• About Susan Palmer
  • Help for writers

Exquisite Now

~ Stuff gets done here

Exquisite Now

Monthly Archives: April 2012

Ashley Judd and the crime of aging

10 Tuesday Apr 2012

Posted by supalmer in Random, What they said

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Ashley Judd, beauty, self worth

Apparently, those who follow celebrities have been talking trash about actress Ashley Judd’s face. From what I recollect of her movies, she has a lovely face. Miffed by the ridiculous focus in the celebrity reporting realm on the apparent puffiness of her face and what it says about our culture, she wrote a little something for The Daily Beast to rant against this dangerous obsession with the perfect female figure.

I think she’s a fine actress, a lovely woman and an OK writer (tip to Ms. Judd: never ever use the world “promulgate.” Even the people who know what it means really don’t like it that much), but she said something in her piece that I really liked. Here it is:

“I do not, for example, read interviews I do with news outlets. I hold that it is none of my business what people think of me. I arrived at this belief after first, when I began working as an actor 18 years ago, reading everything. I evolved into selecting only the “good” pieces to read. Over time, I matured into the understanding that good and bad are equally fanciful interpretations. I do not want to give my power, my self-esteem, or my autonomy, to any person, place, or thing outside myself. I thus abstain from all media about myself.”

I’m so on board with that. But it’s difficult to keep myself from being spun by other people’s opinions. Believing in one’s own worth, appreciating but not embracing praise, hearing but letting go of criticism. That’s a worthy goal.

Note to self: Try not to envy Judd for her face, puffy or otherwise.

Failure is an option

02 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by supalmer in Random

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

failure, success

I blogged in January, that 2012 would be my year of finishing undone projects. I blogged in February that if I expected to finish anything, I should probably make a list. Now here I am in April, and I’ve made very little progress on anything other than setting up my gorgeous new planted aquarium.

Which was not on the list.

I could trot out some of my favorite aphorisms to inspire myself to do better. Journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step. Definition of crazy is doing the same thing and expecting different results. Etc.

Or perhaps, I could look more deeply at why I say I want to finish these projects but then fail to take the steps to completion.

I don’t need to finish my novel. I don’t think the world is pining for it.

I don’t need to lose 20 pounds. I weigh 160, and the world’s not going to confiscate my privileges if I stay 160 pounds.

I could leave my mosaic projects undone forever. The only fallout from that is that when people visit the house and see exposed wallboard where window sill should be, they probably wonder about me. But honestly, I think people wonder anyway, regardless of what you do.

On the other hand, I have a high-stress job in an industry in turmoil (journalism), so if I write good stories on deadline, treat my family with a reasonable amount of respect, and generally keep my yard up enough that the neighbors don’t call the city on me, haven’t I fulfilled my obligations?

Couldn’t I cut myself a little slack?

I don’t know. I do want more, but I can’t figure out what to do next.

 

Recent Posts

  • Living in art
  • Bright music in January
  • Renaissance woman
  • In the presence of the original
  • Elements of design

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • March 2013
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012

Categories

  • creativity
  • Dirt
  • embroidery
  • Exercise
  • family
  • journalism
  • learning
  • Making it home
  • My Aquarium Obsession
  • outdoors
  • Random
  • reading
  • Retro reads
  • Story
  • travel
  • What they said
  • writing

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Exquisite Now
    • Join 39 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Exquisite Now
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar