Amy Poehler is absolutely one of my favorite human beings on the planet. She is not only hilarious, but kind, genuine, talented, empathetic, and one heck of an activist. Plus, she created and brought to life one of my all-time FAVORITE fictional characters, Leslie Knope. Amy is an incredible writer and one of the most hilarious comedians of all time. She is also the creator of Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, an organization dedicated to helping young people cultivate their authentic selves. They emphasize intelligence and imagination over “fitting in.” [Visit their website here]
Amy is an ultra-successful writer and actress; she's been nominated for three Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, two Golden Globe Awards, and one Screen Actors Guild Award. She is also an activist in women’s issues and serves as Ambassador for the Worldwide Orphans Foundation. “On screen and off, Amy believes in empowering women and girls everywhere. Her dedication to helping young women has gained her numerous accolades, including Glamour’s Woman of the Year. Through her digital series Smart Girls at the Party, Amy continues to acknowledge and support girls who are ‘changing the world by being themselves.’”
As a woman working in government, Leslie Knope is one of my biggest heroes. As a woman, Amy Poehler is one of my biggest heroes. She is feminist AF and stands up for what she believes in, and dedicates her time to making her community, and the world, a better place. She’s written a wonderful autobiography, called Yes, Please! and has given (me) some of the best advice I’ve ever read. Amy Poehler is essentially my life coach (unbeknownst to her). So I thought I'd share some of her best advice with you, in this differently-styled Feminist Profile. Picking my top favorite pieces of advice was really difficult, but I managed to narrow it down to 15… you’re welcome! ;)
1. “Anybody who doesn’t make you feel good, kick them to the curb. And the earlier you start in your life, the better.”
She’s so right on target here. Sometimes we put up with awful things from people for various reasons. Maybe its lack of confidence or respect for ourselves, maybe it’s because we feel we owe that person for some reason, or maybe it’s because we don’t know how to stand up for ourselves. Whatever it is, follow Amy’s advice and give it up now. You deserve SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT. You deserve to be happy and you don’t need ANYONE in your life that makes you feel belittled, insignificant, ugly, stupid, sad, angry, etc. They aren’t worth it, and the people who are would never make you feel that way!
2. “No one looks stupid when they’re having fun.”
I love this. I’m not the type of person who embarrasses easily. In fact, I’m more likely to embarrass you for being seen with me. I love to goof off and have fun and some people just can’t handle that. Sure, there’s a time and a place, but the list of places you shouldn’t goof off is pretty small compared to the list of places you should. There was a brief moment in my life when I started really caring about what people thought and it was awful! I never had as much fun! I know a lot of people are afraid to let go because they don’t want to look stupid or embarrass themselves, but I say, who cares!? Embrace it! The fun you’ll have will be well worth it in the end, trust me.
3. “Continue to share your heart with people even if it’s been broken.”
Smart lady. This was something I’ve definitely struggled with in the past. It’s a natural reaction; when we get hurt, all of our walls go up as our heart tirelessly prevents itself from having to endure that pain again. It’s a defense mechanism that’s really sophisticated and efficient and great at what it does. Learning how to lower your guard, to break down those walls and let people in again is truly difficult. But it’s absolutely vital. And totally worth the hard work it takes to get there again.
4. “Rooting for other people’s failure does get in the way of your success.”
Classy, classy woman. We should always be uplifting each other instead of dragging people down. There’s enough of that going on in the world, we don’t need to be doing it to each other too. I’m a firm believer that what you put out into the world always comes back to you.
5. “You can’t do it alone. As you navigate through the rest of your life, be open to collaboration. Other people and other people’s ideas are often better than your own. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, and spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life. No one is here today because they did it on their own.”
Sometimes you want to go at it alone because you feel like if you ask for help, you lose a little of the reward. It might feel like you don’t deserve the product if you had help with the development or maybe you might feel like you don’t want to share credit with anyone else because IT’S YOUR BABY and you’ve put your heart and a lot of hard work into it. I know I’ve felt that way before. But asking for help doesn’t mean any of these things. In fact, success is rarely accomplished by doing things alone. Ask for help, take other peoples’ opinions and ideas into consideration and create something beautiful and amazing together!
