A wonderful message from Humans of New York

I asked her for a piece of advice. She reached in her purse, pulled out a piece of paper, and handed it to me. It said this:
Life isn't fair, but it's still good. Life is too short-- enjoy it. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present and the future. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about. If a relationship has to be secret, you shouldn't be in it.
Take a deep breath, it calms the mind. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. It's never too late to be happy. But it's all up to you and no one else. When it comes time to go after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer. Burn the nice candles, use the nice sheets, wear the nice lingerie, wear the nice clothes. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
Over prepare, then go with the flow. No one is in charge of your happiness but you. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years will this matter?' Always choose life. Forgive but don't forget. Time heals almost everything. Give time, time. However good or bad a situation is, it will change. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
If we all threw our problems in a pile and we saw everyone else's, we'd grab our's back. Envy is a waste of time. Accept what you already have, not what you need. Yield. Friends are the family we choose. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.*

 

"His grandmother and I are raising him. I worry about putting him into the public school system. I was a teacher for many years. I've seen so much confidence destroyed by the standardized system. Every human is born with natural curiosity. I've never seen a child who wasn't inspired. But once you force someone to do anything, the inspired person is killed. I dropped out of school myself in 7th grade. So I know. I taught a GED course for years, so I've seen the end results over and over. I've seen so many kids who have complexes and insecurities because they were forced to do something they weren't ready to do, and then they were blamed when they weren't able to do it. What we call 'education' today is not organic. You can't take something as complex as the human mind, compartmentalize it, and regiment its development so strictly."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I wrote an essay about my mother. I decided she put a destructive algorithm in my head when I was a child. I call it a 'mal-gorithm.' My mother always had very low self-esteem, so she never wanted me to have any confidence. She felt threatened by confident people, so her way of keeping control was to never give me any encouragement or approval. I remember one time I spent all day wrapping a gift for my grandmother. I decorated it with all sorts of designs, and glued cotton balls on the package. My mother took one look at it and said: 'What did you do that for? Grandma isn't going to care about that.' I think I realized then that I was never going to get her approval."
"How does this affect you as an adult?"
"It's very difficult for me to have the confidence to do things. I'm always anticipating the negative feelings of others But I'm working on it."