The Bra Street Rambler

In the past, I've written a lot about the importance of knowing who you are as a person in order to make better informed decisions and in order to better understand those around you. However, there's another aspect of yourself that merits your attention. On the outside, it is quite apparent that we are all individuals, that we are all different. However, when asked to think about how our insides compare, most of us will revert to our high school anatomy class teaching us that we are all the same. How true is that though? Yes, we all have the same parts in roughly the same places (with the obvious gender exceptions), but we also have different levels of hormones running through us, different chemistry working its science magic within our brains. All of these little differences contribute just as much to our individual personalities as our experiences do. That being said, don't they merit as much attention, as much of an attempt at understanding? A previous post...

If you're an introvert, you know what it's like to be peopled-out. While I am one of those few people who is evenly distributed between being an introvert and an extrovert, I often find that working in public service results in a higher need for me to set hanging out with friends aside in order to recharge my social batteries. Extroverts sometimes have difficulty understanding this need as they try to present the fact that they are low maintenance/really easy going, or just want to do something relaxing together. In their mind, watching a movie with them is no different than watching a movie alone as there would be little communication going on anyway. While it is true that some people are easier to be around in certain moods, sometimes a need to recharge means a need to be completely alone with yourself for a while.  For an introvert, or someone with introvert tendencies, being tired doesn't always mean you are sleepy, it means you are emotionally drained in t...

When I look around me and see people struggling to fit in, I can't help but feel a depth of sorrow for them that I find difficult to adequately explain. So many people seeking recognition from others, seeking to be validated and told they are worthy be it through the words or actions of those around them, or even from those who are all but strangers. If someone does not tell them they are smart, they are idiots, if they are not complimented on their strength, they are weak, if they are not described as beautiful, they are ugly, and if they are not desired by someone, they are worthless. I see people running from relationship to relationship, terrified of being alone with themselves because then, in their minds, they are nothing. It is a sentiment many of us have felt as we grew up, a sense of being alone and trying to discover who we were based on those we surrounded ourselves with. But while some of us grew into ourselves, grew comfortable in our own skin, others tu...

If you grew up with siblings, you know things weren't always rainbows and butterflies. More often than not, disagreements were had, yelling and fighting were involved, and it seemed like there was no way on this green earth you would ever get along. My sister and I used to argue more than I can express. To say we bickered was an understatement and we lived to make our fights an art form. I had anger issues and my little sister was a bit of an evil genius. If I upset her, she was more than capable of framing me so that I would get grounded. While her ability to plan was certainly admirable, it made things a lot worse for her in the end because well, "In for a penny, in for a pound." Not saying my retaliations were right, they certainly were not, but hey, I was a kid and had yet to learn many valuable life lessons, and the Art of War. Hopefully however, you and your sibling(s) have come to resemble my sister and I as we are now. Gone are the days of yelling ...

Being an adult means that we often check the post only to find junk mail. For the most part, even our bills have made the switch to automatic banking. Communication has gone digital and has packed up it's smaller details into luggage that has unfortunately been lost in transit. Yes, emoticons still add a little flavour here and there, and GIF's can be sent when we want a certain sentiment to be driven home but even so, we find that reading a persons emotions can be lost in the flurry of text speak and semi-colons with p's, and the sentiment of the message is quickly lost among the numerous work emails and special retail offers.  The truth is, there is so much to 'snail mail' that has been forgotten as we have weaned ourselves from it's beauty.  Email is to me, the grocery bag of gift wrappings. You can see something is in it, but it doesn't have the same mystery and allure of receiving an unexpected, envelop wrapped letter in the mail.  You s...