Keep your head up.

I've always been the type of person who wants to please everybody, but I can tell you right now that it isn't achievable. There are always going to be people that you're not going to get on with. I can remember even back in middle school there was this one girl that just disliked me, even though I stayed well out of her way and did everything I could to stay on her good side. Whoever I was friends with - she had to be better friends with them, she always had to be one step above me. I can remember times when she even made people turn against me for no particular reason. But it was at that point that I realised it isn't worth wasting time trying to make people like you and that turning into somebody fake just to be friends with people is ridiculous.
Sometimes I can be oblivious to how my actions or words affect people because I don't like being criticised and without thinking about the consequences I'll give back whatever is thrown at me. But I've learnt you have to stand up for yourself because nobody else is going to fight your corner for you. I accept that you can't win everybody over and some people will always seem against you - whatever you do to try and persuade them otherwise. So my advice is just be yourself, it sounds so cliche but it's the best advice anybody could have given to me back then. Don't let low comments get you down because the chances are they hardly know you anyway. If they turn people against you, let those people walk away, I promise you they aren't worth the trouble.

"Keep your head up, keep your heart strong, keep your mind set."

Laura.

Song: Don't Hold Your Breath by Nicole Scherzinger

History

"The past is a great darkness, and filled with echoes. Voices may reach us from it, but what they say to us is imbued with the obsucurity of the matrix out of which they come; and, try as we may, we cannot always decipher them precisely in the clearer light of our own day." - The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Laura.

Song: Pictures by Benjamin Francis Leftwich

Half the person.

I was a bit down recently, not for any particular reason, just everything people did or didn't do annoyed me. Despite this I went out on Friday to see some of my oldest friends. I realised that good friends don't have to do much to cheer you up because just being around them makes you happier. Of course I've always valued my friends but it's not until insignificant moments like this - where you're feeling down and they cheer you up effortlessly, that you realise just how well they know and just how much you need them around. It's fine to go around saying you'll be fine by yourself and don't need anybody else to make you happy but I strongly believe that by having that attitude you're just making it harder for yourself. Without my friends I'd be okay, but I wouldn't be half the person I am right now.

Laura.

Song: Somewhere Only We Know by Keane

Myself

"Obviously I have my insecurities and doubts. But I just have to do my best and be myself. And then hope that's enough." - Emma Watson

Laura.

Song: Always Attract by Youmeatsix

Possibilities

"If I lay here, if I just lay here would you lie with me and just forget the world?"
Some things are possible, but highly unlikely to actually happen. It's hard to know which possibilities to believe in and which ones to give up on all together. I think it's better to let go of things that seem unlikely to happen, it'll only hurt you more. Possibilities only carry a 'chance', nothing more. We have to remember that.

Laura.

Song: Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol

The things that make us.

There are so many things that make us.
Friends, family, memories, experiences and so many more things; they all come together and make us who we are. I wouldn't change anything that's happened to me in my life so far. Some people don't understand me when I say that, because surely I must have regrets? But although not everything has gone to plan in the past and there were times that I'd rather leave behind me - every single thing that I've done and been through has helped make me who I am. I reckon life is too short to hold grudges, too short to regret the past. There's just no point. The things that make us, can break us too though. But there's always a choice between giving into your past - letting the bad situations drag you down and just trying to carry on with what you have left.

Laura.

Song: Postcards by Ed Sheeran
Such a lovely song.

Choosing to care.

Choice is one of the most important and powerful things we have. 'The things we choose to care about, make us. It's our choices that define us.' If you choose not to care about anything because it's easier not to care at all, you can be as unhappy as the person who cares about everything too much. Choosing to care doesn't always mean you are going to get hurt, it just shows you're willing to take the risk.

Laura.

Song: Up by James Morrison ft Jessie J