4 Life Lessons I Learned From Lena Dunham | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Entertainment

4 Life Lessons I Learned From Lena Dunham

Lena Dunham is my 21st century wonder woman.

19
4 Life Lessons I Learned From Lena Dunham
Betches

30-year-old actress, writer, producer, and director, Lena Dunham has become an icon for women of all ages. Her wit, charm and honesty radiates into everything she does, especially in her new book, "Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's 'Learned'."The book is a voice for our generation, can answer all the questions girls our age have about things, lets young girls know they aren't the only ones embarrassing situations happen to and gives girls an understanding of the experiences that happen in our culture. I finished the book in one sitting and it was probably one of the best reads. It was very bolstering. Here are the lessons I've learned from Dunham herself and her book:

1. Know that it is OK to laugh at yourself.

This goes hand-in-hand with knowing who you are and being comfortable with yourself. Dunham embodies self-confidence and knowing who you are. Dunham has taught me that when you make a mistake or trip and do something embarrassing in front of a guy, that it's OK to laugh at yourself and just make the best of that situation.

2. No relationship is worth changing yourself.

In her book, Dunham openly talks about past relationships and what she learned from all of them. As much as we feel we love one person, if you are vigorously trying to make it work, either by trying to change them or yourself into someone you want to be, until you learn. Relationships emotionally test yourself, and Dunham shared, "I feel like you don't know if someone's equipped for a romantic relationship until they're out of their twenties.” But sometimes you just can't help loving a jerk, and all those jerks are worth it once you find the one person for you (in Dunham's case she's in a long term relationship with musician Jack Antonoff).

3. Finding something your passionate about can help you find your inner strength.

Like Dunham, I've found myself in writing, photography and music. Knowingly people find and define themselves with what they know and what they are taught, but they don't truly find who they are until they take a step back, and finding something you're passionate about can make the world feel more open. You can unknowingly find your inner strength within your passions. Through my love of music and certain artists, I've gained a love for black and white photography. B&W photography for me takes away a piece of reality and gives myself comfort, and I find solace in it. It makes me feel less exposed to the outside world and it leaves the photo up for interpretation for different people. That passionate feeling I have about it gives me my inner strength and is something I never thought about until reading Dunham's book.

4. Being / wanting to be lazy is perfectly OK.

"I can't overstate how much I hate leaving the house." - Lena Dunham

"I am anti-pants. No pants are the best pants." - Lena Dunham

I'll finish this article with one of my favorite quotes by Lena Dunham, which pretty much embodies what I've learned from her and her book, and something I hope you understand too.

"No matter what happens with your level of success, you still have to deal with all the baggage that is yourself." - Lena Dunham

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Relationships

8 Cringey College Tinder Stories

. Cringey Tinder stories from some Tinder girls

1255
a man and a woman sitting at a table
Photo by Good Faces on Unsplash

Toilet Troubles

"So, usually I would never go on a Tinder date but when you are out with girlfriends and a hot Bosnian guy says he wants to hang with you and his friends, you oblige. We head to their apartment and when I realized I may pee my pants if I don't find a bathroom soon. I ask for the bathroom and a friend of my tinder date shows me to it and said in all seriousness that I was not allowed to flush the toilet under ANY circumstances. Having a few drinks--or five--I relieved myself to, nevertheless, flush the toilet. Within seconds, his bathroom was flooded and towels were laid out everywhere to catch the toilet water. To say the least, we were not invited back"

Keep Reading...Show less
Girl with a Guy Bestfriend
vignette3

I can confidently say that about 90 percent of all the friends I have are male. It's just always been that way since I was a kid. Over the years, I've heard a lot of things and I've learned a lot of things, and here it all is. Enjoy!

If you're a girl with a guy best friend you know that...

Keep Reading...Show less
Greek Life
Clare Concannon

With being a member of Greek life, you are going to come across people who HATE Greek life and who always want to say something negative towards it. If you're not a part of Greek life, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But maybe try and keep some of the not-so-nice comments to yourself.

Keep Reading...Show less
retail
Chor Ip / Flickr

I'm sure, like me, many of you received lots of gift cards over the holidays. After working retail seasonally, here are a few tips that I learned in order to make the employees at your favorite store just a little happier and not want to charge you extra on your purchase for being awful. Here are some times when you should be nicer to retail workers than you actually are!

Keep Reading...Show less
5 Untold Struggles Of The Short Friend

I'm the Short Friend. I've been the Short Friend since about the seventh grade. I'm the one who stands in the front of the photos, gets made fun of for their height, and still shops in the kids department.

This article is not for the Almost Short Friends, i.e. the 5'3" and 5'4" Friends. No no, this is for the Actually Short Friends, i.e. the Barely Scraping 5'1" and shorter Short Friends.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments