Your Freddy Bear

Self-confidence is a weird beast. Have too much of it and you can be seen as egotistical. Have too little confidence and you are insecure. Confidence is one of my favourite features about people. It makes them more compelling, interesting, attractive, and inspiring. Confidence isn't something that you can magically get out of thin air. It does take time.

However, I do believe that there are ways to encourage your self confidence to grow. Even without taking ten thousand selfies. Most are simple changes to your everyday routine but they can have life changing affects.

1) Try To Be More Positive

Positive people tend to be happy. Happy people exude confidence. Ergo, being more positive can be one great way to improve your self-confidence and also to improve your life. Positivity leads to productivity, achievements, and so much more. When you believe you can do something, you will. It's an easy thing to say, "be more positive" but not an easy thing to actually do. Go slow and try to be upbeat about the little things. Small accomplishments like checking something off a to-do list are a way to start. When something negative happens, try to find a silver lining. If you can't find one about that negative event, try to think of something else that happened that day that is a good thing and can put you back in the positive mindset. Not everyday will be a good, perfectly positive day, and that's okay. Just try your best to encourage yourself and remain optimistic about who you are and the possibilities that are just ahead of you.

2) Doll Yourself Up

When I say "doll yourself up", I don't mean that you should go to town and coat yourself in make-up and the most expensive clothes ever. But looking nice can always put a spring in one's step and it's exactly that spring that would help you feel more confident. So take the time, on days when you feel a little insecure, to put on that shirt you love that looks great on you. Or spend a little extra time on your hair, styling it in a fun or cool way. Maybe put on a bright lipstick that makes you feel powerful. Appearance isn't everything and it is not the most important thing when it comes to being confident. But walking out the door and starting your day with extra special something is like wearing invisible armor that makes you ready to face anything.


3) Get Organized

Confidence is a state of mind, and the easiest way I've found to be confident and stay confident is to be organized. If you know what you are doing and where you are going, there is no room for insecurities to creep in and ruin your day. If you are direction-ally challenged like myself, leave the house early and plot out your route in advance so you know you won't be late and don't have to stress. Make to-do lists on your phone or in a note pad of whatever you want to get done for the day. Check off every item you complete. It is the best feeling and the reward you will get is a renewed sense of accomplishment. This in turn will make you feel good about yourself and your confidence will grow.

4) Don't Be Afraid To Feel Bad

A lot of people feel they can't be truly confident until they feel perfectly together. That's wrong. It doesn't matter. You don't have to have everything together to be confident in yourself. To err is human, as wise men once said, and to be human is beautiful. Don't let past mistakes overwhelm you or drag you down. Just embrace them. Don't be afraid to make fun of yourself. The most confident people are the ones who are not afraid to be silly or to mess up. They are comfortable with themselves despite life's troubles or any blunders they may make. It's the fact that they are so okay with themselves despite of their faults that makes their self-confidence shine brighter.


5) Love Yourself

This is the hardest one on the list. It sounds so easy, to love yourself. It is preached to us in movies and music and books and sounds like the easiest thing in the world. But self-doubt, the enemy of self-confidence is hard to get away from. When you are having a down day or you are feeling insecure, reach out to a friend or loved one you know has your back and let them pep you up. We are all our own worst critic. It's hard to shut that off, judging yourself or comparing yourself to others. I'm not saying you have to completely destroy your inner critic in order to be self-assured. But embracing every part of yourself, the good and the bad, is a good place to start.


All photos by Jared Simpson

 Small towns and quiet places speak to me. They are where magic breathes, adventures are hiding around every corner, and where anything is possible. 

There isn’t a gas station every 2 miles selling newspapers that scream about harsh realities. They can be almost a world apart. Small towns, often surrounded by nature of some form, are the humble beginnings from which great characters stumble out of. They are the places in times of trouble, where people dream of coming home to. In Wales, I was 3440 miles away from home, but it had the feeling like I had just walk through my mother’s purple front door.

Anne of Green Gables is one of my favourite literary characters. Has been since I was five years old. She is my chosen spirit animal. She has such heart and imagination and values. My family is from Prince Edward Island and my parents and I would go visit every summer. Visiting happened less often for me as I grew older because working to pay for university got in the way, but this past summer I was able to visit and it was wonderful. I saw Anne & Gilbert (the play) and I also found these....


These are the beautiful new copies of the Anne of Green Gables series. The cover art on these editions are absolutely breathtaking. I hadn't read them since childhood so I thought I'd reread through the series and do a mini review of each of them.

The first book, Anne of Green Gables stands the test of time. It is the classic tale that everyone knows and the anecdotes are as delightful as always. Gilbert, Diana, Marilla, Matthew, all the classic characters are still as real and fresh as the first time you read about them.

Anne of Avonlea is good, but is very much a transitional book for me. Anne is definitely growing out of her childish phase, though I don't think she ever truly escaped from her habit of getting into scrapes. Marilla is, as always, a voice of reason. In this story they take in an orphaned set of twins, which is interesting to think about as twins have a habit of following Miss Shirley where ever she goes, but also to consider how taking in the twins makes Anne walk in Marilla's footsteps and bring the two women even closer than they already were.

