When It’s Okay to Have a Meltdown

melt

We all get overwhelmed. Life can be a whole pile of overwhelming. Next time you’re on the verge of imploding/exploding/ode-to-joying, remember that there are a number of situations in which it is perfectly acceptable to have a meltdown.

A handy guide:

- When you’ve tried to spell “receive” incorrectly 5 times in a row

- When the saran wrap tears leaving you with an endless strand of plastic 1mm in width

- When Blockbuster is out of the next season of Breaking Bad

- When traffic stops you from going more than 10 city blocks over the course of two hours

- When things end

- When new beginnings arise

- When you can’t decide which way you should part your hair

- When someone asks you what your favorite book/movie/restaurant is and there is no possible way to pick just one

- When you have too much

- When jealous folks get rude and catty

- When that new song you love becomes that overplayed song you love within the course of a week

- When you think you feel a spider on you but there’s none there

- When nothing is happening

- When everything is happening

All good problems to have.

Allow yourself all the feelings. Each and every one of ‘em. You’ll be glad for it at the end of the day.

Image Source

Some Years Ago — Never Mind How Long Precisely, Tilda Swinton Read a Tome

moby

How many of us can say that they’ve actually got around to reading Melville’s novel, easily considered a treasure of world literature?

Peninsula Arts with Plymouth University have made the daunting task a little easier with their 21st century-friendly project, the Big Read. Readers such as Tilda Swinton and Stephen Fry embellish a chapter of Moby Dick each with their voice and skill. The project also curated 136 artists to create an accompanying illustration for each of the chapters of the book.

No better way to revisit a classic than by bringing it to the arts-hungry culture in such a digestible format.

mobyread

Should you need me these next few days, I’ll be diving into these deeper waters.

Image Source

Bite-sized Wisdom: Ephron

Whether writing books, plays or screenplays, this lady’s always won her way into the heart with her wry humor and ability to say things that others wish they could say:

pancakes

“Here are some questions I am constantly noodling over: Do you splurge or do you hoard? Do you live every day as if it’s your last, or do you save your money on the chance you’ll live twenty more years? Is life too short, or is it going to be too long? Do you work as hard as you can, or do you slow down to smell the roses? And where do carbohydrates fit into all this? Are we really all going to spend our last years avoiding bread, especially now that bread in American is so unbelievable delicious? And what about chocolate?”

- Nora Ephron

Image Source

You may also enjoy:

How A Rhinoceros Might Be a Reminder to Start Living

How A Rhinoceros Might Be a Reminder to Start Living

Clever Arts Marketing from Around The World: Speaking to an Audience Instead of Talking Down to One

Clever Arts Marketing from Around The World: Speaking to an Audience Instead of Talking Down to One

25 Ways to Be Unsuccessful Creatively (and in life)

Article Worth Reading: “Find What You Love and Let it Kill You”

James Rhodes gave up the piano for 10 years, trading it in for the promise of the City and searching for some sort of security. Then decided his dream of becoming a concert pianist trumped all.

pianisttext

From the Guardian’s recent article:

“What if rather than a book club you joined a writer’s club? Where every week you had to (really had to) bring three pages of your novel, novella, screenplay and read them aloud?
 
What if, rather than paying £70 a month for a gym membership that delights in making you feel fat, guilty and a world away from the man your wife married you bought a few blank canvases and some paints and spent time each day painting your version of “I love you” until you realised that any woman worth keeping would jump you then and there just for that, despite your lack of a six-pack?”

Read on

Image before editing: Alan Cleaver

Singing Boxers and Epic Montages: Bringing Beloved Films to Broadway

Officially announced yesterday: ROCKY’s coming to the Great White Way.

Yes, everyone’s favorite “little boxer that could” is getting his chance to belt it out.

Skeptical? No need. The production got rave reviews over in Germany on its first tryout of the material. Features music from Ahrens and Flaherty (Ragtime, The Glorious Ones, Once on this Island) and what appears to be pretty thrilling direction from Alex Timbers (Peter and the Starcatcher, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson). 

How do you think Rocky will fare?

Bite-sized Wisdom: Burnett

From one of the best funny ladies out there, a little thought to take with you into the weekend:

whoops

“You have to go through the falling down in order to learn to walk. It helps to know that you can survive it. That’s an education in itself.”

- Carol Burnett

Image Source

You may also enjoy:

How to Thoroughly Enjoy Your Life

How to Thoroughly Enjoy Your Life

Some Things Get Better With Age

Some Things Get Better With Age

How Cartoons Can Jolt You Into Being Creative

How Cartoons Can Jolt You Into Being Creative

Does It Matter Who Wins the Race?

“Yes, there are times when the gold medal only goes to the winner. But not in the race of life, where the winners are those who are superior not to others but to their former selves.”
- Robert Cooper

2013 St. Patrick's Day 8K

How have you bested your former self lately? How have you strived to learn more and crave less?

Have you checked in with yourself when you heard yourself complaining? Have you pouted at the thought of working harder? Had a First World Problem whinesesh (not the good kind with a cheese plate in tow)? At every moment you have the option to remain static, give up, or move forward. And your path will only be your own.

Empower yourself by winning at your own game everyday. You are your own best competitor.

Image Source

Bite-sized Wisdom: Corneille

Never hurts to get into this habit, especially when all people usually need is a little kindness:

pray

“The manner of giving is worth more than the gift.”

- Pierre Corneille

Image Source

You may also enjoy:

How to Deal When Life Throws You Curveballs

How to Deal When Life Throws You Curveballs

No Theatre No Problem

No Theatre No Problem

Bite-sized Wisdom: Wilder

Bite-sized Wisdom: Wilder

How to Become a Better Writer, Friend, and Person

writer_E

- Get up early, go sit down and write
- Journal without editing yourself
- Find seeds of great ideas in the piles of subconscious ones you’ve just laid out for yourself
- Repeat until it no longer feels like a chore, but a part of your day you anticipate with excitement
- Continue ad infinitum

friend_E

- Make time for people that matter to you
- Send a note to let them know you’re thinking about them what big or little life events pop up (“Good luck on that interview!”, “Hope you fly safe!”, “That recipe you gave me is le bomb.”, etc.)
- Show support when good things happen to them, and even more support when the bad sneaks in
- Refuse to let distance be an obstacle. There are a million ways to stay connected nowadays. If Facebook isn’t cutting it for you, agree to start writing each other postcards. No one gets real mail anymore – just think of what a treat it would be to get something worthwhile in the mailbox.
- Continue ad infinitum

live_E

- Stop comparing, stop complaining, stop selling yourself short
-Continue ad infinitum

Image Sources (before editing): Human Writes Performance, Geneva, Jesse757, GuiseppePortale