Wise Words

Here we go, time for some more WISE WORDS! Or, as I call it in my head "Vital Information for your Everyday Life!" {Anybody else remember that All That! sketch? Classic Nickelodeon, where did you go?}

Anywho, my Wise Words today come from one of my all-time favorite ladies. You know her, you love her {at least I'm assuming you do}, and here she is today...Miss Jane Austen! {And the crowd goes wild...wait, that's only in my head? Moving on...} 
Image result for jane austen
Now Jane comes to use today through the words of one of her most famous characters, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, the heroine of Pride and Prejudice, and the Austen lady we'd all like to be best friends with. {At this point, you can just insert "I" for "we"...I just want you all to feel included}.
Image result for elizabeth bennet
These wise words come from near the end of Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, aka Sexy McSexerton, have just professed that they now both love each other. Previously, Mr. D loved Lizzie, but Lizzie couldn't stand him {because of the whole pride thing, you know}, but once she put her prejudices aside, she realized just how devilishly delicious Mr. Darcy was. They are discussing their previous encounters, and Lizzie drops this truth bomb on all of us:

Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.

Definitely something we all need to remember from time to time. Now I love history, as you may or may not know, so thinking about the past is actually something I do quite a lot, but Lizzie is specifically referring to one's own past, and I really think this is a truth we should universally acknowledge. {Did you see what I did there? No? Read Pride and Prejudice, please. For me.}

I don't know about all of you, dear readers, but I am that person who, just as I'm falling asleep, my brain goes, "Hey, Kaitlin. Hey, remember that embarrassing thing you did that one day in 7th grade? You know, when you were in science class and blah, blah, blah. Wasn't that just humiliating? You should try really hard not to do that again, so to help you, I'm going to play it on repeat for the next three hours. Enjoy your sleep!" I'm not generally a negative person; in fact, I'm sickeningly optimistic, some might say. {Not that anyone ever has, to my face at least. Please don't.} The only time I'm really not positive if after a night of terrible sleep {like terrible for me, not terrible for normal people without insomnia} and when I think about the past. For some reason, when I think back to high school, middle school, college, even elementary school, my mind immediately goes to the embarrassing things. The stuff I would pay good money to forget. The stupid things I said or did when I was Extra-Awkward Kaitlin {because if you think you've met Awkward Kaitlin, you are sorely mistaken. Only the people I went to middle school with really got that pleasure. And I'm so sorry, all of you}. 

How is that any fun? I know amazing things happened in high school, middle school, college, and elementary school. I remember them once I get past the awkward or stupid or heartbreaking things. I, for one, really need to take Lizzie/Jane's advice. Instead of thinking about those things that make my stomach turn, I need to only remember the things that give me pleasure. I mean, I need to not forget those other things, because they are helping me to grow and become a better person, but I should really only think about my past for pleasure--and so long as it gives me pleasure. 

I, for one, think we all should follow this advice a little more. What do you think? Do you have a psycho, self-destructing brain like mine? Share your thoughts--please! Otherwise it gets lonely out here.

~Stay Gold!

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