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A Life Full of Glitter: A Guide to Positive Thinking, Self-Acceptance, and Finding Your Sparkle in a (Sometimes) Negative World
Library of Congress Cataloging
ISBN: (print) 978-1-63353-814-6 (ebook) 978-1-63353-815-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018952300
BISAC category code: SEL023000 SELF-HELP / Personal Growth / Self-Esteem
Printed in the United States of America
This is dedicated to Mirah and Garrett.
May you be the future the world needs.
Contents
Chapter 1 The Benefits of a More Positive Life
Chapter 2 Identity: Realizing You’re Different and Becoming Self-Aware
Chapter 3 Comparison: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Chapter 4 Self-Love: Acknowledging Your Worth
Chapter 5 Self-Compassion: Reframing Negative Self-Talk
Chapter 6 Bullying: Overcoming Bullies and Naysayers
Chapter 7 Goals: Creating a Cause for Self-Celebration
Chapter 8 Loneliness: What to Do When You Feel Alone
Chapter 9 Body: Loving the Skin You’re In
Chapter 10 Challenges: Stress and Other No-Good, Rotten Things
Chapter 11 Relationships: Friends, Family, and Lovers
Chapter 12 I’m Sorry, You Can’t be Perfect
I can’t believe I did it. I actually wrote a book. There are moments in our lives when things seem overwhelming and impossible. Creating this book was one of those times. I felt stressed out, nervous, insecure, and fearful. Would my words be good enough?
I had every reason to be nervous. While writing this book, I shared more of my life, opinions, and challenges than ever before. There were days I spent hours crying as I wrote out painful memories and lessons from my past, and others when I was reminded just how much we can all grow and change. These pages are filled with love and experience. That’s the best thing I can offer to a world in need of greater understanding.
In each chapter you’ll find a mix of personal stories, scientific research to increase our understanding on different topics, and active steps you can take to better your own life. This formula is important to me. I believe the more we understand how our brains and bodies work, the more connected to them we become. That connection is powerful and is fundamental to better understanding our needs and emotions in the present.
As I wrote each chapter, I re-learned lessons, grew stronger in my commitment to changes I’d made in my past, and uncovered the scientific explanation for things that always made sense to me but I could never fully explain. This book isn’t just a guide to thinking more positively, but rather a collection of the tools that I have used to develop into the strong, fearless, and positive person I am today—and how you can too. Writing this book helped me grow. I hope reading it will do the same for you.
The Benefits of a More Positive Life
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
—Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere’s Fan
I used to think of positivity as so lame. I can’t think of a better way to describe it—“so lame” suits the way my teenage brain processed it all at the time. Do you remember those men in fresh pressed suits on big stages with tiny headband microphones, selling us the power of positivity on late night infomercials? They’d wave their hands around until they were drenched in sweat from preaching the power of optimism. They looked so mature and chiseled (albeit caked in perspiration)—totally un-relatable to a teenage girl who felt misunderstood. How could a real-life aged-Ken-doll fathom the struggles of a chubby, geeky girl with acne, bullies, and a crush on every boy? I was convinced it was all a sham. I’d shut off the TV, envious that Ken got to live his perfect life, complete with a custom-made Italian suit and