Being Exposed to the “Mean Reds”

This is an open letter for anyone who deals with depression or anxiety or is “having the mean reds” this is quoted by my all time favorite book “Breakfast at Tiffany’s. You don’t have to be constantly up all the time. By up I mean always smiling always being on point. We are not perfect; I can attest to that. We work hard, but sometimes our hard work isn’t always reflected by the work that we do. Everything that we want isn’t always given to us no matter how much we try. We have limitations even though we are constantly reminded that the sky is the limit. I am not here to bring you down. I am here to tell you that it is okay to set goals and reach for the universe, but to also realize that life has a lot of bumps and obstacles and sometimes the thing that is meant to be isn’t what you are destined to have.

As a college student, I feel like I am constantly evolving I know myself and what I want in life and trust me I work hard to get it. There are many moments where I stay in on a Friday night and dedicate my time studying and sometimes all the time and dedication isn’t always reflective with the grade that I receive. It brings me down, but at the same time it gives me a challenge and I work five times as hard to make that happen. I wish that I wasn’t so afraid of failing. When I do fail I wish I could be more positive, but sometimes failing brings me down and I question what I did wrong? How can I overcome this? Will this impact my future? All these questions resonate within me and it starts getting to me. In the exterior, people sometimes see me as this very extrovert, involved, hard working, studious girl who has the world in the palm of her hands. I even get comments like “you are Genesis” when I share how I doubt I did well on an exam. Now, at times I am conflicted. Sometimes I feel happy that people see me as studious and hard working, but the other feeling causes some weirdness. I am not perfect and just because I am Genesis doesn’t put me in some kind of pedestal or that I have never messed up. I have messed up constant amount of times, but I learn from my mistakes and it makes me grow. That being said I have pressure from the outside in being on point and in always succeeding. I have accepted that I have flaws, but I still struggle with failure. I have this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson posted in my wall “The success is in never failing, but rising up every time we fail.” This quote has been with me throughout my college career. It’s my phone background. Failing is a constant battle-an inner struggle. My failure can result in falling into a depressive state or cause anxiety. Sometimes I lose the battle and I fall into anxiety or the mean reds. Instead of blues, Capote illustrated it in his novel as “reds.” Depression and anxiety can result from different things and if it is severe I suggest to seek help; there is medication that you can take. Depression shouldn’t be something that should be stigmatized as wrong or bad. Some people are more susceptible than others and it can arise from something big or small. I think that the best thing to do is seek help either with people you trust or someone who is licensed to help. I hope that you have a support system that is here for you for whatever you may need. This helps me when I am feeling sad, lonely, upset, angry, or all in between. It’s good to talk to someone just have them listen to you because all those bottled up feelings could result in something even more upsetting. Know that there is no such thing as perfection even though we strife to be flawless as evidenced by the hashtag.

Just remember that you are strong and have overcome so much in your life. I wish that I could encourage everyone and support them and to go through their emotional state and for them to feel that they can be happy and hopeful again. But until we have a time space continuum where people could be at multiple places at the same time I will contribute with this blog post. I am trusting you Science make it happen. Feeling hopeless is such a sad thing. Feeling like you don’t matter or feeling lost is scary. There are so many people who don’t have a chance to be your age. Life should be seen beautifully. We have so much to look forward to and we should be excited for the unknown. Even the most positive and optimistic people may lose the battle, but they conquer it in the end because they have people who support them and acknowledge who they are as an individual.

I hope that these encouraging words and my story show you that you aren’t alone and there is always going to be people who listen. Anxiety and depression is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. You are strong. YOU CAN overcome this.

Best,

Genesis Diaz

 

Quote of the Day

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but rising up every time we fail.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

You Are Your Worth: Winning the Inner Battle

Countless amounts of times we are looked down upon because we aren’t wearing the trendiest outfit, or don’t look a certain way, or don’t fit the exact stereotypical image. It’s so important for you to know that YOU are strong and beautiful in your own way. It doesn’t matter how many times we are put down by others as long as we know who we are and comfortable with our own skin. If you know your own worth than you should not care by the comments or the other voices that linger in your head.

A lot of beauty comes from the mind. It makes us think what beauty really is. The Oxford English Dictionary defines beauty as “A combination of qualities such as shape, color, or form that pleases the aesthetic senses.” Aesthetics is how one sees art. The quote “true beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is very important, but people are more blinded by the intricacies than seeing the full picture. We are blinded by the details and don’t focus on the artwork at hand. I am writing this post as my contribution to helping out to the people who have ever lost confidence and don’t see themselves as beautiful and that at times hate themselves for looking as a certain way. Again I reiterate that YOU are beautiful. I understand that hearing this from a stranger maybe odd and it won’t immediately make you love yourself. I hope that by the end of this post you realize that you are more than just the exterior and beauty shape-shifts into many different forms.

