Life with most teenagers was like having a low-grade bladder infection. It hurts, but you had to tough it out.
Anne LamottRead
...[T]here should be a real sense of your imagination and your memories walking and woolgathering, tramping the hills, romping all over the place. Trust them. Don't look at your feet to see if you are doing it right. Just dance.
Interpretation
Embrace your creativity and experiences without self-doubt to fully enjoy life.
Anne Lamott encourages us to trust our imagination and memories as we navigate through life, suggesting that we should not be overly concerned with doing things 'correctly.' Instead, she advocates for a carefree approach to creativity, likening it to dancing, where the act of expression is more important than adhering to rigid standards or expectations.
In practice
A motivational speech about the importance of following your creative passions.
Life with most teenagers was like having a low-grade bladder infection. It hurts, but you had to tough it out.
Or you might shout at the top of your lungs or whisper into your sleeve, "I hate you, God." That is a prayer too, because it is real, it is truth, and maybe it is the first sincere thought you've had in months.
Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you're going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find out the truth about who you are.
It is hard to remember that you are a cherished spiritual being when you're burping up apple fritters and Cheetos.
Gorgeous, amazing things come into our lives when we are paying attention: mangoes, grandnieces, Bach, ponds. This happens more often when we have as little expectation as possible. If you say, "Well, that's pretty much what I thought I'd see," you are in trouble. At that point you have to ask yourself why you are even here. [...] Astonishing material and revelation appear in our lives all the time. Let it be. Unto us, so much is given. We just have to be open for business.
...because when people have seen you at their worst, you don't have to put on the mask as much.
That was the big thing when I was growing up, singing on the radio. The extent of my dream was to sing on the radio station in Memphis. Even when I got out of the Air Force in 1954, I came right back to Memphis and started knocking on doors at the radio station.
I remember the first time seeing myself on TV, when my family was watching the documentary 'Eyes on the Prize' for the first time. There were pictures of people going up the school stairs, and Mom said, 'Oh, that's you!' I said, 'I can't believe this. This is important.'
There is power in seeing a face that looks like yours do something, be someone. There is power in moving from the sidelines to the center.
Ordinary women of grace are, in a sense, my real role models.
The minute you begin to do what you really want to do, it's really a different kind of life.
I hope and expect there are female coaches out there who are saying they want to do what I do, and if I can play a part in that and when I step away from the game can say 'I was the first,' then I'm proud of that too.
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