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(Breakfast at Tiffany's - because for me, no other film sums up being lost and not knowing what you want quite so well.)
Lately I've been thinking a lot about purposes and what it means to be special or unique. It's very easy to say that everyone is individual and can't be replaced but in a world the size of ours it's also very easy to feel small and insignificant. The world feels bigger than ever before, now that everyone is constantly connected across continents through the Internet, phones and fast-spreading media; for all the benefits this brings us, it also creates an acute awareness of just how tiny we are as part of the human race at this very moment, let alone in the universe's entire history and future. I've always firmly believed everyone has their own purpose, something that they're born to do, and that because of this everyone is different and irreplaceable in their roles. On days when I'm feeling down, it can be depressing to look at people who are inspirations for this philosophy - people who've followed their dreams and passions, put in hours of work, and as a result have created things that are beautiful and have great significance - because I can fall into the trap of feeling lost in comparison. How do people find their path in life and follow it with such conviction? Does it make you inferior if you don't have that drive, if at times you feel like you don't know what you want? I don't think I'm alone in wondering this. But when you read interviews with those who have succeeded, you don't see the hard work, the doubts, the fears, the moments where they must've believed they could never achieve their goals. You only see the glamour, the end result, and if you think of it in that way the pride and empowerment that underlies the words and actions of those who are following their true passions make the journey it takes to get there seem a lot less hopeless.
This post is inspired by the current issue of i-D, which looks at dreams. I guess being at the age I am and making the choices that I do means that for me right now, being inspired by people who have the self-confidence to believe in themselves even in the face of adversity is incredibly important. One thing I have learnt lately is that no one's life choices are in any way inferior to anyone else's, as long as they are based on genuine passion and feeling. And I greatly admire people who want to be teachers because they want to help educate others who need it, or those who want to be doctors because they have a desire to heal and to help people. But In modern society it's easy to get pressured into making life choices based on money, or security, or on the values that the media pressures us to have. However it seems to me that those who step outside the boundaries of what is 'safe' are the ones you read about in magazines, talking about how they love what they do and how they have no regrets.
For me, the things that always make me feel special are stars and the colour gold (call me unoriginal, haha!). I only became aware of it after watching that first episode of Glee when Rachel talks about her 'gold stars' and I identified with her (not in such an obsessive way, but I got the general idea). As much as she's irritating and has about a billion bad character traits, I do admire her ambition. And this season stars are huge in fashion - just look at D&G's gold star dress and lots of other glittery gold things. Gold lights up winter and makes everything seem a lot more sparkly and magical in general, so wearing it is a bit like a talisman against dreary weather and bad days. So here's some photos for you all to make you feel special too :)
"You might laugh because every time I sign my name I put a gold star after it, but it’s a metaphor, and metaphors are important. My gold stars a metaphor for me being a star.” - Rachel Berry, Glee.
Bottom two photos - amazing earrings I got in a flea market in Berlin, badly proportioned drawing I did which looked better before I scanned it/the blog uploader reduced its size...