I also wanted to write this blog post because I feel as the accepted image of beauty is taking over. You may wonder what is the accepted image? It is the image of the thigh gaps, the very skinny physique, the full-faced makeup individual, which has blonde hair or full black hair. This is the image that the media and society has ingrained beauty to be in our minds. THAT is beauty and I want to tell you all that beauty doesn’t have to be THAT.

We judge each other based on our looks, but what does that tells us about society? Instead of criticizing why don’t we learn to embrace what is out of the norm. People should feel beautiful without consequences without feeling weird or rejected from society. Feeling beautiful is such good feeling; we want young women to feel confident to feel empowered and that they of course matter. See how this plays with the mind because often times its OUR own mind that tells us how we should look like. I believe that the standards of beauty need to change. There are so many beautiful people, but no one particular image should be overpowering the others. There is a struggle with one own mind in feeling confident and beautiful. I look at as if it were tug of war one side being the accepted societal image and the other side being one’s own unique image. It’s a battle that must be fought for because many girls fall into the accepted image and there are consequences that have hurt many girls. Even guys at times lose the battle as well.

There are so many young girls who have difficulty in trying to fit in so they begin to starve themselves, watching what they eat, become bulimic, or workout excessively and sometimes it’s all of the above. All these things are unhealthy. Why the ridicule? Why the bullying? It doesn’t help that little comments like “I’m so fat” or “I can’t eat pizza I need to watch what I eat” become normal.  This isn’t healthy nor is it normal. We need to stop with this culture. The key is building one’s confidence to feel both beautiful internally and externally. Know that the women in the magazines are not as real as you think many are retouched, photoshopped, have hair and makeup done professionally, and have unhealthy body proportions. If we keep allowing this accepted image to continue we are reproducing this image to the future generation and I can’t imagine how unhealthier it can become.

Why do people force themselves to go to extreme lengths to look a certain way? I ask why do you think they do this? Its because of societal pressures, of course that is not always the answer everyone has their own story and in no way does this answer apply to all, but for some it could be due to do that for the pressure to fit in. This is especially common for women who are pre-teens and teenagers. They want to fit in and not become secluded or be labeled as weird. The game or I like to call it the battle begins and women fall to the accepted image. We keep holding on to the rope trying to win and show that we have conquered the game, but it keeps on repeating. The other side becoming stronger and stronger with each game.

We keep maturing as we get older and being a teenager is hard enough. These young ladies are in a vulnerable state of their lives because they are growing up and are susceptible to what friends want or need rather than focusing on oneself. This of course doesn’t apply to all, but I look at it as a game of ring around the rosies. Everyone is holding hands with another happy with the group of people in a circle, but once the song ends the circle falls apart and the person is alone. The circle could represent societal standards the people in the circle could represent friends, media, even family. The fall and separation with others could represent the inner struggle with one’s own mind feeling isolated. It could also be the other way around. Again this analogy could be difficult to understand and that is okay. Try creating your own analogy; for me it makes sense to make it seem like that because I used to play that game. It’s crucial for society to focus beauty as an interior beauty. I like how models are accepting and are expressing that the standards of beauty should vary within culture and different parts of the world. We need to realize that we live in a world full of ambition and consumerism there is always someone trying to sell something for us so that we become more inclined to buy. Sadly the media/society is selling us that image.

I think what is most beautiful is one’s own personality and character.

As you have read through my post, I hope you are realizing that you are beautiful and it maybe difficult to reject the norms that society has ingrained within us. As a college student, I see a lot of women really confident and proud of how they look. It brings a smile to my face because they aren’t assimilating. They know they are unique and beautiful even without makeup, with their weight, and with their personality. Its good to feel confident and have an ego no one should tell you otherwise because once you feel confident you will see the world in a different way.

When I was a teenager I struggled with beauty. I am 5’2 rather short and curvy. I have a young facial complexion and have wide feet. I don’t have abs at all even though I run and my shoulders are broad. I had felt that my body was disproportionate and I was very careful with what I wore. I never considered myself beautiful because I didn’t see appearance as a big thing. I would not do my hair and never wore makeup. I just didn’t see beauty as something in the exterior, which is a good mindset to have, but the problem was that I was not confident in myself or saw myself beautiful in either forms-exterior and interior. This is where I wish I had been stronger because I do consider myself beautiful in the outside and in the inside. I try my best for my character to shine through. I now do put makeup. I style myself and I feel confident because I have that mindset of feeling like I matter. Feeling beautiful should not be considered as being conceited. There will always be people, who will have good or bad opinions, but it is up to US to feel proud and confident in whom we are no matter what others say. I am not going to deny that sometimes I don’t feel beautiful it’s that inner struggle with myself that many young ladies my age struggle with. But I remind myself that I am a strong independent and beautiful woman. The definition of beauty should be different for everyone. I still feel uncomfortable embracing certain parts of my body or even have the confidence to call them beautiful. Even now, I am still playing a game of ring around the Rosies and tug of war, but I make sure that I end up winning and the standards or stereotypical image end up falling/losing.

