While it’s good to aim for excellence, it is important to remember that striving for perfection all the time can be a happiness thief. When it seems there is a mountain of work ahead, there is no point in putting it all off and waiting until the ‘right moment’ comes along to make it perfect. There is never a better time than right now. And if it seems we can’t make things perfect, we shouldn’t beat ourselves up. All any of us can ever do is try our best 🙂
I loved L.A. with stars in my eyes,
and dreamed of sipping champagne under papaya skies,
Naïve in the belief that the world was my stage,
where the play of my dream life could be realised.
Nothing to my name but poignant sacrifice,
I would have sold my soul for that Hollywood paradise,
I turned my back on family and friends for a chance at fame,
Knowing deep down that someday I would have to pay the price.
For casting agents’ approval, I travelled mile upon mile,
Praying that just one of them would give me a trial,
But that grating echo of rejection as I was booed off the stage,
left me wandering the streets aimlessly like an unwelcome exile.
Finally, one day, I found an ensemble to which I could belong,
Only to be dropped mercilessly when a renowned actor came along,
Gone was my light at the end of the tunnel, my name never to be in lights,
I’d forever be up against a brick wall, stuck in the same old sad song.
I left Los Angeles all alone with tears in my eyes,
A city where I had lost myself, a city I could not recognise,
Where I’d been cast aside by a snobbish cast and crew I’d failed to engage,
Yet, as long as I captivate audiences, I will continue to rise.
Chaque nuit, elle s’émerveillait des étoiles dans le ciel,
Et trouvait de l’espoir malgré ses peurs, ses doutes et sa douleur,
Avec un éclat dans ses yeux, elle se rappelait que la vie est belle,
Et elle survivrait tant qu’elle avait des rêves dans son cœur.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Every night, she would marvel at the stars in the sky,
And find hope despite her fears, her doubts and her pain,
With a twinkle in her eye, she remembered that life is beautiful,
And she would survive as long as she had dreams in her heart.
Life can simply be just like a blissful dream,
Bursting with colour like fireworks on New Year’s Eve,
Or like sweet music to the ears, like warm apple pie and ice cream,
Life can be filled with any pleasure that the mind can conceive.
Life can be just what you’ve always dreamed it could be,
You’re the captain of your voyage, you can sail through any sea,
You can’t be swept overboard by a storm or stay sinking helplessly,
You must fight to stay afloat and keep fighting fearlessly.
Life is a reward, not a jail sentence, what you give you will receive,
Like the contagion of laughter, or wearing your heart on your sleeve,
Daring to share feelings with true friends can smash the walls of loneliness and grief,
If you’re locked in the dark cell of sorrow, you can still turn over a new leaf.
If ever false friends like Doubt or Worry cloud your peace of mind and glee,
If Jealousy makes you so green that you can’t recall your own dreams clearly,
If Malice tries to freeze your heart to destroy your human warmth severely,
Eliminate those unwanted pests, kill those killjoy weeds of negativity.
Life is beautiful but short, so make the most of this blissful dream,
Never let critics dim your smile or dictate what you can and can’t achieve,
Make time to celebrate life with one another as one big merry team,
Dream big and be brave, because magical things will happen when you believe.
The reflection of a girl who regarded herself with disdain
regularly featured on the walls of an inner city train,
Her secret tears mirrored the melancholic song of the external rain,
Longing to wash away the months of torment, criticism and pain,
To be free of her life that had become unbearably mundane.
Her social encounters would always consist of unhealthy comparisons,
An unfortunate consequence of being an identical twin,
“You’re the image of your sister!”, “Your interests must be akin!”
But their bitter distaste for the truth made her miserable in her own skin,
And her quest for personal happiness seemed like an impossible game to win.
Her failure to emulate her sister’s success was tough for her family to envisage,
Now they saw her as only playing second fiddle, the runt, just her twin’s spitting image,
Their chide remarks and resentful glares had left her own hopes diminished,
She was sorry that she wasn’t their golden child, not their picture-perfect image,
Not like her abundantly cherished sister, instead just abundantly blemished.
Before her stood a strange girl, tired of taking insults on the chin,
Suffocating in a world of copycats, with no choice but to give in,
But she realised she was born to be individual, and couldn’t let the critics win,
And though the frown lines and dark circles told the sad tale of where she had been,
She would look forward to that blissful destination where her life could begin.
It was time to send that image of another girl, that poor, weak girl, up in flames,
She would no longer be the same old girl stuck on the same old train,
No longer that misjudged disaster, that doormat, that disappointment, that pain,
Giving up on those who had given up on her, she’d break those unforgiving chains,
Now a girl free to find her true destiny, she would regain control of the reins.
