Round & Round

Someone once told me the carousel never stops turning …

And by someone, I mean Merrideth Grey, in a recent Grey’s Anatomy episode… you know, the one after Derek dies (serious sad face) and I’m pretty sure I’m like the only person who still watches Grey’s … but like whatever, Derek died okay, and it was really, really sad, so sad that my friend sent me the best snap of her ugly crying after the eppisode haha it may have been the best moment of my life. Anyways, don’t worry today’s post isn’t about Grey’s Anatomy (well, isn’t all about Grey’s Anatomy) it’s also about life, and ups and downs and other really deep stuff like that so you’re totally going to want to read along gosh sh%#@ts about to get real real…. well kind of.

Living in New York is a constant roller coaster ride, ups and downs and the city pulls you all around. One second you literally feel on top of the world, usually for me it’s when I’m walking, no strutting down the street feeling invincible, wearing something awesome. Pandora has just made the wise decision to play something empowering like “who run the world, girls, GIRLS” or “these flashing lights will inspire you” or maybe just the every popular “Hey now, hey nowww this is what dreaaams are made of” (#classic) giving me that an extra pep in my step, and I’m smiling and rocking out like a grinning idiot/pop star who thinks, no knows she’s like basically Beyonce when suddenly, boom, crash my face hits the pavement lolz – literally happens more times than I would care to admit. Or – another good one is – I’ll look in the mirror after walking around for a good half hour smiling at strangers who in tern gave me weirded out “girl, you’re cray” ut looks only to realize there is lipstick on my teeth, or chocolate, or (this is usually the case) both… LOL. Yep, One second you’re on top, the next you plummet, with your flaws exposed feeling pretty deflated – see roller coaster.

My point of telling you this is not to make you feel bad for me, or laugh at me (okay, that’s totally the point, and you totally can, because I am and because its pretty funny) but to give you a little insight into this weird thing I call my life. I was talking to my blogger friend Liv the other day about catching mistakes in a blog post after it’s been live for a while (another great trait of mine haha sorrrry) and instead of getting really upset or stressed about it, I shrugged it off and said something that is totally me, “Oh well, it is what it is, being a mess is kind of part of my brand”.

So here it is, in writing – I’m kind of a mess. I work full time in addition to blogging, I never really sleep, my apartment is messy more than it’s clean, my dog sleeps in my bed because I have no self control, If I don’t write something down I forget it, I eat pizza like five times a week (the proof on is usually on snapchat @xocourtneyquinn), oh speaking of snap chat, I’m really annoying on snap chat lol, did I mention I eat like everything?, I have an addictive personality and lipstick on my teeth is a daily occurrence. But whatever – that’s me. I totally admire those “seemingly perfect” people who have it all together, literally that’s awesome and although they aren’t perfect, I bet they are awesome! Oh and don’t get me wrong, am all for self growth and improvement – but am more into self awareness and acceptance. This year, I have made a conscious effort to accept my flaws – both personality wise and physically (more on that here here & here) and identify the things that need work (like keeping my apartment clean) and the things that I can just learn to love about myself – like the fact that I’m wearing a blue bra with this outfit because I hadn’t done laundry in like two weeks and you can totally see it in some of the photos hah whoops or that lipstick never stays on my lips, usually all over my face or on my burrito, or both, I mean come on, it’s kind of charming in a weird “oh she’s kind of a mess” way, right? maybe? ;).

Since I love, love, LOVE marketing and got my MBA in luxury marketing and PR, I think of everything like a marketer – a good marketer would look at a brand that they were taking on as a client and identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats there. They would see how to turn the strengths into opportunities for success, and address the weaknesses that might be threats right away. But the non-threatening weaknesses (aka lipstick on the teeth because, who cares, no one is perfect) they would turn them into strengths by embracing them as part of the brand! While some fast food brands embrace their “All American heritage” in their ads, others like Carls Jr, who aren’t necessarily considered “healthy” super “wholesome” embrace that by taking their ads in a totally different and envelope pushing direction – like their infamous “too hot for TV ads” so now you don’t even compare them to their other “all-american” competitors, you put them in a different category – and that’s exactly what the marketer wanted you to do! Another great example is the Kim Kardashian T-mobile ads which may have been a better marketing move for Kim K than it was for even T-mobile. She totally makes fun of herself, so no one else can and not only accepts her flaws, but totally owns them – genius.

My point is not to give you a lesson in marketing 101 – my point is to encourage you to identify what flaws need work and what ones you should totally embrace. Stop being so hard on yourself, you’re pretty cool and that time is better spent running around being your awesome self than being self critical. Get off the roller coaster, because ultimately, the ride always ends and get on the carousel – that never stops turning. Trade in your ups & downs for round and rounds, less fuss, less falling and more constant twirling & dance party – score!

Although being critical is sometimes necessary its also often overrated – flaws are the new black so get out and flaunt them – lipstick-teeth-smile and all 😉
Photos taken at Janes Carousel 
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HEY YOU Since I shared one of my harmless flaws and why they make me #flawsome (flaws + awesome = flawesome) today, I would love if you did the same in the comments below 🙂 Have a happy saturday!!!

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