Hey guys it's Janet Voski. Today I'm going to do a poetry reading from my second poetry and prose book titled X. Let's go. If you are reading along at home the entry is titled Blue Moon. It is within chapter 7 which is titled Exude on page 96. I don't compete with you. I compete with my past me submerging myself to take a breather wanting to better myself. So when asked who I look up to the answer is Blue Moon's aren't that common either. I love this entry. I think I say that about a lot of my work actually all of it but that's okay. I do. But I particularly love this entry because it reflects the way that I maintain my mental health. If we begin to dissect the entry I don't compete with you. I compete with my past me. So I compete with myself and only myself. Kind of like walking into a room and not comparing what I'm wearing with others, my makeup with others or whatever it may be. It's just walking into a room and possessing confidence and believing in yourself and knowing who you are. It's a form of confidence that does come over time. Another perspective of this in terms of me competing with my past is looking at who I was a year ago, two years ago. It could even be last week to see if I am continually becoming a better person and doing things that make me feel like I'm becoming a better person or just learning more about myself that gives me that confidence that will improve my mental health. Also something else that I like asking myself and a way to measure that for myself is would my younger self, would she feel safer around me? Would she look up to me? The answer is yes. I think I am and have become the woman that I always looked up to when I was younger and I think to be able to admit that is such a beautiful and a full circle kind of moment. So will I consistently improve myself and not compete with anybody but myself? Yes. I think it's very difficult to not compete with others in the sense that you look at something on social media and online and you immediately compare that what you see to your life and how you feel. But I think it's so important for us to remember that most people don't post when they're upset. I will definitely write about it but that is after I've overcome it and given perspective that I want my readers to have to not feel alone or improve their mentality but I digress. So let's keep dissecting. Submerging myself to take a breather. This line reflects again my mental health and the importance of having that self awareness of when you need to take yourself away from a situation to focus on yourself. So an example of this would be understanding if you're an extroverted person, introverted person or ambivirt which is a mixture of both. And I sit smack bang right in the middle but there are days where I love being around people but sometimes I feel overwhelmed or exhausted if I haven't had a long time. So it's understanding what works for your mental health and when you need to start making action to improve it. I think it's very important to recognize what actually helps your mental health because it's different for everybody so it could be me being alone whereas for others it would be hanging out with their friends. Regardless it's really important to know what actually is beneficial for you and what makes you feel better. Okay let's continue. Wanting to better myself so when asked to I look up to the answer is blue moons aren't that common either. I always smile when I say that. So I particularly love the way I wrote the line so when asked to I look up to and the reason for that is because when we were kids we were always asked oh who do you want to be when you grow up? Who do you look up to the most? And I vividly remember being asked that at least a couple of different times in school but now no one really... no one asks us that because we should be that if that makes sense. So I love the fact that I wrote who I look up to so it's alluding to a who a someone but then you read the next line and it's a theme the moon and the reason why I did that is because knowing that I don't compete with anybody has per the first two lines I wanted it to reflect to those. Ah no party intended moon. Anyway also knowing that blue moons are relatively rare so blue moon is a full moon that is seen twice in the same month and I'm sure you've heard of the phrase once in a blue moon which means something that relatively rarely occurs. I particularly like the connection of mental health and the reference to blue moon because I see that as a reflection of who we are or who we can be. An example of what I mean is somebody who has not healed from their past and deliberately hurts others. For someone to deliberately hurt somebody else they have not healed they have not submerged themselves to take a breather they have not had the opportunity to allow themselves to feel their emotions overcome their grief or trauma or whatever it is to become a better person. So the way that I wanted to refer to the blue moon was that we all have that capacity and ability to become better people but essentially it is a decision that we all have to consciously make. While this entry and this video touches on mental health I want to take this opportunity to express that it is very important to reach out to your friends and loved ones. It could even be to make a stranger smile because you don't know or don't realize the impact you truly make on other people's lives whether you realize it or not I can guarantee you that you have made an impact on somebody else's life. I hope you enjoyed watching this video if you are interested in buying a copy of my book X or any of the other books that I have written and published. I'll leave them all in the description below. Thank you so much for watching and see you next time. Bye! Hey guys it's Janet Bosky. Today I'm going to do a poetry reading. I loved my book over there. Hey guys it's Janet Bosky. Today I'm going to do a poetry reading. Poetry reading. Oh it's still recording.