#wierdness

Just for fun, I was looking over the Encanto tag, and I came across a post where someone wrote that they didn't care for "Waiting on a Miracle" because they thought Mirablel's longing to "shine" was selfish – they likened it to the churchgoers in The Hunchback of Notre Dame singing "I ask for wealth, I ask for fame, I ask for glory..." in contrast to Esmeralda's selfless prayer for others. Um... isn't there a difference between random rich people praying for more wealth, fame, glory, and love, and Mirabel wishing she had a gift like the rest of her family, which she was denied for no apparent reason, and which has made her live her whole life feeling out of place and less valuable than everyone else? Besides, look at the song's lyrics! She doesn't just sing about wanting to shine, but about wishing she could help others as much as her relatives do!

Are you aware of any shadowbanning going on? johnlockismyreligion made a post about it mentioning you and that your art isn't showing up in the johnlock search. Has tumblr been flagging your content and/or your blog entirely? Have you received any email or any form of communication from tumblr?

Your strangeness is your beauty. You are incredible because you are odd, you cannot be classified into a type or a sort. Your flaws are wonderful weapons. Your zany ideas are the stuff of legend. Don’t worry about the nay sayers and the people who will mock you or are determined to fit you in a box and pull you down. In video games and in life, you know you are going in the right direction when you encounter obstacles and enemies. The most interesting people I know, the most successful people I know have fought their way there. They have been ridiculed and mocked. They have been betrayed by people who promised to love them and let down. They have lost jobs and hit rock bottom again and again and despite all these obstacles, they made a name and a success of themselves. Because you do not get to the top by being well liked all the time. Heroes and the most intelligent tend to be solitary creatures because they do not go with the flow, they are not part of the usual crowd. Being so well liked by everyone has its own problems, it means you have never pushed the boundaries or escaped your comfort zone just for a while so you can see what you can do. And eventually you become so lost in what others think or say about you, you lose the ability to become anything other than the skin of yourself you put on everyday. The only way you will find peace in this world is to just keep being you. Unapologetically, unabashedly you. And eventually you will find your tribe, you will find your passion, and you will find what moves your soul.

Whatever makes you weird is probably your greatest asset.

Today, on the way home, I was listening to a young girl singing of her longing for the sea. I was overcome with an intense homesickness, a desire to see the ocean. It didn’t matter that the sea she sang of is clear and azure, unlike the murky, dark blue seas of my childhood. I wanted to turn the car around and go to Alki Beach, to smell the salt, the rotting  seaweed. The scream of the seagulls.