“Wow”, Eve exclaimed, as she lingered on an unknown street on a piercing night,
Overwhelmed by the incredible stillness bar a hooting owl in the moonlight,
Numbed by her beautifully luminous view of the Sea of Tranquility,
Diving deeper, no wonder, into an ocean of vulnerability,
Elusive, like the moon, became her normally wonderful sense of danger,
Reality had escaped her, though nearby lurked an equally wonderstruck stranger…..
There once was a sheep who was lackadaisical and clueless,
Though his home was bright green, all he could envisage was blueness,
He was sadly stuck under the dark cloud of a boss who was rather ruthless,
And his half-hearted efforts to escape him proved nothing but fruitless.
Until one day, by chance, he found himself at a major intersection,
Losing himself from the flock shone a light on his life’s imperfections,
And in the newfound peace, he heard a little inner voice of objection,
In his heart, he knew his life needed a new change of direction.
Just one brave step onto the road of independence changed a life for the better,
Instead of waiting to be found, he found his own strength in the way of a true go-getter,
Long gone is his woollen coat, now he proudly wears a tough coat of leather,
No longer lost in a passive rhythm of life, he can endure any kind of weather.
Don’t stop believing!!! ✰ 🌟 
To combat the nocturnal river that stung her eyes,
She would shut out her present reality and fantasise,
Drifting off to the enchanting lights of New York under purple skies,
All the Manhattan magic would be blurry and distant come sunrise…
A young bright-eyed Kate had sought work as a maid,
And soon found herself serving an English pair who fancied the odd tirade,
But those beneath their standing in their manor were not worthy of an accolade,
As time inched by, the vigour and glint in her eyes had begun to fade.
They were the two most callous people she had ever met,
Albert, a sucker for punishment; Alice, a stickler for etiquette,
And if she did not perfect her posture, she’d be issued with a threat,
They pulled her strings every which way as if she were a marionette.
From when the owls began to hoot till the dawning of the sun,
Kate found the glares and words of the previous day impossible to shun,
“Your hairstyle is a disgrace and your colour is clearly overdone”,
It was as if Alice awoke each day, chanting “This maid was made for fun!”
And when her puffiness reasoned that she couldn’t run the household any faster,
Albert threw his burnt tie in her face, yelling “I knew you were a disaster!”
But he raged forth with the iron before she could mumble a rueful answer,
Her dainty hand was no match for his wicked heart of alabaster.
The next day, Kate’s silent pleas were interrupted by a shrill caterwauling,
Over wilting petunias, Alice shrieked, “Why is your work always so appalling?”
And pointing at the hot press leak, Albert jeered, “The pipes, the pipes are calling!”
So overwhelmed with taunts and demands, she felt like the sky was falling.
As she struggled to stay afloat in this violent, bitter sea,
She found an anchor to keep her calm in the storm of misery.
As she scoured the hot press for pipes with diminishing energy,
A newspaper image floated towards her of the Statue of Liberty.
This inspirational goddess stands strong with broken chains at her feet,
Her torch lights up Manhattan with the hope of freedom for those in need,
Kate’s nature was just right for the flourish of Libertas’ enlightening seed,
Kate could no longer bear to be the carpet for the vibrant snob stampede.
Now she had a choice between the predictable path and risky road to make,
Should she keep her head down and obey orders or put everything at stake?
“This is too much to ask of a maid”, she uttered, her voice inclined to shake,
Accepting her defiance, they vowed to hire a plumber for their manor’s sake.
That night, Kate dreamed she would flee the pipes and escape to New York at just the right time,
Dreams of roaming Fifth Avenue, of feeling awestruck under the starry skyline,
Stars and stripes twinkled in her eyes, American dreams glistened in the pipeline,
The newspaper cutting of Libertas served as both her pillow and her lifeline.
But once again come sunrise, Kate was stuck playing a game she seemed destined to lose,
As she tripped down the stairs, knocking over Alice and blowing her fuse,
“You futile silly Cinderella! This conduct from dreamland I will not excuse!”
Kate tearfully examined the deep stains of her sentence: last month’s burn and today’s bruise.
Just a ‘skivvy for all her days of living’, dreaming the American pipe dream,
No more peachy freedom, no Big Apple, no strawberries nor cream,
She’d just been a tired, restless girl lost in dreams of The City That Never Sleeps,
Yet she knew she wouldn’t stay stranded forever, now that her mountain was not as steep.
“The secret of making dreams come true can be summarised in four Cs.
They are:
Curiosity;
Confidence;
Courage; and
Constancy.
The greatest of these is confidence.” – Walt Disney
Words & Wings 