A visionary dream
Isn't it fascinating how people become? I mean, how we find ourselves on different roads, managing different professions and skills, becoming great at different things and discover our weaknesses and developing our strenghts. As of May 31, 2009, the Earth's population was estimated by the United States Census Bureaus to be 6,783,421,727. That is a lot! and out of all of those people, you will find yourself on your very special road with your goals and dreams. Maybe you are fighting for human rights? just arrived with your suitcase to New York with big city dreams? sleeping on a midnight train on your backpacking trip across Europe? Studying to become a doctor or on one of your auditions of becoming an actress/actor? If you don't have a specific goal you'll probably have some kind of vision; an idea about the future and a stongly felt wish. Maybe a picture in your head of what you want to be, live and have achieved within, let's say, ten years. Right now, I find myself in a rainy but summery Sweden with a candle, just in the first weeks of my summer break from college. I find myself studying public relations at Bournemouth's media school, still working hard to become a writer but trying to find another way into the competative profession. I think I have had the same goal in ten years now, picturing myself writing in a big apartment with white curtains overlooking a park or in a house by the ocean, also with the same white curtains and big bed. I still have that vision, that image in my head of what I want to be in a few years time but I am developing. I mean, I know that I want to write and you probably know that you want to become an actor, receiving the applauds from a big audience for example . But here comes the question; what do I want to write about and why do you think you will become a good actor? No one will hire me, not knowing my direction or voice. The same with the person fighting on that audition. What does he have that no one else does? What makes him stand out from the crowd? This question made me think about my journey back home to Sweden over the easter break and how I was talking to a friend about my dreams of helping people through writing about career, motivation and goals. He told me "Charlotte, you can't just expect people to listen to you, you need to accomplish something first" Even though I had a couple of drinks before I remember myself thinking very hard about what he just said. I needed to come up with an answer as I knew he had a point; why would people listen to me and why would they think my words would make a difference? "There are so many people in the world who want their voice to get heard" he continued. Okay, so I want to help people, write about career, motivation and goals but I need to do something before that, work with something I don't want to work with just for the sake of it? Would I have to become a retired 65 year old CEO before I could do what I really want? No! There needs to be another way! I need to fight to reach my dream through what I really burn for and so I hope you will. You might be questioning yourself; so, what will make my work special? You don't need an answer right now but sooner or later you will find the answer somewhere along your road and that day when you are standing there on that big stage, in the limelight, infront of that camera, you will be able to take a look over your shoulders, looking back on those big changes, decisions, experiences and brave steps you took which made your performance special and outstanding!
What is ladylike really like?
After googling the word lady I found 8 different steps. (Don't laugh...or okay, do!) 1. Learn to talk well, 2. Dress well, 3. Make sure your hair is nice, 4. Be graceful, 5. Make sure your belongings are neat, 6. Always be nice and generous, 7. concentrate in school, 8. Don't be a class clown
By the age of 22 I should agree with Britney Spears early song "I am not a girl, not yet a woman" but before I can do so, I need to question the in between; what do we find between being a girl and being a woman? After giving it some thought I came up with the term "young lady", as I can't describe myself as a lady not really yet. When people are referring to me as a lady I get suprised, wondering "what, am I really a lady?" "No...I can't be yet, can I?". I am the kind of girl who loves my pink and white lace dresses. watching sex and the city marathons, having slumber-parties, painting my nails while talking about boys together with my friends past midnight. When I go out for a drink or presenting a project on the other hand, I feel like a lady, wearing a suit with red lipstick or one of my red dresses with high-heels. Besides that, I have to stick to the girl-file for a another year or two. So what is the difference between being a girl and being a lady? What is the different combinations that together makes a "young lady"? Is the difference physical or fysical? Is it that red lipstick or that red dress that makes the difference? And can you be a girl while having good manners and elegance? Of course you can! The word lady has its roots in British nobility as the female equivalent of "lord", carries a connotation of elegance and class. However, I believe the word lady has two different definitions; one physical and one fysical. And I also believe being only a lady, throwing away that girly side of you, will make you rather boring. Many of us have been raised up with good manners and we know how to act like a lady. With parents teaching us in the early stages of childhood about how to act "ladylike" and feminene we build up an early picture which separates us girls from the boys and their behaviour. One time at my University however, I decided to hang out with some guy friends, playing pool and drinking beer. This was a joke and so did they think. Playing pool and drinking beer was just not really my thing as I showed up in a pink shirt and hairband, got drunk on two beers and started to laugh at everything. The beers, pool and acting cool like a guy needed to go after only one night! But practising well manners does not mean we can't stick to being girls! We can do the both! I don't believe there is a time limit or rule telling us when it is time to trash that white lace dress, pink nailpolish or red-bowed hair band. The steps we take from being a girl to becoming a woman is a slow and successiv overlap which needs to take time. You don't wake up one morning knowing it is time to change that flowery bag to the black portfolio.. When it comes around I guess I can relate to Britney Spears song. I believe in the importance of keeping a girly side of you while maintaining the good manners of a lady.
Make room for "me time"
It is almost 1.30 am on a wednesday night, or thursday morning, and I find myself writing in my bed. Pretty late and maybe not the perfect time to be doing so. But when you find yourself fulfilling everyone else's needs while neglecting your own on that hot summer day in june which should be relaxing and peaceful and when you hear from your family that "you are always out and never in" it becomes pretty clear that finding room for "me time" in an already-jammed schedule can be difficult. I call it "me time" because it is the time of the day when I get to do what I love to do the most, the time when I get the chance to clear my head and just think about whatever I feel like thinking about, go running along the beach, sit outside in the sun reading my favorite magazines overlooking the ocean, dancing in front of my mirror to Ne-yo or just do what I am doing right now; writing past midnight. There should be more of "me time" on our schedules and we should prioritate it as it contributes to happiness and our belonging. If we don't get the chance to do what we love to do the most there is a possibility that we will loose a little bit of ourselves,our personalities and beliefs.
