ridiculous life is.  Strike up conversations with strangers. Question your beliefs. Put sparkly cupcake stickers on everything you own.
 
Rock out to “Call Me Maybe” in the car.  Notice the people staring and groove on anyway.  Consider getting a tattoo with something deep and profound and meaningful.  Come up totally blank.
 
Start paying attention to yourself, your feelings, and your intuition.  Buy a lot of self-help books.  Introspect.  Journal.  Switch to organic egg free cookie dough…and feel kind of proud of yourself.  Drink more kale juice.  Eat more cookie dough. 
 
Consider paying to have your chakras cleared. Post way to many Facebook updates. Pray.  
 
Slowly slowly slowly start feeling like your old self again. Notice cute boys.  Make new friends. Get really excited the first time Adele comes on the radio and you don’t cry.   Laugh at yourself.
 
Begin to realize that everything really does happen for a reason, that you’re going to be just fine, that your friends are fucking amazing, and that time really does heal all.

Serenity that will fuel you in a whole new way

inspirational quote

“Too often we fuel our lives with activities, tasks, or busyness to avoid feeling bored.  Years of focusing our attention ‘out there’ makes it difficult to take the time and space to look inward and spend time reflecting on our lives.  Often what lies beneath the feelings of boredom is fear of the unknown, of facing unmet dreams, or a desire to remain detached from the feelings we’ve suppressed for years.  But with practice, you’ll discover that learning to sit with the feelings of boredom that quickly give way to a deeper reflection of your life eventually leads to a sense of peace and serenity that will fuel you in a whole new way.”
-Cheryl Richardson

5 tips for being taken seriously at work (especially when you’re young, female, and damn quirky!)

tips for being taken seriously at work
As a young woman obsessed with yoga, self-help and sparkles, gaining respect in my male-dominated workplace was at first a struggle.  Over the course of the past (2!) years, however, I have gleaned a few nuggets of wisdom on the subject that I hope you’ll find helpful:
1. Choose ensembles that are elegant rather than sexy.  You want to be known for your brain, not your body, end of story.  It’s also a good idea to notice what your boss wears and follow suit (literally!).
2. Resist the tendency to be cliquey.  The office is not middle school, and though women often find it fun and comforting to have a BFF, it is much smarter (and less annoying!)  to cultivate meaningful relationships with as many different people as possible.
3. Speak clearly and with conviction.  Drop the filler words (um, like, etc) and notice if you’re raising your voice at the end of each sentence (which makes what you say sound like a question, diminishing your authority).
4. Know your worth and don’t be afraid to ask for what you want when it comes to salary.  Worst case scenario: your employer says no.  Best case scenario: More respect, bling bling and a serious confidence boost.
5. Be yourself.  People respect authenticity, so please don’t waste your precious life energy trying to be some fake perfect person. Eww.  So boring.  Instead focus on hard work, confidence and kindness and you won’t go wrong.
Got any other tips for young women striving to gain respect in the workplace without losing themselves?  Would love to hear your feedback in the comments below!

Every delicious and not so delicious drop of the human experience

Here’s the thing about emotions that go ignored: they fester. They ferment…Chances are pretty good that there will be a moment in the next few days when you’ll feel an emotion that doesn’t feel so hot. See what it feels like to feel it, breath into it and stay. You might feel like it will swallow you (I did.) You may feel like if you let yourself go deeper into it you’ll never come back (I felt that way.) But in the name of knowing yourself better, and at the very least soaking up every delicious and not so delicious drop of the human experience, stay anyway.”
Kate Northrup