No Joy without Sadness: Thoughts After "Inside Out"

 

 

Growing up is hard work. Everything started out simple and easy-going. You do what makes you happy. You are loved on by those around you. But growing up is a bumpy road where we encounter conflicted feelings that are hard to process. It's no exception for Riley, a young midwestern girl who is uprooted from her home to move to San Francisco with her family. To guide Riley are her emotions -- Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. The emotions operate from the control center inside Riley's mind, where they help her through everyday life. Each has a role to play in protecting and providing for Riley. Joy has been helping out the most since Riley was born. As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to the new house, school, and friends, things start to get out of hand. Sadness, who Joy really doesn't really understand, starts acting out. The emotions must learn some new things if they are going to help Riley through this tough time in her life.

 

Check out the Trailer!

Warning! Spoilers Ahead!

 

 

Why I loved It

This movie was so beautifully done. Everything is so centered on the emotions of this little girl as she goes through a transition in her life I'm sure almost everyone can identify with. It's so human and I could identify with the girl throughout the whole story. I have a little sister who is about Riley's age so I was even more affected by the ups and downs Riley experienced. I'm not going to lie, at the end of the movie I cried. Yes. I cried because I'd been where Riley was. So confused and torn up inside and just reaching out in sadness to find comfort. (*struggles to keep from crying all over again*) This movie moved me and it should move you too!

The movie had one lesson that I just have to share. At the start of the story Joy admitted she didn't really know why Sadness was there. Anger, Fear, and Disgust all seemed to have roles that revolved around helping their girl. Sadness....only seemed to mess up Joy's good memories. However, over the course of their adventure together Joy comes to see that Sadness is a part of life. Without sadness other people can't see what's wrong and help you. Sadness essentially helps the girl to grow through confusing or dissapointing times in her life. In a way I think Sadness represented the ability of Riley to learn and mature. Joy learns that Riley needs Sadness just as much as she needs Joy to be a happy, healthy little girl. So Sweet.

On another note, this movie was impeccably clean. Not squeaky clean since there was an allusion to the use of swear words. But other than that it was clear of crude language, adult situations, and other things of the sort. Some of the images might be a bit scary for younger children. Especially if they have a fear of clowns. Not kidding, even I was creeped out by the clown in the movie!

Overall I loved the heart-warming feel of the movie. It's all fuzzy and meaningful. Go see it already!

 

 

Also...This Short!

 

 

Oh. My. Gosh. This Pixar Short came on in the theater right before the feature presentation started. At first I thought, "Okay, it's gonna be some cute short about some tropical bird or fish doing something mildly amusing." Little did I know it was a microcosm for the SWEETEST LOVE STORY EVER! Sorry about the caps, I don't know what happened to me just then. Somehow when I turned twenty my insides turned to sentimental mush. But I'm not joking! This Pixar Short is seriously one of the sweetest things I've seen in a long time! Almost as sweet as the love story in UP. (Without the tears at the end. Thank Goodness!) So this will be my little happy tidbit at the end for you. Check out the song and tell me it's not the sweetest things you've ever heard!

 

 

 

See? You've got diabetes and cavities from all that sweetness now don't you? Who else has seen "Lava" or "Inside Out?" What were your favorite or least-favorite parts? I'd love to hear what you think so don't forget to comment below!

 

 

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Social Media: Are Your Accounts Healthy?

 

I'll admit this is a little outside my usual post-genre. However, this is something I've been learning that I find very useful. Hopefully you'll find it useful too and we'll both benefit. I'm an online college student who has one thing in common with most every other person my age on the planet: social media accounts.

Folk my age are mostly using Social Media to connect to other people who share our interests. We're making "Friends" on Facebook and stalking people on Instagram and Pinterest for kicks. But people like me who are in college, or about to go into college, might also have started thinking of using Social Media for other things. Maybe setting ourselves up as a profesional writer, artist, or what-have-you. Adults are doing that all the time! So how can we transition from pure socialization to building a personal brand ready to be used professionally? Simple, we check to make sure our social accounts are healthy, happy, and professionally ready.

From the time I've spent researching this topic myself, I've come across five things a healthy, growing, and professionally ready social media account has.

 

 

 

1. A Core Message

What do you stand for? What vital things do you want others to know about you? These are the building blocks of a core message. Without one, it's going to be difficult transitioning from a purely social account to a professional looking one. Not to say your message has to be something drastic like "Save the Dolphins" to count. Your message just needs to be what best represents you. Take Forgotten Featherpen as an exmaple. I took the time and wrote out the main reasons why I keep writing on this blog. When I condensed the ideas it looked like this:

"Forgotten Featherpen is a blog that focuses on creative writing and ancient history. Through it I hope to encourage other writers and share my Biblical perspective on ancient man."

That's the jist for the core message behind my blog. If I wanted to be more concise I would just say this blog is about creative writing and ancient history. Whatever your core message is that you want to share, it needs to be reflected on your Social Media account. If you Instagram about dogs, then post pictures of dogs. If your pinterest is about DIY crafts, then post that stuff a lot. Periodic randomness is fine (take this post as an example) but a healthy social media account has a predominant core message to it.

 

 

2. Regular Updates

I heard this all the time when I started my blog. I needed to post all the time! Well, that's not really what regular updates mean. A healthy social media account is not one where you post incessantly. A healthy social media account is one where you post consistently.

Because of my schedule I only post to my blog once a week. On instagram I try to post twice a week. On Pinterest I pin several items a day. Whatever social media account you have try to update it regularly and consistently. This shows you are present and encourages people to follow you. As an added bonus, when you post good content consistently it makes your social media account look very healthy and professional.

If you want tips and tricks for the best times to post to social media accounts there are lots of infographics out there to help you out. Personally I don't like to tie myself to the clock like that. But I know I've benefitted from having the knowledge anyway.

 

 

3. A Balance of Personal vs. Professional

A future client doesn't need to see your swimsuit pictures. A future employer certainly doesn't need to see those pictures from your crazy weekened when you did stupid things. There's such a thing as too much info on your personal life. At the same time, posting about quality time with your family or your volunteer hours is a great idea! A balance of personal vs. professional is a sign that your social media account is healthy, growing, and professionally ready.

Consider it this way, everything you post to social media is like an advertisement for yourself. Think of yourself as a Brand. Represent yourself in a balanced way. People want to see you being genuine, but they also want to see you being mature. So take the time to do some maintenance on your social media accounts to make sure they represent your balance of personal vs. professional.

 

 

4. Fair Content

Most people say to keep your social media content "Non-contraversial." I would rather try to keep my content "Fair." Meaning I will still share content that reflects what I believe and stand for, but in such a way that it comes across as a fair representation to my readers. I don't like reading extreme, shout-at-you-through-the-screen type things on the internet. I prefer reading content that is logical, direct, and calm.

Political and Religious opinions are very contraversial right now. Even if you agree with an extreme post or article think twice before you post it yourself. You don't want to be taken the wrong way when people read your content. Try to post fair content and maintain a professional look on your social media accounts.

 

 

5. Creating Connections with Others

This cannot be stressed enough. Social Media is about creating connections with others. What starts as making friends online can one day turn into the skill of finding clients online or attracting employers. This doesn't even have to mean "popular." We all know that one person or social media presence who has like a billion followers. But is that person making connections with their followers? Here's a few ways to make connection.

First, be approachable. I'm an introvert so I have to work on that sometimes. It is possible though to make yourself approachable on Social Media by how you present yourself. Secondly, engage others. Slightly different from being approachable, engaging others means giving them a call to action. Ask your followers questions or invite them to comment. Thirdly, when they do respond to you, respond back! Even if it's as little as thanking them for their opinion you need to respond to your followers. And lastly, once you've made a connection keep in touch. This will go a long way to making loyal followers.

A healthy social media account is one that has loyal followers. You get that by being intentional about connecting with others.

 

 

 

So we've gone over the things that makes for a healthy, professionally ready social media accout. These tools are useful for anyone who wants to take their accounts to the next level. Now more than ever Social Media is becoming the place where clients and employers look for personal brands. Now's the time to start maintaining a healthy Social Media account so you'll be ready when the time comes for your personal brand to take flight.

 

I certainly hope these thoughts and tips were helpful for y'all. It's a pretty simplistic list but I think it's an essential one. What other things do you think are signs of a healthy and growing social media account? What are some danger signs that an account is going down-hill? I'd love to hear your thoughts so don't forget to comment below!

 

 

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