Follow Your Heart, Be Your Own Hero, Say What's On Your Mind, And Who Cares What Anyone Else Thinks?

I am absolutely loving the recent outpouring of feel good empowering be yourself and your own person songs on the radio lately.  Everytime I hear one of these songs on the radio in my car I can't help but crank up the volume and sing along with a big smile on my face.  It feels good to start hearing some music that leaves you feeling a great self esteem boost!  I wanted to share few of these songs with my readers and why I love the messages that they send.

Kacey Musgraves - "Follow Your Arrow"

Message: Follow your arrow!  Do what you want to and forget what anyone else does or thinks!

Why I love it: I love this song because Kacey picks some of the most prevalent stereotypes in our society and basically says that no matter what you do, someone's not going to like it so you might as well do what you want and be happy.  Another way of saying you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.  I love the line "just 'cause you can't beat 'em don't mean you should join 'em."  It's easier said than done but we should really take Kacey's advice to heart.  Follow your heart (your arrow) and do what makes you happy regardless of what anyone else thinks or says about it.  After all, "you only live once!"

Katy Perry - "Roar"

Message: You are strong and you can do anything you put your mind to, no one can hold you down unless you let them!

Why I love it: I love this song because it's all about being your own hero and believing in yourself!  You can do anything you put your mind to and if you really want something no one can stop you from achieving it!  Katy says "I went from zero to my own hero, you held me down but I got up...get ready 'cause I've had enough!"   She also talks about what life was like before she starting believing in herself.  She says "I stood for nothing, so I fell for everything."  Her whole life changed with her new outlook on life when she became empowered and started believing in and relying on herself.  We can be our own best advocate but we can also be our own worst enemy and worst critic.  Let's show the world what we can do by giving ourselves some credit and believing that we can achieve our dreams.  If we do, we will be unstoppable!


Sara Bareilles - "Brave"

Message: Say what's on your mind and don't let anyone silence your voice or intimidate you into being someone you are not!  Be brave and "let the words fall out!"

Why I love it: In our world it is so hard sometimes for us to say what's on our mind and to express ourselves - be honest and open.  Doing so exposes us to criticism from others but we can't change the world unless we as, Sara says, "say what (we) want to say and let the words fall out."  She says "your history of silence won't do you any good... let your words be anything but empty, why don't you tell them the truth?"  She challenges us to be brave and to share ourselves with the world regardless of what anyone thinks.  She acknowledges that "everyone's been there, everyone's been starred down by the enemy, fallin' for the fear and words disappearin', fall down to the mighty" but she says "don't run, stop holdin'  your tongue!"  Translation - We all know what it feels like to be intimidated into silence but stand up for yourself - be brave and speak up.  I also love this video in particular which encompases the idea of "dance like no ones watching."  At the end some guys ask if one of the dancers is on drugs - why do people jump to this response when someone is spontaneous or just being themselves?


Sara Bareilles - "King of Anything"

Message: How dare you tell me what I should do or who I should be?  I don't care if you disagree with me - you are not the boss of me!

Why I love it: Sara tells it how it is and really sticks it to the jerk who tired to tell her who she should be!  She says all her life she has tried to please everyone and now it's time for her to do her own thing regardless of what anyone else thinks because she is her own person.  We should all take a page from this playbook :)


I hope that you enjoy these songs as much as I do and that they give a great self esteem boost to your day today!  I love you all and I hope that you can find the courage to be who you are and to change our world for the better one voice at a time.

A New Outlook on What it Means to Be Chrisitan

In previous posts, I have mentioned that I have become more interested in religion and have begun some self exploration in and about how I feel about it.  At Christmastime, my younger sister lent me some books which she thought I might be interested in.  Two of these books were Captivating by John Eldredge and The Shack by William P. Young.  I really enjoyed these books and there were some ideas addressed in them which I found particularly interesting.  I thought I would post about a few of them in case anyone may be interested in the topics and picking up one of these books too.

Captivating, is about the soul of a woman.  It discusses God's creation of the woman's soul and the parts of God's own self that woman embodies.  The book talks about Adam and Eve as the embodiments of the first man and woman.  It suggests that men have an innate need to be heroes, to be leaders and women have an innate need to be nurturers.  This is not to say that women cannot be leaders, and men cannot be nurturing but that we are naturally wired to be predisposed to certain feelings.  As a soldier's wife I believe my husband really is a hero in more ways than one but even if he was a business man doing a desk job somewhere I don't think I would feel any differently.  Before we were married he used to call me his princess and that made me feel special in many ways.  I think every girl wants to be some one's princess and he really made me feel like one.  The book also talks about the story of Adam and Eve and about the portrayal of Eve as the cause of man's exile from the Garden of Eden.  The author points out that although Eve is the one who eats the apple first, Adam just stands there and does nothing.  He fails in his role as Eve's protector and therefore is equally to blame for their exile.  He doesn't even protest when Eve offers him the apple as well.  I like the fact that Adam and Eve are equally to blame for man's downfall.  It's an interesting book and I would recommend it to anyone interested in the roles of men and women and it is enlightening in how it explains the hearts of women.

