All posts tagged: Creativity

Social Media Sometimes Makes Me Feel Miserable, So I Took a Break

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Back in June I started to notice something every time I logged onto Twitter: it made me feel terrible. I would scroll, I would watch, and I would feel so so lost. But I am a blogger. I am a writer. I am expected to “build my brand” as an online presence. I need a “platform.” I need to be conscious of my accessibility, my persona, and my level of likability. I’m supposed to gain copious followers. I’m supposed to prove my popularity by my retweets, my likes, my finger on the pulse of the youth. There is so much potential with social media. And I’m the first to acknowledge that it’s done wonders for our ability to share, engage, and help move important causes forward (as well as the all-important abundance of cat videos). This year has felt rough though, as far as what is going on in the world. While every year, in the history of years, has it’s collections of tragedies, injustices, disasters, and sadness, I’ve felt the weight of 2016 a little …

You’re Not Alone if You Feel Nervous About Dating

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Something really cool has happened over the past few years. I started this blog in 2013. It began as a place where I could think through pain points I’d had while trying to date as I also dealt with anxiety. One of my mantras when I thought about starting this blog was, “I can’t be the only one.” As you guys have shown me, I’m not. And I have the evidence to prove it. This site is powered via WordPress. There are thousands of people who find my blog via search engines online (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc). For 95% of these searches I’m unable to see the words people typed in that led them to this site. But for the other 5% I can see what someone searched for. There are no other identifying factors for the search terms, so there’s no way to know the person’s age, gender, hometown, etc. Yet this anonymity makes me feel all the more connected.  And it’s one of the coolest things. In 2016 so far here’s a sampling …

Interview with Comedian Samantha Ruddy

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If you haven’t heard of Samantha Ruddy yet you will soon enough. She is one of the funniest women on Twitter. She writes for College Humor. And she recently opened for Tig Notaro. Aka all around badass. I first came across her when I was one of the hundreds/thousands of people to retweet/favorite this  gem: To me, comedy writing and stand-up comedians are the pinnacle of confidence and intelligence. I am seriously in awe of stand-up comics. I wanted to ask Samantha about being a creative person, living fully, and finding confidence. Samantha was gracious enough to answer our questions and I’m still pinching myself and asking, as Samantha sometimes does, Me? Seriously? First off, can you introduce yourself to our readers? Hi! I’m Samantha Ruddy.  What initially drew you to stand-up comedy? I’ve always loved comedy. Cliche, but true. I work well with others, but I love just getting lost in my head and writing, which I think lends itself to stand-up since you’re working mostly alone. Was there ever a moment where you …

Let’s Talk About Love, Confidence & Writing with Author Åsa Maria Bradley

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I am beyond excited to welcome author Asa Maria Bradley to The Anxious Girl’s Guide to Dating today! Asa was kind enough to talk with us about following your dreams with us, despite her busy schedule. Even as her debut paranormal romance novel, Viking Warrior Rising, is flying off shelves and blowing readers away she still managed to make time for us. She’s also giving away a free copy of her book to one of our readers (sweeeet!) If you want to win your very own copy of Viking Warrior Rising simply comment below and/or ask Asa a question in the comments. I love anyone who encourages people to persevere and take risks. To show yourself grace while pushing yourself to grow. Asa does all this and more. My favorite moment from our interview was this: “Why do we trust people’s criticism and doubt their praise? Find people whose opinion you value and trust, and then believe what they tell you about your work and accomplishments.”  So.much.yes. Check out her thoughts on following your heart and your dreams (only she words …

When What You’re Creating Doesn’t Look How You Want

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“I can see it up here!” she said, tapping the side of her head, “but then when I try to draw it, it looks ridiculous.” It was a summer weekend a few months back and I was playing a game with my fiancé and future in-laws. His mom was lamenting over her inability to draw a picture clearly. The game, Telestrations, is a combination of telephone and pictionary and triggers some of the best laughter I’ve encountered in years. It requires players to draw pictures quickly, which means eventually you’re going to look down and go wait WHAT was I trying to draw? It might even make you want to flip the table over and walk away. This week I’ve been working on designing and creating invitations for Jared and mine’s upcoming wedding. Earlier in the year we made DIY save the dates. It went like this: we found a design we liked, got our supplies, and made them. And even though it took a lot of time and we hit a few bumps, we loved how …