1. Vanilla tea is wonderful at 8am, especially if it is caffeinated.
2. Re-discover old favorite songs.
3. A class in all Spanish (or any second language) is slightly terrifying.
4. Trust in life.
Yesterday was the first day of classes and to tell the truth, it was rough for me. I loved my classes (psychology and Spanish), but something got to me and I had an anxiety attack. Because of the type of anxiety I have (social anxiety), I tend to shut everyone out. Only when does someone directly ask me if I am having issues with anxiety do I tell them; other than that, I shut down. Anxiety attacks also bring a huge feeling of dread and utter panic.
While anxiety attacks are on the far end of the worry scale, I think everyone has these tendencies at times. Life seems to get to be too much for us to handle - we have a paper due, a test, and a huge audition on one day. It feels like too much and we shut down. It feels like we are all alone and no one needs to experience it with us.
Last night taught me something: trust in what life has to offer - including people. I know I have made friends who will stick with me no matter what, but I forgot it and allowed my anxiety to take control and whisper lies. Life wants to be kind to you and I fully believe that. Life sucks at times, but you have to allow good things to happen to you and for me, sometimes those good things are happening, but I don't see it, or I don't want to see it.
There is so much good in life. Everything is beautiful, even if it is a mess. Don't allow yourself to shut down during times of trouble - allow people to catch you and look for the beauty - even if the only beauty you see is a tear falling on someone's face or a snowflake caught on your eyelash.
Life is beautiful. Trust it.
Peace!
-Nicole
Showing posts with label beauty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beauty. Show all posts
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Monday, October 31, 2011
Beautiful Mess
1. Halloween dances are exciting.
2. Fake blood is hard to wash off.
3. Don't stay up until 6:30am, then sleep, then wake up at 1pm. Doesn't feel too good.
4. It's a beautiful mess.
This weekend was a bit of a mess. Melissa, Megan, and I went to a play on Friday night, then ended up in my dorm watching Dracula. We got half way through the movie, then we all went to bed. Then on Saturday, I worked in the theatre for set construction. Then the three of us went to a thrift store to buy a costume for that night's festivities. Saturday night was our Halloween Bash, which included a haunted house, photo booth, and a dance.
We had a blast, but when it got done at one in the morning, the three of us didn't want to go to sleep. So, we went back to our dorms, changed out of our costumes, then headed to a 24-hour restaurant. After we got bored of the restaurant, we hopped back into my car, and since we still didn't want to head back to campus, I gave them a 3am tour of Fargo/Moorhead. We finally ended up back in our dorms at 4am.We said goodnight to Melissa then Megan walked me to my dorm, fully intending on saying goodnight. The both of us ended up sitting outside my dorm door, talking... until 6:30am. By the time I went to sleep, my RA was already up and heading to the bathroom to shower. When I woke up I felt terribly ill; I felt like a complete mess.
But I don't regret anything. I am so happy I went out to eat with some of the most amazing people I have ever met. I am glad I stayed up until 6:30, having a conversation that I needed. I was a mess the next day, but it was sure a beautiful mess. It was beautiful because it didn't feel unnatural. It felt natural for us to talk for hours on end. It felt natural for us to drive around town with no destination. It felt natural. But it was also a mess because from an outside perspective and from my logic's perspective, it was probably a poor choice to stay up so late. It was a beautiful mess.
So maybe sometimes life has to be a mess in order for beauty to show. When life is a mess, we tend to be the most vulnerable. I certainly would not have had the amazing conversation I had last night if we had had it at 4pm instead of 4am. When you are vulnerable, it is the time you change the most. It's when you become a new creation and when your beauty really shines.
Life is a mess. Don't be afraid when it is because sometimes, it's beautiful.
Peace!
