On my birthday, a dear friend of mine made this amazing side-by-side of the title character of 'The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' and myself. A huge fan of the show, I was overwhelmingly flattered, as well as validated in my habit of taking pictures with my mouth wide open. Since I finally finished Season 2 of the series, I wanted to dedicate this week's article to Kimmy and all the wisdom she has imparted to me, and undoubtedly every other viewer of her show.
Here are my top 10 favorite quotes from the wonderfully weird Kimmy Schmidt, and how each and every person can use them for inspiration. Without further adieu, let's troll the respawn, Jeremy, and get into it!
1. “I can’t give up on stuff. I still want Nickelodeon to take over my school.”
Remember in elementary school, when that radio commercial would come on in the car asking you to enter your school for a chance to win a Nickelodeon school takeover? Remember begging your parents to let you enter? Fantasizing about all your favorite Nickelodeon stars, from Drake Bell to Miranda Cosgrove to SpongeBob asking you to sit with them at lunch, picking you for their volleyball team, and high-fiving you after you got an A on that spelling test? Sometimes, I wish I could get that level of hopefulness back. I wish that I could have the mentality where I would never be able to give up. Our girl Kimmy is there. It may have been living in a bunker for the entirety of her middle and high school years, but I think it's something more. If you really, really want something, pride yourself on never giving up on it. Work hard, stay in the game and keep the faith that one day, you'll get there.
2. “Yeah, the monkey was a woman. Women can be anything these days.”
Feminism, man. Women can, and will, be anything, and whether you reading this are a man, woman, or monkey of either gender, never forget that. We're CEOs, Elsa impersonators, astronauts, producers, doctors, and exotic dancers. We are killing it in the versatility department.
3. “I was trying to have fun and then I made everything weird, ‘cause I’m weird.”
Anyone else connects with this quote on a spiritual level? Sometimes, the act of having fun can bring out one's inner weird. I know it does with me. My advice? Just keep being the weird human bean you truly are. You'll have more fun than if you repressed your instinct to be unapologetically you. Go have fun. Be weird. Those who judge you for that aren't worth your magically unique presence.
4. “We’re just covering up our problems. In order to fix ourselves, we have to start right here. Find that small unbreakable you inside yourself."
We all have a little bit of unbreakable, strong, resilient, sometimes overwhelmingly strange Kimmy inside of us. What we all need to do is to bring her out to help us overcome any and all adversity that comes our way. Don't cover up your problems and let them bottle up inside. Be proactive, allow others to help you out, and work to make things better. It won't be easy, but it'll be worth it.
5. “Just take it ten seconds at a time. Everything will be okay.”
As a society, we tend to look as far into the future as we possibly can and imagine the worst that could possibly happen, when just getting through the next ten seconds can be a huge accomplishment in and of itself. Taking life ten seconds at a time puts everything in perspective and makes moving forward a whole lot easier.
6. “A female dog? The thing that makes puppies? Nice compliment!”
People can be mean, yall. However, what people hate the most is having their own words turned on them. If someone says something rather unsavory to you, don't take it to heart. That's what he or she wants. Prove him or her wrong. Turn it into something you can feel good about. Turn it into a compliment if you can. Use your wit to combat negativity, à la Kimmy.
7. “I still believe the world is good. That bunnies are nice, and snakes are mean, and that one day Sandra Bullock will find someone who deserves her.”
No matter what life throws your way, whether it be a psychotic reverend who holds a striking resemblance to Jon Hamm or a slow Netflix connection, you gotta keep the faith. The world is inherently good, bunnies are super fluffy and nice, snakes can bite sometimes and that's not the best, and goshdarnit, Sandra Bullock can, and will, find someone who deserves her.
8. “Don't worry about me. I'm like a biscotti. People act like I'm this sweet cookie, but I'm really this super hard thing that nobody knows what I am or why I am.”
You're the only one who can truly know who you are. Others can try, but at the end of the day, you're an enigma to the rest of the world, and that's awesome. You get to decide what kind of cookie you are, and nobody can judge you for it. (I know you never asked, but I'm most definitely a Nutella-stuffed chocolate chip cookie: normal-looking on the outside, with s surprising but utterly satisfying soupy, hazelnutty, sweet, magica- what were we talking about again?)
9. “Smile until you feel better. I call it Kimmying.”
Smiling is the absolute best. Even if you don't feel that great, making the conscious decision to smile is the first step to feeling better. It's actually a dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) strategy: the half-smile. Smile a little when you feel down, and you'll feel so ridiculous when you realize how you look and what your face is doing that you'll feel a little better with the minimum effort. Proof that Kimmy is the Marsha Linehan of TV. She's all science-y and stuff.
10. "You can either curl up in a ball and die like we thought Cyndee did that time, or you can stand up and say, 'We’re different. We’re the strong ones, and you can’t break us.'"
This quote speaks for itself. At the end of the day, we all have two options: give up or keep going. Going forward with the latter is a brave choice, and it makes all the difference. We're unbreakable, jammit!
If you didn't stop reading this article in order to start 'The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' yet, you have more willpower than I do. We can all use a little Kimmy in our lives to put us in perspective. Just be you, and if you're not there yet, be Kimmy, and she'll lead you to where you need to be.
