Occupy Daily Prompt

Single statements are evocative. What do the following quotes evoke? Choose one or all. Incorporate them into a narrative, or discuss their meaning, etc., etc. Use them however you wish.

I often pull strength from quotes. Little snippets of inspiration or wisdom, used as guiding lights when things start to get dark.

I keep my fortunes when I get Chinese. I still have notes students have written in my notebook.

“Hey Jen! Just stopped to say hi, but you were busy. I’ll catch up with you later.”

“You’re awesome.” (I still don’t know who wrote that one)

Little phrases, lines on paper. And they fill me with so much love and happiness that I could cry sometimes.

I keep those pages. Those notes. No matter what else is scrawled all over the page, those words mean something to me and I can’t bring myself to throw them away. I keep them with my fortunes. I keep them with the graduation booklets where I’ve highlighted the names of my friends who have graduated since I’ve been an instructor.

I keep them with the letters my mom has sent me. I have kept every single card from her since I’ve moved away from home. I’m not ready to let them go. Each one is signed, “I love you!”

I pull so much strength from words. Spoken or written.

One quote I can say that actually changed my life was this one.

I suddenly realized one day that if a friend talked to me the way I talk to myself, they wouldn’t be my friend anymore. So I started being my friend and life got a lot better!

~ Janice Leber

This quote helped me so much.

You’re ugly. You’re stupid. You’ll never be as good as [insert name here].

I used to say those things, and worse, to myself. Terrible, awful things, that I would never in a million years say to another person. But I said them, inside my head, everyday, for years.

I was vicious with myself if I messed up on something. I wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t worthy enough. I didn’t deserve.

And at the time I truly, honestly, whole-heartedly, believed that. I believed the things I said. I was right. I accepted those words as facts. Unquestionable truths which could never be changed.

And then I read this quote on, of all places, Facebook.

I was mindlessly scrolling through posts. It was a little while after the break up with Warren. I had tried doing the 30 Day Challenge one time. Didn’t make it through, but I had plans to do it again.

I was thinking about how I was still sort of depressed and how I was losing weight and feeling ‘better’, but I still didn’t feel good. I still felt like things were pointless, and I would beat myself over it.

You’re weak for feeling sad all the time. Why can’t you just get over everything? You’re being a slacker. Grow up.

More terrible, rude things.

I treated myself so horribly, and I couldn’t get away from it. I was a prisoner inside my own mind with this evil, poisonous voice in my head that wouldn’t leave me be. Nothing was ever good enough. Nothing was ever right.

And while I was listening to this voice berate me I saw this image.

I didn’t even read the words at first. I thought the colors of the sky and the earth were pretty, so I stopped scrolling for a second to observe the image more. The chick was interesting. I liked her expression. Sort of a “Zero fucks,” expression. Then my brain was like, “Oh look! Words.”

And as I read them it was like a puzzle piece clicked inside me. I sat there for a really long time just looking at the image, rereading it, over and over.

It was so easy. So simple. Don’t be a jerk to yourself… How had I not thought of that?

It was really hard at first. I realized just how negative I was to myself. How brutal and unforgiving. It brought everything into such focus. I never, never, said anything nice to me. Ever.

I think, if I’m honest, I was my most abusive relationship.

It took a lot to change my mental habits. And even now I still catch myself sometimes. It’s not the same phrases. They’re subtler, but still just as undermining.

You’ll never be able to get all of that done. You can’t do this. It’s too hard.

Fuck you, evil voice. I can get it all done. I can do this. And it’s hard enough to make it worth it. Hard enough that I’ll be unashamed when I reach the top and do my victory dance in front of everyone.

I have roughly 500 inspirational images in one of my Dropbox folders. As I find them online I save them and stash them away for the days that I need reminders.

“Nothing is impossible. Why even the word itself says Im Possible”

“If plan A doesn’t work, stay cool. There’s 25 other letters!”

 Being weird is just a side effect of being awesome.

I love my quotes, and I love sharing them with people. Below is a link to the Dropbox folder. If you want to download it, feel free. : )

 http://bit.ly/1wKDJK2