This could be quite a peculiar post and one that you may think is out of place in this blog all about Laos, Meditation and Spirituality! However I think that if you read that quote you will see what I mean when I write about how to live like Marilyn Monroe.
I think most people reading this post will have some kind of understanding of who Marilyn Monroe was. Apart from being the most beautiful woman of her time (as some have said), she was also a bit of a free spirit and someone who really took life by the horns.
Even though I am extolling the virtues of this particular quote, we should still know all the facts, and the facts are that Marilyn Monroe lived a pretty tempestuous life and died way before her time.
For those who kind of know her, but not really that much, I will start with very brief history of her.
History
Born: Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926, she was originally from a foster home. However she didn’t let that stop her and soon rose to become a well known celebrity, actress and model.
Her mother, Gladys was mentally ill and not able to support her daughter financially or to give the proper care needed to look after a young Norma Jeane, so she placed her with foster parents Albert and Ida Bolender of Hawthorne, California, where she lived until she was seven.
She quickly rose to prominence due in part to her looks, but also because her fiery temperament and can do attitude.
Starting as a model for morale-boosting photographs for Yank, the Army Weekly magazine of young women helping the war effort, she garnered a sizable following as a pin up model.
Now I know that this can sound quite staid in today’s modern and (rightly) feminist world, but attitudes were vastly different back then and so we can only take what we can from the attitudes of the time.
According to Wikipedia:
In 1947, Monroe had been released from her contract with 20th Century Fox. She then met with Hollywood pin-up photographer Bruno Bernard, who photographed her at the Racquet Club of Palm Springs; and it was at the Racquet Club where she met Hollywood talent agent Johnny Hyde. In 1948, Monroe signed a six-month contract with Columbia Pictures and was introduced to the studio’s head drama coach Natasha Lytess, who became her acting coach for several years
She then embarked on a very successful film career, becoming one of the most popular and well known personalities of the century. However this was to come to an abrupt end in 1962.
Death
On August 5, 1962, at 4:25 a.m., Monroe was found dead at her home at 12305 Fifth Helena Drive in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California. She was only 36 years old and at the subsequent autopsy, eight mg/dL of chloral hydrate and 4.5 mg/dL of Nembutal were found in her system
There is much more to this fascinating woman and I sincerely suggest doing some research about her to find out more information. I would discuss further here but the main point of this post is to analyse the quote.
Quote analysis
It could be argued that as a result of actually living this quote, her life descending into chaos was only inevitable. However I want to focus on the positives that can come out of it.
The reason why I think that this is a truly great post is because of one sentence right at the end:
“Because at one point everything you did was exactly what you wanted to do”
Whenever you do something stupid that you think you may regret later in your life, you should always remember that at this exact moment in time it is this only thing you want to do. You want to do it, so do it!
Of course there are certainly downsides to doing this and I certainly don’t condone going out living a purely hedonistic life just because you enjoyed it that day!
You should try to find the balance between doing the things that make you happy now, and the things that you think will ultimately give you future happiness.
But in general you must try to remember that everything you do was done for a reason. Whether or not the reason was good or bad, you actively chose to do whatever it was.
What it means to me
This quote is very similar to a previous quote that I have written about before as a quick quote analysis. It is basically talking about how you should stop over thinking things or thinking too much about certain things, and just go out and live your life.
For me it meant that instead of procrastinating and getting stuck in an analysis paralysis state, I told my family what I was going to do (i.e. move to Laos!), got some of my effects in order and then jumped on a plane.
It also means that instead of over thinking a blog post for Tansamai and never getting around to actually writing one, I just think to myself what is the worst that could happen and then get on with writing something and putting pen to paper, (or finger to keyboard). For me, writing a blog post like this is really for purely cathartic reasons. I love to write and blog and so on.
Even if my wonderful readers end up hating it and think that it is absolute rubbish, at this time right now, I am enjoying writing it and who cares about those who hate it! (Of course I do appreciate constructive criticism in the comments to help me improve).
How to live like Marilyn Monroe…
As I have previously asked, what is it that you really want to do? Where do you want to go in life? This quote seems to be asking these questions if you read between the lines.
Finding a balance between living your life the way you want and going completely crazy and falling into the abyss is the key to this pursuit.
This is much easier said than done and also open to interpretation depending on how you see life or what culture you come from.
However the message that I think Marilyn Monroe was trying to get across is, Live your life right now, don’t worry too much about the future.
The future hasn’t even happened yet, how silly to think about something that changes every millisecond!
If someone asks you to go and do something but you are a bit tired and just want to watch the TV, (I have been there!), just say yes. What is the worst that can happen?
The world will hot implode because of your choice, but your world will certainly expand because of it.
I have so many friends on my Facebook account who are always talking about things they want to do:
- I want to go to …
- I wish I could…
- If I won the lottery I would…
- I hate my job but…
The list goes on, but if all of these people just stopped for a moment and thought to themselves how to live like Marilyn Monroe and saw the quote above and acted on it, they would all increase their happiness by a measurable factor.
Conclusion
Well I think that I have said everything that needs to be said about this quote from my own personal point of view.
So the conclusion I guess, would be to ask all of you my wonderful readers to get out there and live your lives to the fullest.
I will just leave you with one thing:
“at one point everything you did was exactly what you wanted to do”
So there we have it, my opinion on how to live like Marilyn Monroe. Take or leave is up to you, but as I said previously I really love to hear some feedback about this blog, my writing, how I can improve, what Tansamai means to you, what life means to you. Anything really.
I have been receiving a lot of mail to my email account which is great, but I think it would be better if you guys could post to the comments section so that everyone else can benefit from it.
Thanks for reading this far down and I will see you soon 🙂