...“Two Questions,” by Lynda Barry, is a short story about believing in yourself and your work. Barry talks about something that everyone goes through sometimes in their lives. We all criticize ourselves trying to please others. Criticizing ourselves will only lower our self confidence. Lynda Barry teaches us not to care about others opinion and do what makes us happy. If we try to please others’ then we’ll never be happy. While reading the story, I realized that I used to ask the same two questions as Lynda Barry when I finished my work. The two questions Barry asks are, “Is this good? Does this suck?" (168). Throughout middle school and some parts of high school, I used to always second guess myself by asking these two questions. I would rely on others’ opinion. I didn’t think that it was good enough until someone else told me it was. “But the two questions find everybody” (Barry, 170). Just like me, you might find yourself asking these same questions. You might also find yourself asking these questions to others. You might rely on others opinion more than your own. You might trust their opinions more then you trust your own. This text agrees with the view I have of the world. Our society cares more about others opinion than their own. “As, for bad drawings, I tried my best not to ever make them”. We try to please others more than ourselves. That is how our society works. We believe in others more than we believe in ourselves. “For the next 30 years I chased after...
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...LOVE YOURSELF…EXPERIENCE LIFE! There was a time in life when I felt so low and defeated that all hope I might have had disappeared, I ended up feeling worthless and more like a failure especially when everyone around me seemed to have everything in their lives in order. Everywhere I turned, I felt like I was being mocked, like everyone was looking at me and saying just how much of a disappointment I was, and it got to me because I started loathing myself. I started feeling like I wasn’t enough, according to me everyone else was better than me in one way or the other. When standing in a group of people I would feel so inferior that at times I wished the ground would open up and swallow me live, hide me from the hell I was putting myself through and just make the pain go away thinking maybe if that were to happen, I wouldn’t feel so useless and unwanted in everything I did. It was at this point that I started building a wall around myself, created a shell that I crawled in just to hide when in front of the world. I remember walking into a class room or any gathering and going straight to the back of the room, anywhere where I wouldn’t be noticed easily, be invisible and wrap myself into my own little bubble where no one or anything could touch me or harm me in any way. I was honestly depressed because it was only me, I closed everyone else out because I thought I wasn’t good enough for them and that they were way too good for me for any sort of friendship to be formed between...
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...Assignment 1. What would others say about you that is generally positive? I think people would say that am a kind, helpful, empathetic, caring, respectful, and resourceful. This is hard to describe I would hope that people have a good perception of me. As stated in our text book “all of us have a view of ourselves but that view is not always accurate. When it is not accurate we often get in the way of ourselves,” (DeJanasz, Dowd & Schneider, 2015, p6). I find this statement to be true since we see ourselves in one way while other may see us in a different way. I find it hard to self-evaluate myself since it don’t like to talk about myself and my feelings. 2. What “constructive suggestions” would others offer to help you improve or change? Some constructive suggestion will be to have patience and to be more selfish. What they are trying to say is that I need to put myself first for a change. I’m always putting others feelings first before my own feelings. According to my husband I need more patience. As defined in the Merriam-Webster Learner Dictionary patience is the “ability to wait for a long time without becoming annoyed or upset.” Patience is what I need as soon as possible, sometimes I cannot control my reaction which is a real problem. 3. What do you most like about yourself? What I like most about myself is that always make sure everyone around me is happy, no matter what, I always strive to make sure everyone around me is taken care off. I love that quality...
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...You know what they say about life - that it's a series of ups and downs, and that we must strive to be happy. I, however, attack the idea of happiness. I don't mind people being happy, but the idea that everything we do is part of the pursuit of happiness seems a really dangerous idea to me and one that has led to a contemporary disease in society, that is the fear of sadness. I find it odd that we are being told to “write down three things that make you happy before you sleep tonight” and “cheer up” and so on. We're saying that happiness is the default position, and that seems wrong to me. Wholeness is what we ought to be striving for and part of that is sadness, disappointment, frustration, failure: all of those things which make us who we are. I, like everyone else, have been through a series of ups and downs. And maybe it's okay, and maybe it's not, but I am learning to accept it, and for the time being that seems more than enough to me. I am not from a well-off family, and times have been hard, and when it's happening to you, you can't exactly accept that you aren't “financially well-off”. And when you stand at the point where I stood - a teenage boy seemingly being forced to grow up too fast, nothing really seems real for a while. But then I got through O Levels with decent grades despite everything, and it was both a blessing and a curse. The first year of A Levels rushed by me, and left me slightly spinning. And it is the moment when you resurface after being underwater...
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...conforming to be like others and ‘fit in’ that everyone is just wearing a mask; masked by a pretense. It’s a safety precaution. The mask must be broken first before they show their true face. However, people keep changing in this never-ending spiral of conformity, eventually the real person behind the mask is gone, and all that is left is the mask itself. Everyone conforms. It’s natural and it’s even assumed that “conformity may have been of survival value when interacting with other tribes of cavemen” (Peutherer). Of course, we don’t live in the ‘dinosaur’ era anymore. We live in a modern time and we still change, but this time, it’s for social survival in a cruel and judgemental society. It’s not a good thing,...
