My First Day as a Motivational Speaker

HAPPY NEW YEAR, MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HANUKKAH (for those of you who celebrate it; also, I just learned how to spell Hanukkah five seconds ago, so thank God for spell check) AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND THANKSGIVING AND ANY OTHER HOLIDAY I FORGOT TO MENTION TO COMPENSATE FOR MY LONG ABSENCE. YAAAAYYY, EVERYONE'S INCLUDED IN THIS POST AND NO ONE'S LEFT OUT!

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So. Why all caps? Because it's been a while since I've posted. And I think a new year calls for a brand-new attitude, no matter how unnecessary it may be to sound like you're shouting from a rooftop. Though there is a little nugget of truth in this, because I absolutely do feel like screaming from a rooftop and spreading my arms out as I let the birds fly through my hair and toward the distant horizon, which could in itself be perceived as a symbolic moment of me moving toward my own bright, distant future. 

Just like in the movies. 

There are times when I wish to vacate my life and jump into a new one, like those times when it feels like I messed up too much and too badly to even want to continue being myself. However, that's taking the easy way out. There's always an opportunity attached to a problem. The opportunity to fix it; which is, quite honestly, the best opportunity life can give you. People seem to find it discouraging, since it does take a large amount of effort to dig for solutions, but there's no real reason to complain about the spilled milk or failed exam if you view it as one of the many inevitable stepping stones leading towards success.

Thomas Edison said it best: "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." He also said: "I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun" and, "Maturity is often more absurd than youth," but teachers never hang those posters on their classroom walls. Since it does go against their nature and all.

I think Thomas Edison would have made a fantastic motivational speaker.

But he's dead (to put it bluntly). And while he does continue to exist in human memory as an inspiration for plenty of ambitious inventors and just people in general, the one motivational speaker we should all be able to consistently depend on is ourselves. Tell yourself that YOU - ARE - BEAUTIFUL. If even that makes you uncomfortable, just quickly yell something like  "You're awesome!" to yourself before running away from the mirror you've somehow managed to avoid for the past several years of your life. In fact, get acquainted with that mirror as you emerge from your hibernation and actually notice that brushing your hair isn't half bad. I myself do it every once in a while.

Like Edison said, anything can be fun if you have the mind to view it as such.