The Shack, is a very different book.  This book does not set out to be a text on religion.  Rather, it is a story about a man whose daughter is murdered and how he learns to come to terms with her loss.  The main character has a religious experience in which he meets God.  God is embodied in three people, rather like the trinity.  One of the three is a black woman who loves to cook, one is an Asian woman who loves to garden, and the third is a middle eastern man who goes by the name Jesus and loves carpentry.  The main character is uncomfortable at first with the idea that God is a woman.  She doesn't fit his stereotypical image on Jesus or God as a white man with a beard and long white robe.  I like the idea that God could be someone other than the stereotypical image.  In the book, God also tells the main character that he does not care for the institution of religion at all.  He thinks religion creates rifts between people because they put to many rules on each other and use them to exclude each other.  There are a few ideas in the book that I don't entirely agree with but some of the ideas are intriguing.  It's worth reading if you are interested in viewing God and religion from a different perspective.

Dear Hardware Employee - Post #2

Dear Lowe's Employee,

Please refrain from arguing with me about the rules and regulations surrounding what I can and cannot drill into the walls and exterior of my home.  I live here and have read the rules in my lease and I think I would know more about this than you.  In addition, I have a much better idea of what I need for my current project than you do.  You didn't even ask me the details of what I want to do and are continuing to argue with me about it.  Furthermore I do not appreciate being lectured as if I am a five years old.  Just because I am a woman does not mean that I am stupid or incapable of drilling a screw into a wall.  Please do not insist that I need a cart to push around my intended purchases.  If I need a cart I will get one.  If not I am fully capable of carrying my purchases myself.  There is also no need to stare at me while I browse your merchandise.  I promise not to touch anything that will hurt me, make a mess, or steal anything.  If I need your help I will not hesitate to ask you.  Do not be surprised that I know my way around a hardware store.  This is not my first visit nor will it be my last.

Sincerely,

A very capable Army Wife

Dear Hardware Store Employee, I Am Not As Fragile as I Look

As you know from my last post I am in the midst of a few home improvement projects.  Today as I was out running some errands I decided to stop at Lowe's again to look at a few items that I was thinking about getting to help me with my projects - namely a toolbox and a level.  My current toolbox is a half broken plastic box held together by clear packing tape and it only holds about half the items that belong inside.  I decided that it was high time we invest in a proper box.  The level I thought would be handy for the picture hanging but I wasn't sold on buying this yet. 

I would like to pause here and mention that every time that I walk into a hardware store, I get stared at.  This has been happening since I was in college.  I walk into the store and suddenly several male employees appear eager to offer their assistance.  I don't know if it because I like to wear skirts and dresses in the summer or if it's because I look completely lost or like I don't belong but I always have a pretty good idea of what I am looking for and the questions to ask if I don't.  I'm not just aimlessly browsing in the hardware store.  This said... back to the story....

I walked into the store and headed for the hardware section thinking that tool boxes might be with nails and screws since that is what commonly goes inside other than tools themselves.  I didn't see any so I walked to the end of one of the aisles to look at the signs indicating what each aisle contained.  I wanted  to look in the tool section next (probably the most obvious place) and was looking for a sign that indicated where they would be.  Suddenly out of nowhere a guy walks up to me with a Lowe's name tag on.  "Can I help you?"  Startled I turned around and politely asked him where I could find a toolbox.  He told me that they would be in "Tool World" which was at the front of the store to the right of the registers.  This was all of the help I needed and I walked away with renewed purpose expecting him to go away and help someone else. 

Moments later I had found the tool section and was browsing the tool boxes when the sales guy showed up again.  "Oh you found them!" He exclaimed, as if it was really difficult to find them.  Just for the record let me note that the tool section was to the LEFT of the registers not the right as he had told me.  I just looked at him, said "yeah" and continued to look at the boxes.  I was looking at a 16" standard box and he just stood there staring at me. I felt like asking him if HE needed help.  The next thing I know he says "You probably don't need that one.  This small one here will probably do ya."  This guy didn't even bother to ask me what I wanted to box for.  He just assumed that I wanted/needed the smallest puniest size they offered.  The box he offered me was pathetic.  It was really cheap looking and was basically just a plastic box no better than what I had at home already.  Not only that it was probably smaller than what I had at home being about one third of the size of the one I was looking at.  I looked at him and said no I really think this is the size I am looking for and continued to ignore the one he was trying to hand me. 

I started to walk away to look for the levels.  "Can I help you find anything else?"  This guy would NOT give up.  I decided to humor him.  "Which aisle are the levels in?" I asked knowing full well they were probably only one or two aisles away.  "Right this way over here" he replied bringing me to exactly the spot I had suspected they would be.  I began looking at my options while the guy continued to hover.  "So are you hanging curtains or something?" he asked.  Why is it that just because I am a woman I must be hanging curtains?  Even if I was his assumption was slightly offensive.  I mean seriously talk about stereotyping.  I decided to put him in his place so I turned to him very sweetly and replied "No, actually I'm doing some carpentry.  My husband is out of town and I am doing some home improvement projects."  You should have seen the look on his face!  It was priceless.  He was completely dumbfounded.  All he could muster was "oh" and he walked away. 

Just because I am a woman and am wearing a skirt does not mean that I am incapable of doing projects that require real tools thank you very much.  I ended up walking out of the store without buying anything and found an awesome purple toolbox next door at Walmart. I am totally excited about it.  I know it's just a toolbox but for me it's something more.  It symbolizes the fact that I am not "useless."  I have many talents and I don't need help with every little thing.  Hopefully my husband doesn't think our new purple toolbox is too girly but he loves purple too so hopefully he will like it!  Take that Lowe's guy!