Unknown's avatar

Grateful for New Clothes

by

I got a bunch of new clothes over my break. Over the past year or so, I’ve been trying to adult-ify my wardrobe (do adults make up words?!). Simple colors, no text, adult clothes.

New clothes are pretty awesome. I wore all new clothes today, and I looked pretty spiffy.

Sometimes, though, I feel like a stranger when I wear new clothes. Sometimes,it feels like I’m wearing a costume. And with that comes a bunch of weird implications.

New clothes make me feel like I am living a different life.

New clothes make me embarrassed.

New clothes make me feel naked.

In short, new clothes make me feel like I’m not myself.

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about the “Thank You” Game. I got some negative criticism on that one. People said that it was insincere. I think there might be some truth in that. I didn’t do a very good job explaining.

What I was trying to say was that sometimes being grateful for something doesn’t feel right. It feels awkward and strange and the words “thank you” don’t seem to fit in our mouth. And we think that means something important so we don’t verbalize our gratitude.

The point is that you and I aren’t perfect. We aren’t going to be able to identify every opportunity to be grateful so just because showing gratitude feels foreign to us doesn’t mean we should not show gratitude.

Just because new clothes feel awkward at first doesn’t mean we should never wear new clothes.

Unknown's avatar

Telling a Better New Year

by

As I have taken my first, cautious steps into the new year, I have been reading a lot of Donald Miller. He’s really good to read when starting a new year because he is all about living a better story. I have been thinking a lot about stories, and I have resolved to live a better one this year.

But part of living a better story, I think, is telling a better story.

I was home on break for most of December, and I think it was the longest amount of time I’ve spent there in perhaps a year. With that came running into and interacting with some people I hadn’t really seen since high school. One night, while reflecting on these interactions, I had a horrible realization – I was still judging a lot of these people based on things they did in middle school. That worried me.

It worried me because it seemed childish. It is childish.

At some point, I need to let go of that story. I need to let go of my junior high story, of my peers’ junior high stories. It’s boring.

My friend recently got rid of all of her young adult fiction. Not the good stuff, like Catcher in the Rye or anything like that. The faux-dark, teenage-angst stuff. She sent me a picture of all of the books boxed up. She was making room for new literature.

I think I don’t do that enough with my life. I hold on to all of the silly young adult theatrics, and because of that, I can’t live a better story. So this year, I’m going to recognize that while my first 21 years have been freakin’ awesome, they are perhaps little more than the first chapter of my life story. And that’s a pretty cool place to be.

Unknown's avatar

4 Things That Make Babies Awesome

by

I think all babies are basically this awesome.

I got to hang out with my cousin, her husband, and their beautiful baby today. Babies are pretty awesome. Here are some reasons I think babies are awesome.

1. You can’t be unhappy when a baby is in the room. The only time anyone frowns around a baby is when the frowner is making faces at the baby.

2. You can buy gifts for babies for their next stage of life. It is common practice to buy babies spring clothes for Christmas and to buy them a couple of sizes larger. Because you know that the baby is going to grow. It would be kind of weird for my parents to give me a gift for my next life stage. A gift certificate to a wedding caterer isn’t really the same as a 12-month-old one-piece.

3. Babies have no concept of risk. All they know is that they want to put that knife in their mouths. And they will. And then they will cry after they hurt themselves with it. And then they will take a nap.

4. Babies take criticism and never get stressed out about people pressuring them. Have you ever seen a baby melt down because her parents were pressuring her to say “mama?” No. You haven’t. Babies know that they want to walk and talk. They are all about it. And because they know they want to do these things, when the people that love them try to force them to stand or say a couple of syllables, they don’t make a scene. If they aren’t ready, they just chortle. And if they are ready, then they walk or talk and then chortle.