Connor Franta
29 quotes
Biography
"I don’t want anyone to hold back who they are. It’s not okay… it’s not a good thing"
"All that pressure you feel when you're growing up - especially self-imposed pressure - is not fun. It's no walk in the park to feel as if all eyes are on you, even when 99 percent of the time they're actually not."
"Parents don't understand cool. Never have. Never will."
"In life, you need to allow yourself the room to do what you want to do with the precious time you're given. Give yourself permission. You then have to actually do it. Allow yourself to go there and add your splash of color to the world."
"In my experience, if you let your scars own you, they will. Don't give them that power. Don't let them stunt your growth and progress."
"Social media is the most warped mirror to look into. You risk measuring your self-worth by the number of likes you receive. Here's the bottom line: if you're truly confident, you don't need to seek the likes of others. And if you're not so confident, then fuel your self-esteem with the love of your friends and family."
"Once the innocence was wiped clean from my eyes, I saw life for what it is: complicated."
"Everyone thinks their monsters are visible to the world, but they're not - they're figments of our overblown imaginations, warped projections of our own self-image. Once you stop seeing them, they'll fully disappear. Yes, it's that easy."
"You're a bud covered in snow in the garden of your mind. Just wait for spring."
"And all of this is unfolding before my very eyes on an average day, begging the question: WHY. IS. EVERYONE. IN. SUCH. A. DAMN. HURRY? Why the constant rush?"
"It's crazy what you'll see, hear, and feel if you stop and let the world continue to move around you for even just a minute. […] Basically I'm trying to pay attention. I mean, I have to force myself to do it through fits of angst, but the fire has been lit and here I am: trying to be mindful of my surroundings and the people around me. Noting the detail. […] I invite you to give it a try right now […] and be in the moment with yourself for a few minutes Try it."
"I can't pinpoint the exact moment in time when I realised I was falling in love, but my move to California had a lot to do with it. Once immersed in an openly gay environment, I quickly understood that men loving men (and women loving women) was normal. It was BEAUTIFUL, in fact. […] And let's just say in West Hollywood, you see a lot of gay people. They're everywhere, unashamedly being true to who they are, and who they love. It was the single most refreshing thing to witness. […] Those couples became a symbol of hope to me, and to see them firsthand made me think it was possible for me to be like them. To love. To be happy. It was actually possible to dream of the future. The future I wanted to have."
"People don't realise the daily power they have to make others happy. All it takes is a few kind words, delivered without expectation. It's not much, honestly. Giving someone a compliment or slight encouragement is the one thing any of us can do, at any time. It's free, it's easy, and, boy, can it do the world wonders."
"The only way to crack a real problem is to face it. Look your issues dead in the eye and sort out the beef between you."
"You have control over your thoughts; thoughts do not have control over you. They're like little dirt specks on the windshield of life that you simply need to wipe away. […] We give dark thoughts our power. Why would we ever think that mere thoughts are stronger than us? They're not. We can outwit them. Rule them. Survive them. They represent internal stormy weather ... and all storms pass. [...] You know that positivity exists - you only have to sift through the rubble a bit."
"Knowing what I know now, there are a few things I would love to tell my younger self: have faith in yourself and what you're doing, keep on trekking, and trust that everything will fall into place. It's okay not to know where you're headed, so long as you keep moving forward. Just pick up the pieces along the way, accrue knowledge, keep learning, and keep going. [...] Eventually, you'll reach a place in your life where you'll stop, glance over your shoulder, see the completed circle, and finally understand the reason why your journey took you down a strange path."
"The initial shock of coming out was strange and a bit uncomfortable. But after a few weeks, everything got so much better. The best way to describe it is that I simply felt light, free of a burdensome secret that was weighing on not only my mind but my entire being. After I was able to utter the words "I am gay" to other people, I was overcome with relief, as if saying those words purged built-in toxins from my body. I felt alive again. Healed from the inside. Renewed. Empowered."
"Politeness often blocks honesty. That seems to be the way of the world. Nobody wants to be the one who tells a person some uncomfortable, perhaps unflattering, home truths."
"Nothing is permanent."
"sometimes even the worst dreams are better than this reality"
"Why tomorrow when there is today?"
"When a moment in front of me appears to be particularly special, whether it be by beauty or experience, I capture it. I usually find a reason to justify taking that photo - symmetry, or color, or contrast - and it's my hope that my photography sheds light onto what I see and do on a daily basis."
"Never think you can't do something. I definitely never thought I could write a book, and even after I started writing it, I was like, 'Oh my God, how am I gonna write a book?' Just set your sights high and reach for the stars. Go live your dreams, and never think you can't."
"I'm very into Taylor Swift. From her music to her wardrobe, she is absolutely killing it. Also, she has adorable cats that I would love to pet."
"Race, gender, religion, sexuality, we are all people and that's it. We're all people. We're all equal."