 

I hope that my story inspires you to be proud of your own worth. I hope that this post inspires discussion and one by one we can start increasing young women’s confidence and beauty perspectives. Everyone is unique and we should embrace the differences within us rather than try to fit into an image that doesn’t reflect who we are.

The definition of beauty has changed all throughout time. Hopefully it will keep changing toward a positive body image and many different perspectives of beauty.

You are beautiful and are worth so much.Remember to know that you are not alone and there are people that can help.

Love,

Gen

Quote of the Day

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

-Maya Angelou

A Box of Crayons

 

Never in my life have I considered myself other than Mexican, but often times my race is generalized into a label of either being a—Hispanic or Latino. I have always been very proud of my background and heritage being Mexican-American is something that is within me. My mother wanted me to learn Spanish first because she didn’t want me to abandon my culture and language. To speak Spanish as a Hispanic is to demonstrate to the family and the community that one is proud of their roots and heritage. There is so much diversity in the U.S. and more of it in California, my home state. Somebody could look Mexican, but in reality they may be Puerto Rican, Guatemalan, Dominican, Cuban, or Spanish. It’s interesting that society has constructed a label to identify all these unique races. Some people consider themselves as Latino others as Hispanic others by where they come from. It seems like society tries to mold out a synthetic casing to have each individual fit into that mold.

There is a stereotypical image of what one should look like based on the race or background one has. This could be due to how the media has constructed that image. It has been due to the exposure in movies, videos, and images that demonstrate how a person should look based on that race. It makes it easier for people to see an image an associate it based on definitions. It is up to us to diminish this very simplified version rather, learn about the different races. Not only the media is at fault, but also the people reinforcing the stereotypes. There is this long debate whether one is Hispanic or Latino and from their many different branches known as identities emerge.

These races and ethnicities could be seen as a box of crayons. (Note: It maybe a difficult analogy to comprehend, but bear with me). Each of the crayon’s have a different color and each one has a distinct name within the box. There are different shades of the same color, but none of the crayons are repeated with the same name and color. For example Cerulean is a light blue and blue is the color of the ocean. Someone could argue that they are both blue why aren’t they just called blue? What is interesting to note is that they are not blue, but different shades within the an offset color of blue. If we were to call cerulean blue it would be generalizing the color blue because the color blue in itself has different shades. See what I am getting at? This is notion of labeling is similar with the classification of race and ethnicity. If we generalize the ethnicities and race we are doing the same with the box of crayons. Mexican, Argentinian, Puerto Rican, and Spanish are not the same so why do we generalize races as calling them Hispanic and Latino? These different races symbolize the different shades of colors that are in a crayon box. Manufacturers would not package same color crayons or name the shades of a distinct color the same color. This would cause confusion and would be obscure. So why must society do this to people?When one looks at the diversity that these races embody it serves the purpose that these races wouldn’t be called just Hispanic or just Latino. When society packages these identities in one casing of crayons it becomes difficult to see the distinction. People would begin to generalize cerulean as blue and not see cerulean as a different color. This does not just only involve in Spanish speaking communities, but also in the Asian community (generalizing) and this is (specifying) Japanese, Chinese, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Korean, and Philippines. There is a definition and an understanding that people have with this group and it is generalized as “Asian.” People then begin to see Asian as the crayon label, but are blinded by the different shades of color that are in the crayon box. It will be a challenge to begin to identify each race as their own and to stop generalizing, but it is necessary. In order for the world to understand our diverse ethnicities and races we need to stop generalizing a color just because it may look like red and blue in reality it is maroon and cerulean.

Greetings! blogosphere-I am Back

I am back from a well over due hiatus. Less than a year, but quite a while. Thank you to all my wonderful followers and visitors. I have made it my goal to blog once a week. Writing is a powerful outlet and I need the practice. I have included it in my calendar so it is official.

I am currently in the midterm runt. Professors decide to assign pages and pages of readings as well as papers on top of the inevitable midterms and exams. The hashtag studying has been prevalent in both my twitter and snapchat.

Let me know what you all would like to read. I will try to post a wide variety of different posts. Unfortunately no fashion for a while given I will not be tuning in to the Oscars today. I need a sweatshirt that says “Aint nobody got time” that is my motto. Mantra is strong independent woman.

Anyway will blog soon stay tuned for a post on racial classification in the analogy of a crayon box.

Best,

Gen

 

Quote of the Day

“We must look to the world and ask ourselves how can we change it”

Quote of the Day:

“We love the things we love for what they are.”~Robert Frost

Quote of the Day

“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”~William W. Purkey

Quote of the day

“Courage isn’t having the strength to go on – it is going on when you don’t have strength.”~Napoléon Bonaparte