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...suck the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you. You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot. Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends. pongboy #2. Stop running from your problems. – Face them head on. No, it won’t be easy. There is no person in the world capable of flawlessly handling every punch thrown at them. We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems. That’s not how we’re made. In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall. Because that’s the whole purpose of living – to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them over the course of time. This is what ultimately molds us into the person we become. #3. Stop lying to yourself. – You can lie to anyone else in the world, but you can’t lie to yourself. Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves. aberrantbeauty.tumblr.com #4. Stop putting your own needs on the back burner. – The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too. Yes, help others; but help yourself too. If there was ever a moment to follow your passion and do something that matters to you, that moment is now. pinterest ...
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...are their adolescent years. As everyone can attest, the adolescent years may be the most fun but also the hardest, most emotional, and most rough times in everyone’s life. To become individuals, we all have to go through our own journey, which includes the letdowns and miracles because it is what builds us to be the person we grow up to be. Some people may waste life, some may rush through it, but the ones who cherish every moment and live every minute as it was their last, get the richest experience life has to offer. Life is a mystery, and you never know what is going to be handed to you. Just like when Tom Hanks said, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get". To get life’s richer experiences, take risks, have fun, and take on critical decisions instead of being afraid of them. In my life, there have been several people who have made the most impact in my life, and my number one fan, although our relationship has been up and down is my mother. My mother has never pushed me aside, and has always kept me under her angelic wings like the precious son I am to her. I have disappointed her time after time, but she has never given up on me. Although there have been times where she said she’s one incident shy, but I know my mother’s strength, and she’ll never give up on me because she wants me to succeed. Another fan of mine that I have been able to learn from in my lifetime is my dad, which is. He has taught me one of life’s most valuable lessons...
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...long, but in the 18 years I have been here I have learned and been through many things that have dramatically changed my life. Most of those things were life-altering events that really made me question everything about myself. I learned how to deal with those events and to look at the positive in them. Everyone deals with obstacles or barriers in life but the thing is how does one overcome them and learn from them? My philosophy deals with the things thrown at us and how we react to them for the better of ourselves. Family Now the obstacles I’ve dealt with involve my family. Let me give you an overall consensus of how we act; whenever something doesn’t go how we want it and/or we disagree with someone we blow up. Now looking at that, you wouldn’t think we would deal with serious events in a positive way, well you’re wrong. In the past 2 years on my mom side we lost my aunt to breast cancer, and grandma to a severe blood clot; then I personally dealt with the loss of my dad due to liver failure. During those multiple losses we didn’t drift apart due to not knowing how to act; we came together and helped support each other mentally and emotionally. We may not have dealt with them the right way but we dealt with them how we saw fit by just letting our emotions out and talking about how we felt. Another way I know I dealt with them is to look back on the positive memories and then physically I used my crafting and art skills to make “little memorials” for them in my room. The...
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...Shore of Non – suffering 60 Overcoming the Fear of Death 92 Five Mindfulness Trainings 129 4 Dear Reader, if you wish to share in the printing cost of this and many other beautiful Dharma Books for free distribution, so that more people could be touched by the beauty of Dharma and be inspired to live a happy and meaningful life, please photocopy the Contribution Slip at the end of this books, fill in your particular and return to us. “ The gift of Dharma excels all gifts” 5 Taking Good Care of Our Habit Energies Dear friends, welcome to the Summer Opening in Plum Village. Who is three years old? Who is less than three years old? I would like to introduce to you Bao-tich who is four years old. He just celebrated his birthday two days ago. Here is Bao-tich. This is his second year in Plum Village to practice. Can you turn around? He came last year and he practiced very well. He was so happy, so this year he came again. Bao-tich is his name. It means the store of jewels. I am very happy that he is here. He has a great time being in Plum Village. He came about ten days ago and I had the opportunity to drink tea with him and to play with him. I am very happy when I am surrounded by young people. They look like flowers to me, very fresh, very innocent, and I wish that the young people will stay with us for the whole retreat,...
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...today and make a new ending.” Nothing could be closer to the truth. But before you can begin this process of transformation you have to stop doing the things that have been holding you back. Here are some ideas to get you started: 1. Stop spending time with the wrong people. – Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. If someone wants you in their life, they’ll make room for you. You shouldn’t have to fight for a spot. Never, ever insist yourself to someone who continuously overlooks your worth. And remember, it’s not the people that stand by your side when you’re at your best, but the ones who stand beside you when you’re at your worst that are your true friends. 2. Stop running from your problems. – Face them head on. No, it won’t be easy. There is no person in the world capable of flawlessly handling every punch thrown at them. We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems. That’s not how we’re made. In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall. Because that’s the whole purpose of living – to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them over the course of time. This is what ultimately molds us into the person we become. 3. Stop lying to yourself. – You can lie to anyone else in the world, but you can’t lie to yourself. Our lives improve only when we take chances, and the first and most difficult chance we can take is to be honest with ourselves. Read The Road Less Traveled . 4. Stop...
