Wise Words: Hyperbole and a Half

If you like laughing, please check out Hyperbole and a Half, a wonderfully witty blog by a-- in her words--  heroic, caring, alert and flammable woman named Allie. Even if you don't like laughing, please check it out anyways because her doodles and stories are weirdly delightful.

Allie recently returned from a very long hiatus from posting with a personal story on depression. Whether or not you are depressed or know someone who is, I highly suggest you read it, think about it, and keep it in mind. I think the post does a wonderful job of describing what it feels like to experience depression.

"... And that's the most frustrating thing about depression. It isn't always something you can fight back against with hope. It isn't even something-- it's nothing. And you can't combat nothing. You can't fill it up. You can't cover it. It's just there, pulling the meaning out of everything. That being the case, all the hopeful, proactive solutions start to sound completely insane in contrast to the scope of the problem."

I promise the post isn't too serious and sad-- it has just the right amount of Allie's humor, weirdness, and wit, mixed with a realistically uplifting message at the end. Only Allie could describe the feeling of depression using dead fish and a shriveled piece of corn and have it make complete sense. Please read it here.

- christine

(Image source: here.)

Wise Words: John Green

I didn't attend my own graduation, so I've been reading other universities' commencement speeches in hopes for some guidance on how to live the rest of my life...

Tumblr worships John Green, and though I haven't read any of his books yet (I'll get to that soon, I promise!!), that means that by default I worship him as well. Green posted the commencement speech he gave to the graduating class at Butler University on his tumblr, and I've included a few quotes that stood out to me and that I want to keep in mind as a recent college graduate...

"...You are probably going to be a nobody for a while. You are going to make that journey from strength to weakness, and while it won't be an easy trip, it is a heroic one. For in learning how to be a nobody, you will learn how not to be a jerk. And for the rest of your life, if you are able to remember your hero's journey from college grad to underling, you will be less of a jerk. You will tip well. You will empathize. You will be a mentor, and a generous one.

Let me submit to you that this is the actual definition of a good life. You want to be the kind of person who other people-- people who may not even be born yet-- will think about in their own silences years from now at their own commencements.

You will always be stuck inside of your body, with your consciousness, seeing the world through your own eyes, but the gift and challenge of your education is to see others as they see themselves, to grapple with this mean and crazy and beautiful world in all its baffling complexity."

Check out the rest of his speech here.

- christine

(original image source unknown)

Wise Words: Udo Spreitzenbarth

This weekend I was lucky enough to have the amazing opportunity to assist international fashion photographer Udo Spreitzenbarth on a two-day shoot. Udo has worked with top magazines like Vogue and Elle, as well as with celebrities such as Tyra Banks and Cindy Crawford, and he came to Boston for the weekend to shoot photos for a modeling agency.

Besides learning an incredible amount about in-studio photography techniques, Udo also taught me several valuable things about life. I expressed to him my nervousness about graduating, pursuing a passion, being young, and making the right decisions.

At age twenty, I feel young and old. I feel young enough to make mistakes, but too old to risk making them. 

Udo told me that your twenties is the right time to experience change to figure out what you want to do. You're not supposed to know right away what you want to do, and you have to ignore all the distractions in your life-- including your friends and family. Though they have your best interests at heart, "in the end, it's your life, and only yours."

When I asked him how he'd become so successful in such a competitive industry, he answered, "Those who are truly passionate about what they do will make it. If you really are passionate, it will happen for you." It isn't always about being the best-- those who are passionate will be the ones who work until the end and don't give up when the going gets hard. The decision to pursue what you're passionate about is a scary one... but what if it really makes you happy?

The thing that Udo told me that stuck with me the most was this: regret is the worst feeling in the world. 

A lot of what Udo said were things that I'd heard very often, but it wasn't until I heard these words coming from the mouth of a man who'd uprooted his life in Germany to live in a completely new country (and in the crazy New York City, too) to pursue what he was truly passionate about--  did they really strike me as words I wanted to live by. 

"People told me I was crazy to move to New York," he said. "What made me finally decide to move was when I told myself that I didn't want to look back ten years from now and wonder what would have happened if I'd gone to New York." 

Regret is the worst feeling in the world. 

And if you fail, you can always go back and start again.

- christine