Whenever someone has a birthday, I ask them to give as many lessons as years lived in their lives. What I have is a mix of a few lessons and a few song lyrics that have gotten me through this year. I could only come up with 20 because this is hard exercise!
Lessons Learnt:
Get over your hang ups around medication for depression and anxiety. It’s a chemical imbalance— no more no less. It says nothing about you about who you are as a person.
Ask your parents for advice. They know a lot more than you think
There is nothing wrong with femininity. There is nothing wrong with wanting to feel pretty and delicate.
The size on the hanger is not a value judgement of your body. Find what fits, forget about the numbers
If you have something to say to someone, say it. Don’t allow yourself to be bound up by the weight of the words you never said. It gets heavy.
There is always a book that has already been where you are. Find that book
With the following caveat that I will steal from my father “all the books in the world cannot prepare you for how life is going to feel”
Another steal from my dad “I will never join the Taliban” in other words, never hand over your mind to anything else. Not a person, not a religion, not a political ideology, not to the culture you find yourself in, not even to the idea of “common sense.” Always think for yourself.
Optimism and whimsey are not naïveté.
Only keep friends who give to you and think of you as much as you give to them and think of them.
Lyrics I cary with me:
The lion king: There is more to see than can ever be seen, more to do than can ever be done. There’s far too much to take in, more to find than can ever be found
Reba McIntyre: Is there life out there? So much she hasn’t done. Is there life beyond her family and her home? She’s done what she should, should she do what she dare?
Queen: I’m a man with a one track mind, so much to do in one lifetime (people do you hear me?) Not a man for compromise and where's and why's and living lies / So I'm living it all, yes I'm living it all / And I'm giving it all, and I'm giving it all
Helen Reddy: I am strong, I am invincible, I am woman
Robbie Williams: I just want to feel real love and a life ever after
Oasis: Here’s a thought for every man who tries to understand what is in his hands…Bounded with weight of all the words he tried to say, chained to all the places that he never wished to stay, as he faced the sun he cast no shadow
Mulan: We must be swift as the coursing river (Be a man)/ With all the force of a great typhoon (Be a man)/ With all the strength of a raging fire/ Mysterious as the dark side of the moon
That's a real one in your reflection / Without a follow, without a mention / You really pipin' up on these niggas / You gotta be nice for what to these niggas?
Alaska Thunderfukck: Adam take a seat cause Miss Eve is on duty "But I thought without men then we couldn't have babies" Well on Jurassic Park all the dinos were ladies
Happy Birthday to me!