-Nicole
2. Fake blood is hard to wash off.
3. Don't stay up until 6:30am, then sleep, then wake up at 1pm. Doesn't feel too good.
4. It's a beautiful mess.
This weekend was a bit of a mess. Melissa, Megan, and I went to a play on Friday night, then ended up in my dorm watching Dracula. We got half way through the movie, then we all went to bed. Then on Saturday, I worked in the theatre for set construction. Then the three of us went to a thrift store to buy a costume for that night's festivities. Saturday night was our Halloween Bash, which included a haunted house, photo booth, and a dance.
 |
| Our photo booth picture Laura (a girl on my floor), Melissa (as my victim), myself (vampire), and Megan (Trinity from the Matrix) |
But I don't regret anything. I am so happy I went out to eat with some of the most amazing people I have ever met. I am glad I stayed up until 6:30, having a conversation that I needed. I was a mess the next day, but it was sure a beautiful mess. It was beautiful because it didn't feel unnatural. It felt natural for us to talk for hours on end. It felt natural for us to drive around town with no destination. It felt natural. But it was also a mess because from an outside perspective and from my logic's perspective, it was probably a poor choice to stay up so late. It was a beautiful mess.
So maybe sometimes life has to be a mess in order for beauty to show. When life is a mess, we tend to be the most vulnerable. I certainly would not have had the amazing conversation I had last night if we had had it at 4pm instead of 4am. When you are vulnerable, it is the time you change the most. It's when you become a new creation and when your beauty really shines.
Life is a mess. Don't be afraid when it is because sometimes, it's beautiful.
Peace!
-Nicole
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Megan Tackles Art and Artistry
1. Don't stay up until 3:15 working on a speech.
2. Don't fall asleep reading a book, it will fall on your roommate in the middle of the night.
3. Boots = blisters.
4. It's okay to be impulsive every once in a while.
Megan here and it's Wednesday. That means you get to listen to me for a bit.
As I'm sure Nicole mentioned, we had our Symposium a few weeks ago which surrounded the topic of "The Role of the Artist in Society" A ton of great speakers came and held amazing sessions and whatnot. As it happened, Melissa forced me into a strange situation in our Psychology class the next day. She raised my hand when our Prof asked if anyone considered themselves an artist. I was uncomfortable with this for two reasons:
1. I've never gone by the descriptor "Artist." Ever.
2. I now had to talk to the class and explain how I felt about an artist's obligation to society, especially focusing on optimism.
It made me think, so here we go...
First off, yes. I do believe it is an artist's job to be optimistic, especially if they intend to reach a mass audience. That isn't to say one cannot produce dark art (I myself am guilty), however the artist must acknowledge that whatever unfortunate circumstance they've encountered is not universal and must provide a glimmer of hope for their audience. Defining art for a second as any form of self-expression, it is my belief that inherent beauty exists in every form and instance of art. Yes, I am aware that beauty exists in death and other things not seen as conducive to what we think of as being optimistic, but I also believe that the majority of art exists to highlight and express the beauty of life, in contrast to death.
To recapitulate this idea, darkness is a part of art. It is a part of human existence, and one would be ill-advised to ignore that. However, art in itself is a form of optimism in that the artist cares enough to capture its image, whether through paint, ink, graphite, dance, song, or what have you. The artist itself must acknowledge that optimism is just as viable as a viewpoint as pessimism and must present this to their audience. As a species, I believe we are generally optimistic. I mean, imagine if Oogruck the caveman thought to himself, "Well, I am entirely incapable to bringing down a mammoth tomorrow. We're all doomed." NO! Long story short, yes, being optimistic is in the job description of an artist, if ever so slightly.
Now (on a less grandiose level of thinking) I'm going to speak as someone who creates art. I caution you, Reader, in how you approach someone's art, whether that be a professional, amateur, peer, etc. Art is self-expression, and thus is created through the lens of the artist and cannot always be taken as empirical fact. Yeah an artist uses art to represent real life, but it's only a representation and well... art. People create art for art's sake, and so I advise you to not take it too literally or seriously (within reason.)
