Tag: happy new year

8 Barbara Walters Quotes We Can Bring Into The New Year

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I am currently watching Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper’s New Years’ Eve show on CNN and my mother is currently in tears because this is the first time she heard of Christine McVie’s passing because she WAS Fleetwood Mac. She is currently embracing our dogs, in tears.

As most of us know, Barbara Walters passed on December 30, 2022. She was an iconic journalist. She was everything I wanted to be in a journalist.

Without further ado, here are Barbara Walters quotes that we can bring into 2023:

  1. “One may walk over the highest mountain one step at a time.”
  2. “First of all, the Jewish religion has a great deal in common with the Christian religion because, as Rabbi Gillman points out in the show, Christianity is based on Judaism. Christ was Jewish.”
  3. “Although I myself don’t go to church or synagogue, I do, whether it’s superstition or whatever, pray every time I get on a plane. I just automatically do it. I say the same thing every time.”
  4. “Wait for those unguarded moments. Relax the mood and, like the child dropping off to sleep, the subject often reveals his truest self.”
  5. “It would be nice to feel that we are a better world, a world of more compassion and a world of more humanity, and to believe in the basic goodness of man.”
  6. “Don’t confuse being stimulating with being blunt.”
  7. “Success can make you go one of two ways. It can make you a prima donna – or it can smooth the edges, take away the insecurities, let the nice things come out.”
  8. “A man cannot be made comfortable without his own approval.”

Barbara was a trailblazer for every woman in journalism. She’s interviewed the most famous public figures like Katherine Hepburn, the head terrorist of Libya, and even Vladimir Putin, who lied to her face when she asked Putin the inevitable question: “have you ever had someone killed?” He said no.

Rest in Peace, Barbara, you certainly paved the way for me, as a female journalist living in the 21st century.

xoxo,

April 💕

MORE LIKE THIS: 7 Quotes By Betty White We Can Bring Into The New Year

7 Quotes By Betty White We Can Bring Into The New Year

Published on by The April Diaries1 Comment

Today, on New Year’s Eve, we lost a legend a few weeks before her 100th birthday: Betty White. All of our hearts are broken. People say that 2022 is going to “suck” without our paperweight of culture. I say, let her legacy carry into the new year and beyond. And believe me when I say that 2022 is going to be better year.

I realize that 2021 has been rough for a lot of people. As COVID surges from city to city, we have to remember this affirmation: Even though I cannot see the good in a situation, I know it’s always there. That’s not a Betty White quote, but I still have to proclaim my good word.

  1. “I have no regrets at all. None. I consider myself to be the luckiest old broad on two feet.”
  2. “Everybody needs a passion. That’s what keeps life interesting. If you live without passion, you can go through life without leaving any footprints.”
  3. “It’s not a surprise, we knew it was coming—make the most of it. So you may not be as fast on your feet, and the image in your mirror may be a little disappointing, but if you are still functioning and not in pain, gratitude should be the name of the game.”
  4. “My mother always used to say, “The older you get, the better you get. Unless you’re a banana.”
  5. “You’re never too old for anything.”
  6. “Retirement is not in my vocabulary. They aren’t going to get rid of me that way.”
  7. “You don’t fall off the planet once you pass a given age. You don’t lose any of your sense of humor. You don’t lose any of your zest for life, or your lust for life.”

This is just seven, but I do have to share this one poem that I wrote in light of her legacy:

And just like that,

Heaven is a little brighter,

all four corners are gilded,

and the four women who once

graced our televisions are together again.

— Rest in Peace, Betty White

@ AprilFederico

Happy New Year, folx.

xoxo,

April

New Year’s Resolutions

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Happy New Year, folx! It is the first full week of 2021 and I am already banging out my resolutions.

My resolutions are the following:

  1. Walk/run 2,000+ steps every morning (9,000 steps each morning by the end of 2021)
  2. Turn The April Diaries into a community
  3. Drink more tea
  4. Eat organically
  5. Eat more superfoods
  6. Get a new job
  7. Read more books and magazines (I kind of slacked in 2020 😂)
  8. Drink less alcohol
  9. Be more open about my spirituality
  10. Support others.