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...media. It is something you see everywhere, in television advertisements, magazines, newspapers, the internet and much more. We're in a very fascinating generation in which our knowledge grows rapidly; all thanks to media. The media is incredibly important because it does so much for us. 1) It connects and allows us find out what's going on in the world. 2) It entertains us. 3) It influences us. But the thing about influences is that there’s always a good side and a bad side. The media can influence people positively. Like commercials and billboard ads that urges for us to help the homeless, or just people that are going through trouble. It helps develop awareness, social skills, and also inspires us that we’re capable of making a difference and to build a better world. But the bad side is that not all of what they say is good. One of the most common ways media can affect us negatively is how we view our body. You’re not good enough. That’s what people say, that’s what the media says, that's what almost everything around you implies. You're not good enough. You're never going to be good enough. But that’s the thing about humans. We’re never satisfied with what we have. In other words, we’re greedy, we want too much. If you're not like the girls on TV, they judge you. If you are like the girls on TV, they still judge you. There's always something they can say. Ugh, you’re too fat or, ugh, you're too skinny. Who here watches television? Yeah everyone, why? Because it’s entertaining...
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...is, Is Anthem really telling us to be different or is it telling us something more. The answer is more. Ann Rand was a brilliant writer, but the way she puts this story together, she didn’t just mean you should be different. The way she makes the characters talk and act is something more than what we think it means since she has them have different names for different groups in which makes us think about the Idea of her book. The way how she works this out is almost impossible to notice. She tries to get you to guess until the one word, it changes every way you think of the story, that word is ego. He carves that word in a rock at the end as if you were supposed to get...
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... Would yo describe yourself as multiracial, or do you see yourself as belonging to a single race? Why? ( page 9) I would describe myself as being multiracial, even though when asked in forms I usually only circle Hispanic or Latino. My mom is Venezuelan, and as far down as we can track all her ancestors were also Venezuelans, on my dad’s side he was European, and all his relatives as far as being tracked down were also of European decent. I believe my family is made up of a diversity of races. Although we are not able to find out where it came from, on my mom’s side of the family there must have been someone from Asian decent, as I have almost Asian eyes, and I have cousins and had an uncle that if you were to look at them you would think that they were Chinese. Have you or any member of your family ever encountered a glass ceiling? Explain (page 14) When I was 2 months old, my dad passed away in an accident, my mom had to take my dad’s place at his job, which was a factory that he owned along with other partners. My mom experience a glass ceiling as the other’s partners perspective of a woman working weren’t as diverse and thought that because of her gender she shouldn’t have been working in such a top position. I believe this happened because it was in Venezuela, where the cultural landscape of women working wasn’t consider much and what was perceived as a job for women was to be a stay home mom with the children. Should we always treat everybody the same and...
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...each group the only thing I wondered was where do I fit in? Do any of us really fit in? Or is that just the cultural norm that we all have a separate group to fit into. Is that all we really are a label? What is the social norm, to be the Barbie of the world, with the best paying job, the best body, the most money and to be married to the perfect husband? In our society we have a tendency to conform to the social norm, to be put in a category that makes us feel at home not ever stepping out of our comfort zone to expand our interested or even willing to try. To be with the people we have the most common with we develop patterns. Noticing the little things and conforming to what fits into the group. We stick to it so we are more comfortable with our surroundings. To be outside of our bubble is not something that most of us are familiar with or comfortable doing. Switching groups takes courage, endurance, and sacrifice. I know this because it happened to me. My best friends were from the second grade. We did everything together up until about middle school when we all started to separate just a little bit. As their cloths turned black so did their attitude towards the world, and yet my cloths stayed bright as can be. One day at lunch they asked me if I wanted to go and smoke pot with them. My heart just popped out of my chest and laid there on the cold tile floor just beating. Trying to understand why on earth you would want to do that to your body. It took everything in my power...
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...1. The technological revolution has changed the structure of careers today. It used to be that you went to work for one or two companies in your entire career. Today we will all have as many as four to eight jobs or careers in our lifetime. Personal Branding is essential to career development and an effective career tool because it helps define who you are, what do you stand for, what makes you unique, special, and different, how you are great, and why you should be sought out. 2. The change in the way we communicate. The Internet has elevated each of us to the position of publisher. Email, newsgroups, bulletin boards, blogs, and online network and discussion groups afford all of us the opportunity to learn, network and get exposure for our businesses and ourselves. People want to do business with people they know or people they feel they can trust, with whom they feel...
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