Anne of the Island, the third book is tied for my favourite book in the series. It is in this novel where Anne finally realizes her dream and goes off to college. It is also the book where she clues in to what an idiot she's been, hiding from her feelings for Gilbert and confesses her love for him. He of course, could never love anyone but his red-headed Anne-Girl. It is these two books, Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island which are used to create the story for the play Anne and Gilbert. I am hopeless romantic at heart and Gilbert Blythe is the perfect man, therefore an entire book of "Anne and the Perfect man" is my dream come true.


Anne of Windy Poplars is the only one of the novels written in epistolary format. The story is told through Anne's letters to Gilbert as she works as a principal and teacher in Summerside as he finishes his degree in medicine. The letters are full of charm and humour and through this book, Anne shows that she can truly solve any problem that comes her way. The letter format gives the reader more insight into Anne's mind and thoughts and truly makes the reader feel closer to our heroine.

Anne's House of Dreams is the fifth book in the series and the other book which is tied for my favourite. This story tells of Anne and Gilbert's wedding and their first few years of wedded bliss. This is also the book where Anne experiences a certain heartache that she would never truly let go of. It was this heartache and the way Lucy Maud expressed it that made this book one of my favourites. All it took was a single sentence to encompass all the pain.

Anne of Ingleside is where we finally meet all of Anne and Gilbert's spawn and hear about their many adventures in growing up. I think the best part of these stories are encountering Anne as a mother. She is exactly the same person she always was, lively, humorous, imaginative, and she uses these traits as well as all her lovely other ones to make herself the best mother. She still writes some, but most of her ambitions and career goals are forgotten in motherhood. When I first started to notice this, it made me angry, but the more I read the more I realized how fitting this was. She is still creative and ambitious, it is just that as a mother, Anne's first and most prominent dream, to belong and have a family full of love, has come true.

Rainbow Valley, a book for which a children's amusement park in P.E.I. was named, is a book focused solely on the children of the village of Glen St. Mary. My biggest qualm with this is that it is not Anne of Green Gable's children who are the focus. It is the neighboring children who take center stage. These children, sons and daughters of the town minister are the best friends of the Blythe children, meaning that Anne's brood are featured in almost all the stories. I would just have preferred if more of the stories had the young Blythes as the stars. This book is also where Lucy Maud begins to allude heavily as to what is to come for Anne and her family. It creates an interesting narrative where you as the reader know something that the characters themselves are still unaware of.  

Rilla of Ingleside is the last novel in the Anne of Green Gables Saga. It is told from the point of view of her youngest child, her daughter Rilla Blythe. This book brings the most tragedy for Anne and her family as it takes place during World War One and Rilla sees all her brothers and childhood friends go off to war, some of whom do not return. This book was fascinating and sometimes seems out of place in regards to the series. The war takes away some of the light-fluffiness that is standard for the Anne books. This change isn't a bad thing and I find it actually adds more depth to the over-arching story. It is also neat in the fact that through the characters you can learn about the great war. They are constantly waiting for news and through their letters and the newspapers, the reader can piece together what is happening in the war and what they have left to go through. Though the tone of this last book is much more serious, it still makes sure to delight the readers with the humour and optimism Anne fans have come to expect.

"Selfie" has by now undoubtedly been added to the Oxford English dictionary. It is a prevalent activity in our society. Everyone and their great aunt knows what a selfie is and everyone has taken one at least once. And yet, there is a huge stigma/judgement towards people who regularly take selfies. I, being a self proclaimed "Selfie-Aficionado", am constantly at the butt of jokes about selfies, selfie sticks, vanity, etc. That's probably why I chose to write this. With a society that has so much social media and has had so many advances with cameras, why is the selfie such a bad thing?

Some say it's vain. Well, so what if it is? Women today are bombarded by advertisements and songs and movements all about learning to love yourself and the way you look and to not let society shame you. So why then do those same people make fun of girls (and guys) for taking pictures of their faces? Being a little vain sometimes and taking selfies can be a great confidence booster, whether the selfies get posted to social media or not. Isn't confidence what we are trying to promote women having? So why begrudge someone a little time in front of the camera. It's not hurting you and if you really don't like their face then just scroll past the post. It's not hard.

I'm very big into documenting my life. I have scrapbooks, keep a memories box, put photos up on my walls. I want to be able to look back on my life and enjoy it. I want to be able to share my life with my children. Taking selfies is a way to do that. Taking them while you travel can document all the places you've seen. Pictures of just you and your face at different ages can be a fun thing for your kids or grand kids to flip through years from now. They can laugh at your hair choices and see how much they might look like you. A picture is a moment in time saved forever. What's wrong with that picture being of your face?      

I like my face. I think it's a good one. It's worked for me for twenty-three years. I also enjoy putting on a little make up, finding the right clothes and lighting, and taking some shots with my iphone. I'm going to keep doing it whether people make fun of me or not. One of my main reasons? Who knows if I'm going to like my face or like getting my photo taken a few years from now? My mom hates getting her photo taken and often has to be convinced to selfie with me. What if I become the same way? I'd rather take an obnoxious amount of pictures now while it's something I have fun with than not and maybe regret it later. It's not like taking a photo uses hours of your time. It only takes a second and a click of a button.

I get that "selfies" are not everyone's cup of tea. My only wish is that people would just let go of the hang-ups and judgement. My message to those who love a good selfie; don't let the disapproval of others keep you from doing something you love. Raise those selfie-sticks high with pride and let out the call of our people without fear!

"CHEESE!"