7 Quotes From Chelsea Handler And Gloria Steinem About Leaning In
As a female activist, I look up to Gloria Steinem, and as a comedian, I admire Chelsea Handler.
So when they got together on stage recently in New York to discuss politics, life and activism, I peed my leggings a little.
As they spoke, the audience (mainly women, with a few men sprinkled in) laughed, cheered and sat in awe of the witty and inspiring things these feminist icons had to share.
I learned way too much to share it all, so I've whittled it down to seven amazing pieces of life advice from Chelsea and Gloria:
1. Face-to-face communication is best.
Gloria:
As it turns out, you cannot empathize with books or the web. You cannot empathize in the same way [with a person] if you are not present with all five senses, and that is kind of crucial, don't you think?
Whether it be Facebook, Twitter or texting, we communicate through these mediums every day, but it's not the most efficient form of communication.
In fact, what people post online gets misinterpreted all the time.
Couples have gotten into huge arguments because of misinterpreted texts.
That's why it's so much more productive to talk face-to-face when you have all five senses to understand what's being said.
2. Stop wondering what to do, and just take action.
Gloria:
I think everybody knows what to do, and everybody knows something to do. If we look up, we feel disempowered. If we look at each other, we feel empowered. Stop saying, 'What should I do?' and just say, 'I'm going to do everything I can, every day.'
When you find yourself indecisive about your next step — maybe it's which job to pursue, which college to go to or which charity to volunteer for — sometimes taking action is really the only step to take.
Mulling it over for too long can stall your journey.
Wasted time could lead to missed opportunities and lost motivation.
3. Being hungover is not an excuse.
Everyone has had those days (sometimes weeks) during which we just feel like staying home and avoiding all humanity.
But when it comes to going after your dreams, there's no excuse.
Chelsea:
You can't be lazy. You can't say, 'Oh, I'm hungover and can't do it.' If you want to be hungover, you better go vote, too!
Chelsea used voting for her point, but you can apply this to any big responsibility in life that you can't skip out on.
You may feel like crap going to file your taxes, getting your license renewed or finally having that talk with your BF, but you better get it done.
Otherwise, you'll be holding yourself back in life.
It's called adulting, so just do it.
4. Never stop learning.
Every single day is an opportunity to better your life and the lives of those around you. But, you can't do it without learning new information or new skills.
As humans, we should always be asking, "Why?” to learn and grow.
Chelsea admitted she has never been afraid to ask questions, and you shouldn't be, either.
People need to be OK with saying, 'I don't understand how this works. Please explain this to me so that I'm informed when I speak about it.' I learned more in the last year doing my show than I did the four years I didn't go to college.
5. Find common ground with the people you don't agree with.
Since the election, many liberals have expressed hate toward those who support Trump, but that's not how you build a bridge or get someone to understand your point of view.
Gloria touched on this point when she talked about why she reaches out to Republicans and Independents:
Too many Democrats and feminists and activists say, 'How can you be a Republican?' and nobody is going to respond to that. But if you just say, 'Look, let's forget about political parties and talk about the issues and what you need in your life, and vote on those,' then I think we can reach across and work together.
It's the same with everyday issues you may have with a partner, co-worker or relative.
No matter what you disagree on, there is usually some common ground to start with.
6. Have sympathy for yourself.
When Chelsea said this, it really hit home for me:
I don't live a life of regret. I make that pact with myself all the time because I do a lot of regrettable things. But they're really only regrettable if you look at yourself in an unsympathetic way. It's so important to have sympathy for yourself.
I have a tendency to want to be perfect. I will overanalyze my every word and movement when I go in for an interview or even to a party where I want to impress people.
Afterward, I usually find something to regret and will think about it over and over again, and then I wonder if I should apologize.
Chances are, no one noticed if I said or did something weird. But even if they did, I'm a human, and humans make mistakes.
We can't be so hard on ourselves. Forgive yourself for being human.
7. Be bold, and take risks.
Chelsea:
Be brave. We can always go one step further with our boldness... Any time you feel small, you're shrinking. Practice being bold because the more you're bold, the better you'll get at being bold.
You could be taking the all right steps but still playing it too safe.
I have seen so many badass women speak their minds and get shit done, and then think to myself, "There's no way I could do that."
But that's not true.
Gloria summed it up perfectly, saying,
The only thing worse than failing is not trying. Because you will walk around saying to yourself, 'What if? What if I had said this or done this?'
