Inspirational Song Shoutout~Wings by Little Mix!

Official cover for the single “Wings”

This ISS post is in honor of  one of my favorite songs at the moment, also sung by some of my favorite artists, Wings by the British pop band Little Mix. Unlike the last song I did a shout-out for, We Can by Jesse Ruben, this one is probably one you’ve already heard, as it’s one of their most popular songs, and they’re quite a big band right now. One thing I just adore about this song, besides the outstanding vocals, is the message that Little Mix is trying to say. It can be different depending on how you take in the song, but to me, the voices are encouraging us to “stand tall, be proud, and don’t let the bullies get us down, because nothing they say can change who we are.” I’m going to cease the flow of my words now and add theirs.

Mama told me not to waste my life
She said “spread your wings, my little butterfly,

Don’t let what they say keep you up at night
And if they give you shhhh…
Then they can walk home, bye.”

My feet, feet can’t touch the ground
And I can’t hear a sound
But you just keep on running up your mouth, yeah

Walk, walk on over there
‘Cause I’m too fly to care, oh yeah

Your words don’t mean a thing
I’m not listening
Keep talking, all I know is

Mama told me not to waste my life,
She said “spread your wings, my little butterfly
Don’t let what they say keep you up at night
And they can’t detain you
‘Cause wings are made to fly”
And we don’t let nobody bring us down
No matter what you say – it won’t hurt me
Don’t matter if I fall from the sky
These wings are made to fly

(Hey, hey, woo!)

I’m firing up on that runway
I know we’re gonna get there someday
But we don’t need no “Ready. Steady. Go!”, no

Talk, talk turns into air
And I don’t even care, oh yeah

Your words don’t mean a thing
I’m not listening
Keep talking, all I know is

Mama told me not to waste my life,
She said spread your wings my little butterfly
Don’t let what they say keep you up at night,
And they can’t detain you
‘Cause wings are made to fly
And we don’t let nobody bring us down
No matter what you say – it won’t hurt me
Don’t matter if I fall from the sky
These wings are made to fly

I don’t need no one saying hey, hey, hey, hey
I don’t hear no one saying hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey
You better keep on walking
I don’t wanna hear your talking, boy’d
You better keep on walking
I don’t wanna hear your talking, boy’d

Your words don’t mean a thing
I’m not listening
They’re just like water off my wings

Mama told me not to waste my life
She said spread your wings my little butterfly (my little butterfly)
Don’t let what they say keep you up at night
And they can’t detain you
‘Cause wings are made to fly
And we don’t let nobody bring us down
No matter what you say – it won’t hurt me
Don’t matter if I fall from the sky
These wings are made to fly

And we don’t let nobody bring us down
No matter what you say – it won’t hurt me
Don’t matter if I fall from the sky
These wings are made to fly

I hope you guys liked this song shout-out! I encourage you to check out not only Wings, as is featured, but also some other of Little Mix’s many inspirational songs, like Little Me and Change Your Life.

Thank you for being the wonderful and amazing person you are! I love you guys! <3<3<3

Inspirational Song Shout-Out!

This post is a shout-out about a song by the amazing Jesse Ruben. He came to our school district to perform this live and do workshops with some of the classes (not ours, unfortunately),  and ever since then, I’ve been hooked to his music. I love his voice, for starters, most male singers are kinda “meh” for me, but I think he’s pretty cool. He has lots of songs about family and friends, but this song stands out from all of them. Maybe it’s cause the official music video features a local school, maybe it’s cause he told us what the song was about, I’m not sure why it pops into my head whenever I remember that day. It’s not even my favorite of his songs. I guess it’s just the message of it that inspires me.  Look for yourself:

A lot of people doubted me
They laughed in my face
Said there ain’t no way
I would finish that race
But I kept my head down
And laced up my shoes

I ran a marathon, 
When no one thought I could
I didn’t always want to
But I said that I would
Then I learned a lot about what I can do

It doesn’t matter if they don’t believe
It doesn’t matter if they do not understand
Cause every dream that I’m trying to achieve
I can, I can, I can
I can, I can, I can

So make a list and do not make it brief
Write down every single wish 
and every little thing that you want
Don’t sell yourself short
Don’t ever hesitate if people turn you down
Do not settle, do not wait, don’t ever turn around
Cause you’re almost there, I swear
I swear it’s yours

And all that matters is that there’s no regrets
It doesn’t matter if they do not understand
Cause everything you want you haven’t gotten yet
You can, you can, you can
You can, you can, you can

Right now on this planet there are things that we can fix
There are people going hungry, a lot of them are kids
And it’s so unfair
They’re scared and all alone
Wars are being fought over land and over God
And we need a different plan, 
Cause I think that we’ve forgot
That we’re all the same
We’re just love and blood and bones

It doesn’t matter if they think we’re wrong
It doesn’t matter if they do not understand
Cause every obstacle we need to overcome.
We can, we can, we can
We can, we can, we can
We can, we can, we can
We can, we can, we can
We can, we can, we can

I encourage you to listen to this song, to share it with your friends, to let it imprint its message into your soul. No matter what, remember- I can. You can. We can. 

That is the end of this post. One last thing-would you mind checking out this image, made from scratch from a plain blue background, and telling me what you think? I used Pixlr to create it and am looking for advice to brush up my photo editing skills, as well as ideas for more images. Thanks so much! I love you guys!

Fairytale Endings

Not every story ends with a perfect fairytale ending.

But, you know what? All endings have at least a glimmer of hope, a shimmer of success in them. I believe that everyone deserves a happy ending.

The happiness can start with gratitude. So just be grateful, okay? Be grateful that you are the incredible person you are and that you are alive.

Life is hard. I admit, it’s awful at times. But in the end, it will probably be worth going through the rotten parts of the apple of life.

