"The Quiet Girl"

That is probably the most boring title of a blog I have ever written, but I did it on purpose.

When someone reads, "The Quiet Girl," they get bored. It's boring. I did this because perhaps quiet girls are seen as boring by some outsiders, particularly loud people.
Was that offensive that I called you a "loud" person?
I thought that's what we did now-we tell people who they are based off of how many words that they speak.
No?

Oh.

I wanted to enlighten the public on the freak shows of the quiet girls.
The introverts.

First and foremost, my mind is loud.
It seems contradictory that I may not speak often or loudly, but yet my mind is extremely engaged.
Sometimes, an introvert's mind is too engaged. We are constantly making observations, evaluating and dissecting the world around us. How can someone talk when their mind is so busy?

Our minds do much more work than our mouths. To me, that's a positive.

Next slide please!

Quiet individuals make excellent listening buddies. We are often the sounding board for our friends, but also strangers. I joke often with my husband that I must have a flashing sign on my back reading, "Please tell me all of your life troubles!"

I joke about it, but I really enjoy it. I can't count the number of times I have been sitting in a waiting room, minding my own business, when a woman decides I look like someone trustworthy and silent enough to entrust their stories with.
I once held a woman in a tattoo parlor, sobbing that her husband just left her. True story.
What a privilege it is that my presence screams louder than any words that I could say!
What a privilege it is that strangers feel at ease enough around my "quietness" that they can pour out their hurts because they know "girls like her don't talk."

Que slide change.

I'm sure you've heard this before, but it is true that confidence is silent and insecurities are loud.
Want to know who the most insecure person in the room is? The one making the most noise.

I'm not insecure because I'm quiet.
I'm quiet because I'm confident.
I feel no need to fill the room with noise because I can be comfortable in my own silence.

We live in a world that is constantly moving, bustling, hustling. A world constantly filled with beeps, buzzes, rings and racket. We live in a world that never allows us to just be still, to appreciate a quiet room with only the company of ourselves, to enjoy a meal without checking our emails. We live in a world where when we do find ourselves forced to be alone, we must fill the hole with letting the world know exactly what we are doing, so that we don't feel so alone with ourselves. We live in a world where we feel the need to be validated by a click of a button on our life update or a photograph.
When silent hits, it makes us uncomfortable.

Take some time to be alone and to be silent. It might do you some good.

So many people who call us quiet don't truly want to hear our thoughts, ideas or anything really, they just want noise, anything to fill the silence that they cannot appreciate or understand.

Next slide, please.

When a quiet girl wants to communicate something, she does. She doesn't just communicate it, or say something to just say it, she communicates effectively and purposefully. She says exactly what she means to say and when she means to say it. Her words are developed and thought-provoking.

Have mercy on our souls that we only speak when we actually have something worth saying.

I don't think its a far reach to say that we have enough blubbering baboons around to fill the silence, we certainly don't need more of them.

I have no intention of "recovering" from my quiet nature. It's not a disease, it's a characteristic I wear with pride.
My quietness is actually a strength. Many people do not possess a quiet, strong presence. They can't. They have to be loud. They have to fill the silence in a room. Oftentimes, they are the ones intimidated by the strong silence of you, "the quiet girl." You actually have mystery to you. Intrigue.

Wallflower? Oh no, dear.

While the rest of the world is busy filling the air with meaningless small talk about the weather, my mind will be spinning, working, changing the world.

Bragging: Babies and Bae

Why I Will Brag About My Spouse On Social Media. 

It's become a hot topic on both ends on my newsfeed. 

Happy couples posting photos every day together. 

Another friend posting that they're tired of seeing mushy crap fill their feeds. 

Another friend saying that truly happy couples don't post on Facebook about it. 

This post will most likely be taken as a bias one, because I am a happily married woman. 

I'm also the girl that doesn't want to see five thousand photos of your baby, every. Single. Day. I mean, he looks the same as yesterday honey. We all know about his cute bald head and every bowel movement. Thank you. 

Do you want to see a photo of me and my husband, or any other happy couple, every single day like the bald headed (but cute, I'm sure) baby? 

No. 

Who would? 

But, will I continue to "brag" on my social media outlets about my marriage? 

You betcha. 

Will I continue to shine a light on my husband in every way and in every form and at every opportunity that I can? 

Absolutely. 

I understand that as a single person, it's probably annoying to scroll through your feed and see couples hanging all over one another, giving forehead kisses and hash-tagging #blessed for every Instagram photo (I'm personally not a fan of the latter). 

As a non-baby lover, I'm sure I make the same disgusted face when I see a baby covered in mayonnaise that you do over yet another kissing couple photo. 

BUT-I want to stand up for those of us that are genuinely happy and regularly post about our spouse on our own pages and/or write continuously on their walls even when we are sitting right next to them. 

I know that social media is often used as a highlight reel of everyone's best moments; they look happy, their makeup is done, their kids aren't hitting one another and everyone looks perfectly perfect. 

It's hard to decipher truth from reality on social media. 

We all know everyone was whining and crying before you took that photo and told everyone how #blessed you are. 

Let me be real here: life is hard. Real hard. 

When you marry someone, the right someone, you marry everything that comes with them. They become your person. 

You want to share every stupid moment with them. 

And because they are your constant in a chaotic world, 

And because they are your logical when life makes anything but sense, 

And because they are your life jacket when you feel like you're drowning, 

You want to share every stupid moment with the world, too. 

You want to share that because you still have your spouse to flirt with on their Facebook wall, 

Because you still have your spouse to clink coffee cups with, read books with, sit in church with, go to concerts with, laugh with, cry with, celebrate with, mourn with, that there is still hope.

There is still happiness. 

There is still balance when there's another person on the see-saw. 

We don't do it to rub our happiness in your face. 

We don't do it for your likes (that is an evil form of validation). 

We don't do it for you. Period. 

We do it for us. 

Sure, I tell my husband how proud of him I am every day in person. 

I grab his face and tell him who he is to me every afternoon. 

But-public recognition is important to everyone. 

We like to be told by our bosses how good of a job we are doing. 

We like to be told by strangers  in a grocery store how good of a parent we are. 

We like hearing our parents praise us for doing basic, adult responsibilities. 

Hey-it feels awesome! 

Everyone deserves that pat on the back- including our spouse. 

We don't want to fill your feed with fake, "look at us" photos, but we want to let the world know that life is freaking crazy, but you can still be happy as hell. 

And when you're that happy, you WANT to share it and you SHOULD! 

And when others are that happy, you SHOULD celebrate with them. 

I'm glad you're happy about bald baby. Even though I don't understand it (like at all), keep on sharing that happiness!

 And if it's a dog, please share even more. 

Instead of scrolling through your feed and rolling your eyes at someone else, yet again, for sharing a photo of them smooching their significant other or posting on their wall from five feet away, celebrate with them. 

They will celebrate with you too, in whatever form of happiness it is that you choose. 

But please, #blessed only on photos of pizza or puppies.