Those are the big ten thus far. There’s no doubt that list will grow. There’s also no attempt at perfection, but every improvement counts. Stepping stones, guys, stepping stones. Another thing I’d like to do is have more people to interview on this blog. So if you or anyone you know would like to be featured, let me know in the Contact page.

The thing about resolutions is that they are easy to make and harder to create habits to form them. But at the same time, it’s easier to create bad habits. Why is it harder to create good habits? Perhaps it’s not in our nature to have them. Perhaps, as humans, we are destined for imperfection. And perhaps we simply don’t know exactly what it is we really want to attain. Some want to attain that “hot body,” that new career, while others, like myself, or maybe those same people, a degree. And trust me when I say that those “what does your future look like?” quizzes on Facebook are nowhere near real.

I encourage you, however, not to take quizzes that supposedly “determine” your future but to create your own. I love a good challenge, do you? Some call it creating, others call it manifesting. I’ve been trying to be more transparent about my spirituality, recently, and I’ve gotten a lot of support, so thank you for that! (for those of you who reached out!)

Making the most out of a situation is good, too. Despite what’s going on in the USA right now in terms of the upcoming inauguration, our current president, and the horrible domestic terrorist attack on the Nation’s Capitol Building. But I remain hopeful in Biden’s upcoming presidency. I also sincerely hope that my D.C. followers are safe.

Last thing, I did get another job, a second job, if you will. It’s at an Animal Hospital. More details to come later.

For now,

xoxoxo April ❤

What 2020 taught me, and hopefully taught you

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2020, it’s been a hell of year. But I wouldn’t even put the emphasis on the hell. Sure, COVID-19 took a lot away this year, for some people more than others. The Cheeto in Office finally signed the relief bill (too little too late.) But I’m not here to talk about politics. I will say this: our country may be severely divided, but community is more important than ever these days. I know we’re all sick of the “we’re all in this together” phrase, at this point in time, but my goal in 2021 is to make this blog a community. Life’s too short to be all “me, me, me.” In fact, I try not to make it all about me because I want college students and graduate students to know what I wish I knew and to provide little “philosophies,” if you will.

2020 has taught me more about myself and my capabilities more than ever before, and even more about what I can do with my brand. And it hopefully taught you all to be more appreciative for what you have, rather than focus on what you want. But if you focused on what you wanted, it probably came true in more cases than one. Even though COVID-19 took a lot away from us, I believe it still gave us opportunity for growth. My goal at the very beginning of the year was to gravitate less towards negativity and more towards that growth, and it’s brought me more hope than I had say, back in February or the month of April (yes, I always have to make that distinction between the month and my name.)

Without further ado, here is what 2020 taught me, and hopefully taught you, as well:

  1. Take no crap, from anyone.
  2. If people say, “you think life is all roses,” let them. There’s nothing wrong with being happy.
  3. Grow a backbone, and call out others who don’t have the balls to grow one.
  4. Graduate school (and college) are times to explore and try out different avenues. When I was in my last semester at RWU, I took a Law and the Family class while interning at a Domestic Violence resource center. And this past Fall 2020 semester at Emerson I took a Book Publishing Overview class, when my concentration is in magazine publishing.
  5. With that being said, apply to jobs and apply yourself to things you haven’t even considered doing.
  6. Learn how to fend for yourself.
  7. Therapy is important and nothing to be ashamed of.
  8. Being an influencer is not as important as being a good role model.
  9. Everyone makes mistakes, you just have to have to take responsibility for those mistakes.
  10. Take that leap of faith, no matter what it is. In fact, only you know what that is.
  11. Be a positive force in someone’s life. You never know who needs it.
  12. Also with that being said, be kind because you never know who’s fighting what battle.
  13. Someone’s success is not your failure.
  14. In other words, jealousy isn’t worth it, and neither is comparing yourself.
  15. Also, we all go through life at a different pace, and we go at our own pace.
  16. Patience and acceptance are virtues. Accept the things you cannot change.
  17. If you feel like you can change something, ask and you shall receive.
  18. It’s better to be alone than to cry and agonize over people you’re trying to please. Let them go and stop making excuses for them.
  19. Be nice to essential workers, from an essential worker.

I was going to put a twentieth teaching, but I’ll leave that one up to you folx. I don’t know what 2021 will bring, but I know that with each year, despite their drawbacks, have many valuable things to contribute. And you have a few wonderful things to add, as well.