Simply put, do not pass complete judgment on an artist based solely on their art. You can view every single Frida Kahlo painting and still not know her entirely, or listen to every single Michael Jackson song and still not have a complete picture of who he was as a man. An artist will be incredibly intimate with you, but they won't tell you everything. They leave their existence for that.
To drive my point home, I leave you with something from Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty. When he was on MTV Storytellers, he alluded to the fact that fans always asked him why everything on his album was so sad all the time. He response contained something close to the following, "When I'm happy I go do happy things, I'll go hang out and just enjoy being happy. When I'm sad or something's on my mind, I'll sit and write a song about it." So yeah, I think a lot of artists are the same way. That is definitely not to say that there aren't artists out there cranking out nothing but optimism. Google Vladimir Kush, I love that guy.
Peace out, be well. Hugs.
-Megan
2. Don't fall asleep reading a book, it will fall on your roommate in the middle of the night.
3. Boots = blisters.
4. It's okay to be impulsive every once in a while.
Megan here and it's Wednesday. That means you get to listen to me for a bit.
As I'm sure Nicole mentioned, we had our Symposium a few weeks ago which surrounded the topic of "The Role of the Artist in Society" A ton of great speakers came and held amazing sessions and whatnot. As it happened, Melissa forced me into a strange situation in our Psychology class the next day. She raised my hand when our Prof asked if anyone considered themselves an artist. I was uncomfortable with this for two reasons:
1. I've never gone by the descriptor "Artist." Ever.
2. I now had to talk to the class and explain how I felt about an artist's obligation to society, especially focusing on optimism.
It made me think, so here we go...
First off, yes. I do believe it is an artist's job to be optimistic, especially if they intend to reach a mass audience. That isn't to say one cannot produce dark art (I myself am guilty), however the artist must acknowledge that whatever unfortunate circumstance they've encountered is not universal and must provide a glimmer of hope for their audience. Defining art for a second as any form of self-expression, it is my belief that inherent beauty exists in every form and instance of art. Yes, I am aware that beauty exists in death and other things not seen as conducive to what we think of as being optimistic, but I also believe that the majority of art exists to highlight and express the beauty of life, in contrast to death.
To recapitulate this idea, darkness is a part of art. It is a part of human existence, and one would be ill-advised to ignore that. However, art in itself is a form of optimism in that the artist cares enough to capture its image, whether through paint, ink, graphite, dance, song, or what have you. The artist itself must acknowledge that optimism is just as viable as a viewpoint as pessimism and must present this to their audience. As a species, I believe we are generally optimistic. I mean, imagine if Oogruck the caveman thought to himself, "Well, I am entirely incapable to bringing down a mammoth tomorrow. We're all doomed." NO! Long story short, yes, being optimistic is in the job description of an artist, if ever so slightly.
Now (on a less grandiose level of thinking) I'm going to speak as someone who creates art. I caution you, Reader, in how you approach someone's art, whether that be a professional, amateur, peer, etc. Art is self-expression, and thus is created through the lens of the artist and cannot always be taken as empirical fact. Yeah an artist uses art to represent real life, but it's only a representation and well... art. People create art for art's sake, and so I advise you to not take it too literally or seriously (within reason.)
Simply put, do not pass complete judgment on an artist based solely on their art. You can view every single Frida Kahlo painting and still not know her entirely, or listen to every single Michael Jackson song and still not have a complete picture of who he was as a man. An artist will be incredibly intimate with you, but they won't tell you everything. They leave their existence for that.
To drive my point home, I leave you with something from Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty. When he was on MTV Storytellers, he alluded to the fact that fans always asked him why everything on his album was so sad all the time. He response contained something close to the following, "When I'm happy I go do happy things, I'll go hang out and just enjoy being happy. When I'm sad or something's on my mind, I'll sit and write a song about it." So yeah, I think a lot of artists are the same way. That is definitely not to say that there aren't artists out there cranking out nothing but optimism. Google Vladimir Kush, I love that guy.
Peace out, be well. Hugs.
-Megan
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