Keep Smilin'

Okay, so it has been about 10 years (2 weeks) since I have posted. I did not forget about you girlies, I promise! I'm still thinkin about ya. The reason it has been so long is because we had a super early homecoming week and I barely found time to eat and sleep nontheless spend time on a computer. Anyway, I'm here, I'm alive and ready to get going again full force. Before I get started, if there is anything you would like to see me write about or discuss on my blog, please don't hesitate to email me at srayburn7@gmail.com. I am always checking it.  Ok so this week, I want to talk about being happy. I do not know what makes you happy or what makes you smile. But I know a couple ways that may improve the quality of your happiness. When I finally started applying these tips to my life, I became a much happier and confident girl. So take notes, here we go.

Tip #1:
Do What You Have To Do
I know homework is not necessarily what makes everybody happy. A lot of times, it is the cause of our anger and negativity in the evening. But I have learned (thanks to my consistent mother) that if you just do it all, right away, with out making distractions for yourself, you'll be happier in the end when you have time to do things you enjoy. So if you bring your homework home, sit down and finish it with out doing things in between,  I promise you will have time to go hang out with your friends or get some decent sleep at night. This does not just apply to homework though. Anything you need to do, get it done with out excessive breaks and you'll be proud that you do it right with out wasting time.

Tip #2:
Leave the Comparison/Contrast for English Class
I know you hear "Be Yourself" every day of your life. But here's how to do it: Stop comparing yourself to others. You do it with out even knowing you're doing it. I still do it and it is the hardest habit to try and break. Obviously, no one is any "better" than you are. Maybe a girl in your grade can put an outfit together better than you, or can play the sport you love better than you. Those are little material things that are not going to matter as you get older. I guarantee you, there things that other girls you are always around don't have, that you do. Stop saying what is so much better about everbody else and start realizing the things that you are good at, things you love.

But the other side of that is making sure you don't get in over your head with what you are better at. Just because you are better at little material things, does not make you any better as an overall person. The other girl being better at sports is not a hint that she is better than you. You are equal, because things that give you different personalities, balance you out as people. I can't help but think about my own experiences. There has always been at least one girl who has treated me like I don't matter, or that she is better than me for every reason possible. Been when I stopped comparing myself to her or to other girls who do the same thing, I realized that they might be jealous of things that I have that they do not, and that they are not better than me and I'm no better than them. But for the girls I thought I was better than, I started to see what they could do that I could not. It puts things in to a great big perspective of life for me and it felt awesome when I saw that.

Tip #3:
Be Yourself
I love the saying "Be yourself because everyone else is already taken." It states the wholesome truth. You can not be somebody else, because I can assure you, you will not succeed, and we all want to succeed right? I am going to compare this situation to clothes because I think we can all relate. I definitely understand going out and getting a shirt or a pair of shoes because you thought they were cute and they would definitely go with the rest of your closet, I do that all the time. But you wouldn't take all of your clothes in your closet, throw them out and go buy a whole new wardrobe to match another girl, would you? That's too much time you would waste being something you're not and would get expensive.

What I'm trying to say here is that find things you like and that match your personality with others'. But don't wipe out everything that makes you, you and replace it with a personality that you have not already lived with and been known for. Trading you for someone else is something that you will cost you your true friends and by the time you realize how much damage you've done, it will be too late to turn back and gain back everything you had before. I'm not saying it's impossible, anything is possible. It will take a lot of work and and a long time. But why put so much in jeopardy when you could just prevent it now?

I don't know why being anyone else would be so much better than who you naturally are. After all, you're a beauty queen and that's all that matters right?