The Power Of Smiling :)

STORY of a woman .

One of my favorite movie quotes is from Will Ferrell in Elf, “I just like to smile. Smiling’s my favorite.” Personally, I’m a big fan of smiling, and I hate that I haven’t been doing it as much as I would like. There’s been too much sadness, nervousness and worry in my life recently. I have spent far too many days with a frown on my face. I knew that I needed fun, and friends, and smiles, but I didn’t realize just how badly I needed them.

On Saturday night, my boyfriend and I went out with one of my best and oldest friends, and some of her friends. We went to a bar in the Village and hung out for hours. For the first time in a while, I felt like a normal 24-year-old in NYC. I had fun, I laughed, I smiled…I even talked about my mom without getting too sad to enjoy the rest of the night. My friend and I reminisced about people we grew up with, and told funny stories from when we were younger. She got to spend some quality time with my boyfriend, and I got to know her friends better. For a good hour, I talked about football with one of the guys. It was awesome!

I guess the lesson I learned here is the power of smiling, and the importance of letting loose every once in a while. Setting goals for yourself and working hard to achieve them is great. Being sad and worried about a sad and worrisome situation is totally understandable. But, make time for fun, and friends, and smiles.  Remember that you only live once, and once your 20s are over, they’ll be gone forever. So, live, love, laugh, and smile.

Put the Past Behind You & Be There

Previously this was a story that I share from a website .

Sometimes you have to put the past behind you and be there. Yesterday morning, my mom called to tell me something about a close family friend; his girlfriend had gotten some news about her family, and she was now in a situation eerily similar to the one I’ve been going through for the past year and a half.  Here’s the thing about this girl: I’ve known her since we were about ten years old. We went to summer camp together for many years…but we were never really friends. In fact, we were in totally different social groups, and I can probably count on one hand the number of times we’ve ever had a conversation. But, as soon as I hung up the phone with my mom, I looked up her e-mail address and sent her an e-mail. I told her that I know what she’s going through, and I know just how much it sucks. I know how overwhelmed she probably feels, and how difficult it is to feel like you’re burdening your friends with your problems when you try and share. So, I told her that if she needs to talk, not to hesitate to let me know.

The truth is, that I literally feel her pain.  As I’m writing this post and thinking about what she must be going through, my heart hurts for her. We were never friends, but when it comes down to it, that doesn’t matter. I didn’t think twice about reaching out to her.  You never know, the next time I need someone to be there for me, I might be pleasantly surprised to have a new friend by my side. The bottom line is that when someone’s going through something that you’ve been through, whether friend or foe, let bygones be bygones and just be there for them.