GAMECHANGER

   A wise woman named Mindy Lahiri once said, “A best friend isn’t a person, it’s a tier.” It’s actually one of six tiers, if you ask Mobinah Ahmad , the young woman whose detailed theory on the many phases of friendship is now going viral. It’s been said that there are three types of friendships in life; Reason, Season, and Lifetime. My mother always told me each one of my friends holds a different purpose in my life and brings a different type of friendship to the table. Maybe they are meant to stay forever or only for a short period of time, but either way, they brought their own uniqueness into my life. As we go through different stages in life, friends come and go; our best friends change, we change, and as well as them entering and exiting for a reason, we do the same in other peoples' lives. Some may have one single purpose in our lives and then move along after they fulfilled whatever that purpose was; they came for a reason and ...

 We live in a world that is obsessed with identity. We classify ourselves by the color of our skin, the color of our hair, our age, our weight, our height, our experiences, our preferences. We recognize each other as students, or teachers, or workers, or managers, or as members of some other group. We think in terms of “us” and “them.” Divisive political rhetoric seeks to blame and shame others. Each identity term is loaded with meaning and associated expectations. And in a lot of ways, what we perceive about our own identity is reflected in the ways we end up treating each other. Self-respect is the most crucial aspect of one’s life. If you do not understand how to appreciate yourself and your worth, how do you expect others to? Life is too short to maintain toxic relationships. In order for yours to flourish, you need to work on yourself first. “Don’t expect anyone to love or respect you if you don’t fully love yourself first.”     Knowing...

How many emotions do you experience in a week? A month? If someone told your story, what emotions would they put on the page? Think about your lowest moment and your best experience. I know it’s scary, but if you want your stories to have power, you have to be willing to be vulnerable. You have to be willing to translate your emotions and experiences into ink and paper. Maya Angelou said, “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.”  This is true for life and fiction. Emotion is what will carry your story to the end and leave your readers with a lasting impression. If you can make someone laugh, cry, or ache, you have done your job as a novelist. You have made them feel. Suspense author Brandilyn Collins says, “You should never apologize for human emotion.” I think as writers sometimes we’re afraid to let people know that we feel as deeply as we do. We’r...

You don’t need more motivation. You don’t need to be inspired to action. You don’t need to read any more lists and posts about how you’re not doing enough. We act as if we can read enough articles and enough little Pinterest quotes and suddenly the little switch in our brain will put us into action. But, honestly, here’s the thing that nobody really talks about when it comes to success and motivation and willpower and goals and productivity and all those little buzzwords that have come into popularity: you are as you are until you’re not. You change when you want to change. You put your ideas into action in the timing that is best. That’s just how it happens. And what I think we all need more than anything is this: permission to be wherever  we are when we’re there. You’re not a robot. You can’t just conjure up motivation when you don’t have it. Sometimes you’re going through something. Sometimes life has happened. Life! Remember life ? Yeah, it teaches you th...