The moral of this post? No matter what happens on your pathway, know that to me, you shine  brightly, like the sun. And life is always worth living. So don’t be afraid to go out and live for the joy of life!

 

How to get inspired (With the help of my friend, the internet)

Here’s a very simple way to get inspired.

1. Go online. If you are reading this, you have already completed step one (unless, ya know, someone printed this out for you, dunno why they would.)
2. Go on Google or Yahoo or Bing or whatever search engine you like. (I also find Goodreads is excellent for this)
3. Type in something you like (happiness), plus “quotes (happiness quotes)
4. Click on a promising looking result.
5. Read the quotes and get inspired! (or find a new role model who says a bajillion inspiring things.

Here’s an example!

I just went onto Goodreads, which is an awesome site where you can write book reviews, learn about new books, share writing, and connect with friends) and searched the name of my favorite musical artist, Taylor Swift,  in the search bar. Then, I clicked ‘quotes’. Here’s what I found…

 

“To me, Fearless is not the absense of fear. It’s not being completely unafraid. To me, Fearless is having fears. Fearless is having doubts. Lots of them. To me, Fearless is living in spite of those things that scare you to death.” -Taylor Swift

“Everybody has that point in their life where you hit a crossroads and you’ve had a bunch of bad days and there’s different ways you can deal with it and the way I dealt with it was I just turned completely to music.” -Taylor Swift

“No matter what happens in life, be good to people. Being good to people is a wonderful legacy to leave behind.” -Taylor Swift

“Just be yourself, there is no one better.” -Taylor Swift

“Words can break someone into a million pieces, but they can also put them back together. I hope you use yours for good, because the only words you’ll regret more than the ones left unsaid are the ones you use to intentionally hurt someone.” -Taylor Swift

“Giving up doesn’t always mean you’re weak, sometimes you’re just strong enough to let go.” -Taylor Swift

“Be that strong girl that everyone knew would make it through the worst, be that fearless girl, the one who would dare to do anything, be that independent girl who didn’t need a man; be that girl who never backed down.” -Taylor Swift

“I still love sparkles and grocery shopping and really old cats that are only nice to you half the time. I still love writing in my journal and wearing dresses all the time and staring at chandeliers.” -Taylor Swift

“Life is like walking, you take one step at a time.” -Taylor Swift

Yes, I know, I could go on with these quotes forever. But I shall cease them, as is it getting late and all these Taylor Swift quotes make me want to have a Swiftathon with my iPod before bedtime. 😀 Ciao for now!

Bravery

Yesterday, I swam out all the way to the dock  at our local lake and back, like I’ve always wanted to do! (about 200-300 metres away, but it seems much farther when you’re in the middle of the lake, swimming like mad, and your arms are aching and you’re freezing cold.) I also went underneath a very strong waterfall to a little alcove that was behind it. Both things required a lot of bravery, and it got be thinking that my characters are all cowards.

Look at Avani. She’s grumpy and depressing and puts others down to pump herself up. She looks strong, mighty, intimidating. But on the inside, she’s breaking apart. She’s small and scared and alone. Nobody wants her, nobody loves her beautiful eyes. (I stole that line from one of my songs!). All she can do is hope it will be better. She may seem strong… But she’s not. She’s scared that people will find out that really, she isn’t all that and a bag of chips. She really isn’t a big bully. Really, she’s scared. She doesn’t have a place in this world.

Cassandra is sort of brave, I suppose. Really, she feels a lot like Avani does, like nobody wants her and that she’s not good enough. She feels like she’s failed in life. She cries in the night about the wrong she has caused, and she sets up an ice cold wall, so that nobody will know how she’s hurting. But, unlike Avani, she just keeps swimming. She knows that someday, it will get better, life will improve. She tries to stay strong, but occasionally she breaks down. One of the bravest things she does in my book is not to climb mountains or ride Soarers, but to confess that really, she’s not OK.

Leo is just a big marshmellow softy. IDK what  his purpose is yet. He doesn’t really do anything, just act all nicey-nice. Just cause he’s based on some really nice kid doesn’t mean he should have no unique character traits!  Maybe I should make him all nervous and jumpy. That would be fun. He’s not brave at all, really, just there to make it 100X worse for Avani.

Evelyn is probably my bravest character, even though she’s barely been in the book. She’s based on a sort of shy friend, but really, she’s like a firework, big and bold and loud in the sky, screaming “HEY! LOOK AT ME! I’M LIVING OUT LOUD!”. She’s unique and she’s not afraid to show the world who she is. She’s not afraid of people. She knows she’s worth it. She’s like a yellow dot in a line of purple ones. The odd girl out- and proud of it!

Koka isn’t really brave. She just tells everyone what to do in a mystical way. My friend Maya will be very happy with how she turned out.

Flyaway is like a mirror of how Cassandra and Avani feel in the dragon world. He’s the underdog, the smallest one, imperfection, not strong enough, too weak. But he doesn’t try to cover it up. He cries when the other dragons tease him. He believes them. He really does think he’s worthless. I suppose he does become brave, a little later in the book. But right now, he’s a coward.

So many cowardly charries! And a lot of them are alike. They just don’t know it yet. That could drag the book down, but it also could pump it up as a lesson- Everyone, no matter who they are, has a purpose. Nobody deserves to feel like a nothing. Everyone can control their lives and make it better. Things always will get better. As long as you never give up. That’s something I’ve always believed in. And who doesn’t love a good, classic moral? I know I do, as long as it isn’t cheesy and overused.

I am happy. That little charrie rant developed a lot of my characters even more. 🙂

Prompts:

How are your characters cowardly? How are they brave?

How are you brave? What daring things have you done in the past?

What is the moral of this story? What about other stories?