#finding self

[msviolet101]

Building Attraction Online: How to Get More Matches 👉 See Why It Works

[thedailylotus]

It has been 1 year since I have posted on here, I didn’t know if my thoughts were worth sharing. Each day I heal, I realize I can take up space & I hope you remember you can too. 💕

[iminlovewithmj]

MJ'S Breakthrough

Hello to anyone viewing this. I created this Tumblr as a space to share my thoughts and opinions, and just express myself freely.

I love playing guitar, trying new things, and finding inspiration in different places. One of my favorite models is Omahyra Mota—I absolutely love her energy and style.

Right now, I’m just figuring life out day by day, but I see that as something exciting. I try to live from an optimistic point of view and appreciate everything around me. I love people, I love growth, and I’m just here experiencing life as it comes.

[mi4012-elrenrikvagbandara]

Gerald McBoing-Boing (1950)

Okay first of all can we just appreciate that this film is from 1950 and it still feels so fresh and alive and genuinely charming? because i think there's sometimes this assumption that old animation is going to feel dated or hard to connect with and Gerald McBoing-Boing completely dismantles that within like the first thirty seconds. it just pulls you in immediately. there's an energy to it that feels almost contemporary even though it's over seventy years old and i think that says a lot about how good it actually is.

So a little bit of context first because i think it makes the film even more interesting. Gerald McBoing-Boing was made by a studio called UPA — United Productions of America — and it came out at a time when disney had basically set the rules for what american animation was supposed to look like. detailed, painterly, realistic, full of depth and shadow and weight. and UPA showed up and said actually no, and made something that looked completely different. flat colours. bold graphic shapes. simple almost abstract backgrounds. character designs that leaned into geometry rather than naturalism. it was visually radical for the time and it won the academy award for best animated short in 1951 and in doing so it kind of opened a door for a whole different visual language in american animation. so even before you get into the story, the film itself is doing something genuinely rebellious and brave and i love that about it.

The story is based on a Dr. Seuss audio story and it follows a small boy named Gerald McCloy who one day opens his mouth and instead of words, sounds come out. boing. crash. honk. whatever the moment calls for, gerald produces the sound effect rather than the word and he cannot control it or stop it no matter how hard anyone tries. and okay yes, this is funny. it is genuinely funny and charming and the sound design is so creative and playful that you can't help but smile. but the film doesn't stay just funny and charming for long because it's also really honest about what happens to kids who are different in ways the world doesn't know how to handle and how in school the other kids won't play with him and runs away and they keep their distance, they stare, they make him feel like something about him is fundamentally wrong. and you can see gerald absorbing that.

You can see him getting smaller, more withdrawn, moving through the world with this quiet heartbreak that sits just underneath all the boings. and it's genuinely affecting in a way that surprised me because the film is so light and comedic in its style that you're not expecting to feel that tenderness toward this little kid who just wants to belong and keeps being told in a thousand small ways that he doesn't and his parents are in such a hard position and i appreciated that the film doesn't make them the villains of the story. they clearly love him. they're clearly trying. they're just also clearly at a loss because the world doesn't have a place for their son and they don't know how to carve one out for him. and there's something really real about that — about loving someone and still not knowing how to protect them from the ways the world is too small for who they are. that's a specific kind of helplessness that a lot of people probably recognise whether they're the parent or the child in the situation and the resolution is so satisfying to me specifically because it doesn't come from gerald changing. it doesn't come from him learning to speak normally or finding a way to fit the mould. it comes from ONE person — just one — who looks at him and sees something extraordinary where everyone else saw something wrong. a man from a radio studio hears gerald and immediately understands that a kid who can produce any sound imaginable is not broken. he's a gift. he's genuinely remarkable. and that recognition changes everything.

I think that's the thing that sticks with me most. not just the feel good message of it, but the specificity. it's saying that difference isn't the problem. the problem is a world too rigid and too unimaginative to see value in things that don't fit the expected shape. and it only took one person who was willing to look differently for gerald's whole life to change. which is hopeful. genuinely hopeful. but also quietly sad when you sit with it, because the film doesn't acknowledge how lucky gerald was. how many kids there are who never find that person. who spend their whole lives being told they're too much or too strange or too difficult and never get that moment where someone says actually — this is the most incredible thing i've ever encountered. i think about that a lot but i don't want to end on that note because the film itself doesn't. it ends warm and joyful and full of this lovely sense of a kid finally finding where he belongs and that feeling is real and worth celebrating. Gerald McBoing-Boing is funny and sweet and visually gorgeous and also — if you let yourself feel it — genuinely moving. it's the kind of short film that reminds you why animation can do things that no other medium can quite replicate. the ability to take something completely absurd and make it feel completely true. and i think that's a rare and beautiful thing.

