Georgia Hardstark Quotes

I know now that no matter how far into something you are, how many times you've agreed and moved forward, you can always decide to turn back. It's often not easy or comfortable, but you get to choose.

Don't be a dick and do good things.

The following quote is from a Ted talk my sister sent to me that blew my mind.... We talk about how many women were raped last year, not about how many MEN raped women... We talk about how many girls in a school district were harassed last year, not about how many BOYS harassed girls... We talk about how many teenage girls got pregnant in the state of VA last year, rather than how many men and teenage boys got girls pregnant... So you can see how the use of this passive voice has a political affect. It shifts the focus (and blame) off men and boys, and onto girls and women.

She told me to picture little Georgia, at five years old or so (when this behavior was learned), and imagine calling her a “stupid fucking idiot” for making a mistake. It made me want to cry. Five-year-old Georgia doesn’t deserve that; she deserves understanding and patience and to know that mistakes can be made without them making her a broken person. And so when I berated myself for that wrong turn, I was perpetuating the narrative that Georgia doesn’t deserve to be treated with kindness. Even though I didn’t start it, the only person who could stop that cycle was myself, and a great way to do that was to picture myself as a little kid when I was being cruel to myself. It’s taken some time, but I’ve definitely been kinder to myself since I learned that.

Even the term violence against women is problematic. It's a passive construction, there's no active agent (of violence) in the sentence. It's a bad thing that happens to women. It's a bad thing that happens to women, but when you look at that term 'violence against women' nobody is doing it (acts of violence) to them, it just happens, men aren't even a part of it." Jackson Katz, PHD from his Ted talk 'violence against women it's a mens issue

For girls, junior high is a daily dystopian nightmare of apocalyptic emotional warfare. Kill or be killed. Gossip or be gossiped about.

If necessity is the mother of invention, then rebellion is her cool aunt.

When running late, "it's OK." When I have a million things to do and not enough time to do it, "it's OK." When I get stuck in a fantasy about plane crashes or normal girls, "it's OK." It's my mantra when I need to override the voice that tells me nothing I do is OK.

Essentially, straightforward, honest, and clean is the only way to break up with someone and have you both leave with your dignity intact. {...} This takes a TON of vulnerability because this process is awkward as fuck and feels shitty to both parties involved, but I swear if you buck the fuck up and break up like a civilized person, in the long run, unless they're a psychopath or total dick, you'll keep your soul somewhat unscathed and their ego and heart not broken beyond repair.

You refine your choices to avoid causing your own pain. But good. The pain comes anyway. You start to see that it's supposed to. Adversity forces you to grow past reactive fear and self-preservation and into a worthwhile human being. Tragedy paradoxically begins to strengthen your heart. It breaks it but then it reforms it as a better, stronger machine. And then you start to instinctually care about others. And you start to see how to be. Friendship leads to human connection which feeds your soul. More than kale. Or spinning. or 15 minute naps under your desk.

Kids were free to go off on their own into places like the fucking forest. Yes, small child. Go take a walk. Kids were expected to go figure their shit out and compose themselves. When they were ready to stop being an asshole, they could join the family again.

Love is supposed to make you a little bonkers and batshit, but there's bad crazy and good crazy, and you realize which is which when you love someone who doesn't love you back.

It was the point in my life when I realized that dudes who talk about their "crazy ex-girlfriend" are full of shit. What they're really talking about is someone they hurt and didn't leave the way they found.

Save the shitstorm for every fifth visit. Practice bringing something else to the table. If people ask you about a problem, try out the phrase, "It's so crazy, I don't want to get into it. What's good with you?" Then if they have to know something, they'll insist you tell them, but usually people are just relieved.

Now that they’re gone, the real people can get real. I’m talking about the fuckups and the drama queens, the ones who get told they’re too much: too big, too loud, too smart, too mean. I’m talking to the people who have been severely scraped up by life and by the mistakes they’ve made in it. You guys are my favorite because you are me and I am you

Don’t mistake someone’s quietness, lack of participation in a conversation, or -worse-air of disinterest as intriguing. If someone holds their cards close to their chest, it doesn’t necessarily mean their cards are worth fighting to see. The people who are open with their cards, who wear their cards on their sleeves and offer them to you in a take-it-or-leave-it manner, those are the people worth playing cards with

in my mind i opened up my toolbox of survival tricks, and grabbed at the first one i found: tell him more about yourself so he’ll see you as human, which will probably make him less likely to want to hurt you. humanize yourself, but make it kinda tragic so you don’t seem like a snob

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. RAY FUCKING BRADBURY, Zen in the Art of Writing

If you don't want up stoked to be you, figure out that first step you can take toward the life you want.

If you don't wake up stoked to be you, figure out that first step you can take toward the life you want.

We barely get any time on this planet. Do not spend it pleasing other people. Fuck politeness. Live life exactly how you want to live it so you can love the life you make for yourself.

Motivation isn’t necessary,” she said. “You just have to do it.

Little girls are taught to be polite, to smile pretty and sit up straight, to be nice and accommodating. And then those little girls turn into grown-ass women who’ve spent years being polite to the detriment of their own wants, needs, and safety.

We talk about how many women were raped last year, not about how many men raped women. We talk about how many girls in a school district were harassed last year, not about how many boys harassed girls. We talk about how many teenaged girls got pregnant in the state of Vermont last year, rather than how many men and teenaged boys got girls pregnant.

The woods are a good place to scream in frustration. They've heard the frustrated screams of enraged family members since humans first existed, and they don't judge or tell you that you were the one being a dick; they accept and envelop your screams and use the excess carbon dioxide you emit to grow. Everyone needs a little scream in the woods sometimes.

If someone holds their cards close to their chest, it doesn’t necessarily mean that their cards are worth fighting to see. The people that are open with their cards who wear their cards on their sleeve and offer them to you in a take it or leave it manner. Those are the people worth playing cards with. I don’t know why this metaphor has become a card game….. Hey if you are shy and hold your cards close to your chest. I get it. It’s hard to open up to people especially when you’ve been hurt before. And you were raised in a house where your caretakers were emotionally unreliable or used your emotions against you because of their own untreated phycological issues. Wait, what? Mom?

Being a 13 year old girl is simply the worst experience you can have in life, including all cancers and bear attacks. It is a daily series of betrayal and base humiliations that you must figure out a way to look cute during

Politeness is fancy curtains in your front window. Kindness is the home-cooked meal on your dinner table.

We invite you to drink deeply of us. We'll get you good and fucked up.

There's really nothing like the self-righteousness of the partially informed.

Life isn't a three-camera sitcom. You don't need to have a take.

I find it shameful to have been ignorant in the first place, and that shame makes me resistant to learning.

... it doesn't have to be perfect, just fucking do things.

Sometimes you just have to jump out the window and grow wings on the way down." - Ray Bradbury