6. “Taking risks and making choices is what makes life so exciting.”
I used to be such a free spirit; I never thought that taking risks would be something I’d EVER struggle with. But when you get burned badly, when you break into thousands of pieces and you spend so many awful days trying to put yourself back together, you most often end up overcompensating by playing it safe. As mentioned before, those walls come up to prevent anymore heartache, but more often than not, they actually deprive us of truly experiencing happiness. Sure, we may feel safe when we don’t take risks, but like every cheesy Lifetime movie says, life isn’t about playing it safe. When we have something to lose, only then do we experience life at its fullest.
7. “Great people do things before they’re ready. They do things before they know they can do it…doing what you’re afraid of, getting out of your comfort zone, taking risks like that—that is what life is.”
BE BRAVE. When something scares me, I make myself do it (within reason). Obviously some things are incredibly dangerous and possibly detrimental to your health/job/life, and in those circumstances do not ignore your gut feelings! But with everything else, try things you wouldn’t normally try, eat things you wouldn’t normally eat, experience something you’ve been strangely interested in, but too afraid to do your whole life! Be uncomfortable, be afraid, but just do it!
8. “I get worried for young girls sometimes; I want them to feel that they can be sassy and full and weird and geeky and smart and independent, and not so withered and shriveled.”
If Amy is anything, she’s real. I love how empowering she is for women. I feel like she’s that one friend who’s always your cheerleader, no matter what. With everything she’s accomplished, she’s really pushing the envelope in a male dominated field. AND I LOVE THAT ABOUT HER. She practically IS feminism.
9. “Try to keep your mind open to possibilities and your mouth closed on matters that you don’t know about. Limit your always and your nevers.”
Pretty good advice if you ask me! Keeping an open mind allows us to continually grow and challenge ourselves. And before casting an opinion or making up our mind about something, we should learn about it first.
10. “The earlier you learn that you should focus on what you have and not obsess about what you don’t have, the happier you will be.”
When does Amy NOT look happy? The answer is NEVER. She’s someone that you can totally trust taking advice on happiness from. Most of us would agree with her here if we were asked, but sometimes we lose sight of these simple but true principles. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the world. We work so hard to obtain what we want out of life that we sometimes forget to actually live it. Take a step back, re-evaluate yourself, your priorities, your plans, and make sure that what you’re doing is going to make you happy while reaching your goals. We can’t bank on living life once we’ve achieved them; we have to live it in the moment. We have to be in the present while looking forward to the future and not forgetting the past. We have to find happiness with what we have and who we are at that very moment.
11. “There’s power in looking silly and not caring that you do.”
This, I LOVE. Forget everyone else. Live your life the way you feel is best and don’t worry about what others think. If you’re happy, block everyone else out. And if you can’t help but be worried about them, just remember, confidence is the key. People won’t question you if you don’t let them.
12. “Sometimes painful things teach us lessons that we didn’t think we needed to know.”
It’s all about perspective. We don’t have to like the painful things in life, but we can accept them for shaping us into the people we are and will be. It’s important to learn to look on the bright side of things. And if that doesn’t work, then let’s look at the funny side of things.
13. “It’s just about honoring the fact that, yeah, I should be writing, producing, directing. I should be believing that the world is mine to have.”
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. Self confidence is the key that unlocks your true potential. Once you have that belief, you are strong, powerful, and the world is yours for the taking.
14. “When you do talk about yourself or to yourself and you have that tape running in your head about yourself, try to picture you are talking to your own daughter or your younger sister, because you would tell your younger sister or your daughter that she is beautiful and you wouldn’t be lying, because she is. And so are you.”
We need to treat ourselves better, that’s for sure. We are our biggest critics and sometimes our worst enemy. We cannot truly be happy until we love ourselves.
15. “You deserve love and you’ll get it.”
And last but not least, be patient and believe that good things will come your way. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying to sit idly by like a damsel in distress waiting for your Prince Charming to come rescue you from the Evil Queen, because let’s get one thing straight, we don’t need a man to save us, we can do it ourselves. But life requires a certain amount of patience. Go after what you want and don’t settle for anything less. You deserve it. And you’ll get it.
