as i was working on compiling my favorite quotes last night for a project i'm working on, i came across some brilliance from the acclaimed anias nin. apparently she was quite the popular author of erotic literature through the 1900's. brave woman, the culture wasn't always open to pioneering like that back then- it was quite risqué, especially being written by a woman. i haven't read her books (and don't plan to, haha) but i have become aware of some of the wisdom in her quotes and I'm inspired by the streak of independence. Also I admire women who don't let the opinions of others get in their way when it comes to being true to themselves.
"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
"A leaf fluttered in through the window this morning, as if supported by the rays of the sun, a bird settled on the fire escape, joy in the task of coffee, joy accompanied me as I walked."
"The only abnormality is the incapacity to love."
"There are many ways to be free. One of them is to transcend reality by imagination, as I try to do I disregard the proportions, the measures, the tempo of the ordinary world. I refuse to live in the ordinary world as ordinary women. To enter ordinary relationships. I want ecstasy. I am a neurotic -- in the sense that I live in my world. I will not adjust myself to the world. I am adjusted to myself."
"Living never wore one out so much as the effort not to live."
"How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself."
"Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death."
and finally:
"Good things happen to those who hustle."
you know it, baby.
I don't write erotica, but I've challenged society with a maybe a titch of defiance. See, shaving my head as a woman is unconventional. There is so much tied to hair: sexual intrigue, trend beauty, desirability to men, self esteem, approval, and distraction for yourself and others from you and how things really are going, to list a few examples. When I shaved my head I had nothing to hide behind which created a different type of vulnerability. There wasn't anything to hide my face, doll up, or base my self worth on. I absolutely feel more like myself with short hair, and I'm appreciating it as its growing in for what it is rather than giving it a kind of power that scares me now, honestly. Having hair made me feel like prey, not having hair made me feel naked in public and even alone. I had to really rely on my sense of inherent value to help me avoid feeling awkward and worthless. I have still been loved, I've still had attention, I've felt empowered rather than timid and scared all the time. Now this kind of drastic action (shaving my head nearly bald) isn't for everyone, but it's something that I personally needed to do for myself in my own journey of loving and empowering my Self.
where have you disregarded being politically correct or conforming to the norm in order to be true to your Self?
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