Feel free to watch it anytime cause I really believe it's worth the watch even just once!

[jacqmarz]

Finding Yourself After Years of Responsibility

For most of my life, responsibility has not been a choice, it has simply been a way of living. Growing up as a Hispanic woman, responsibility begins at a very young age. Many of us are taught early on that helping the family is not optional. It becomes part of who we are. As a child, I remember taking care of younger sister, helping cook simple meals, and even interpreting for my parents because they didn’t know the language of this country. At the time, those responsibilities felt normal. They seemed small, almost like everyday tasks. But looking back now, I realize those moments were shaping me into someone who always put responsibility first.

As I got older, those responsibilities only grew. By the time I was fifteen years old, I was already working in a small mom and pop restaurant. The owners took me under their wing and began teaching me things that most teenagers my age were not learning yet, such as how to manage finances for the restaurant. I learned quickly because I had to. There wasn’t room to fall behind or be careless. That experience taught me a lot about work ethics, but it also placed me deeper into the world of adult responsibility before I was truly ready.

At sixteen years old, my life changed forever when I became pregnant with my first child. At an age when most teenagers were thinking about school dances or hanging out with friends, I was preparing to become a mother. By seventeen, my daughter was born, and shortly after her birth, we discovered that she had a teratoma tumor in her abdomen. Looking back now, nearly thirty years later, that was one of the most difficult experiences of my life as a parent. At seventeen, I didn’t fully understand how the choices I made would affect my daughter’s future. I was still a child myself, yet suddenly I was responsible for another human life.

My daughter eventually went through six surgeries to treat the tumor. Each surgery brought fear, stress, and uncertainty. It was a time filled with emotional exhaustion, but it also forced me to grow up quickly. Those experiences could easily be an entire story of their own. Through everything, I learned how strong a person can become when they have no other option but to keep going.

Life continued moving forward quickly. By the time I was twenty-four years old, I had four children, a mortgage, and two car payments. When I look back now, it amazes me that someone so young carried that much responsibility. Most twenty-four-year-olds are still trying to figure out their careers or enjoying their youth. Meanwhile, I was focused on keeping a roof over our heads, making sure the bills were paid, and providing stability for my children.

Because of that, responsibility became my identity. Running businesses, managing operations, and solving problems for others became second nature to me. When I take on work, I give everything I have to it. In many ways, work can swallow me whole. I often struggle with finding balance between work and personal life. I can easily lose myself in responsibilities and forget about the personal goals or passions I once had.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to reflect more deeply on life. Time is something we all have in limited supply, and the older I get, the more I realize how quickly it passes. My children sometimes joke that when people talk about me one day, they will probably say, “She worked all the time.” It’s funny when they say it, but at the same time it hurts a little. I know there were milestones I missed because I was working so hard to provide for them. At the time, my goal was survival keeping food on the table and making sure they had opportunities that I didn’t.

Education was another thing that life responsibilities interrupted for me. I never had the chance to pursue a traditional education path. Instead, I learned by doing. I became good at picking things up quickly, adapting, and advancing in my work positions through experience. While that helped me succeed professionally, it also meant that every promotion brought even more responsibility onto my shoulders.

Somewhere along the way, I lost touch with the passions I once had. When I was younger, I loved sports and being active. I had energy, excitement, and interests that were purely for my own enjoyment. Over time, those things slowly faded into the background as work and family responsibilities took priority.

Now, at this stage in my life, I am beginning a new journey: rediscovering who I am outside of responsibility. I am trying to learn what it means to nurture myself and show myself kindness. For so long, my focus has been on caring for everyone else. Now I realize that caring for myself is just as important.

Finding yourself after years of responsibility is not easy. It requires reflection, patience, and sometimes forgiveness toward yourself for the things you couldn’t change. I am learning that life should not only be about carrying burdens, but also about experiencing joy, growth, and self-discovery.

For most of my life, I have carried a bag full of responsibilities. Now, I am working on putting some of that weight down and finally discovering what it means to live for myself too. Recently, reading The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod (https://www.miraclemorning.com/ See How The Miracle Morning SAVERS Can Help Your Morning Routine) has given me a different perspective on reflecting on myself and my life. The book encourages people to slow down, take time for self-reflection, and intentionally build habits that nurture personal growth. For someone like me who has spent most of her life focused on responsibility and caring for others, this perspective has been eye opening. It reminds me that taking time for myself is not selfish, it is necessary. I am beginning to understand that rediscovering myself is a process, and that every small step toward self-awareness and balance matters.

[originalheroluck]

[anovasky]

It is time to listen within ourself