Two nights ago,  I went to see and listen to Paulina Porizkova, supermodel, actress, and author at the UAlbany Writers Institute. She is known by kids of the 80s from her appearance in the video "Drive" by The Cars - where she also met her husband, lead singer Ric Ocasek. She's been blowing up Instagram with her thoughts about aging, beauty, and more. She's controversial because she unapologetically tries to both celebrate and interrogate ideas of beauty, especially in a woman in her late 50s. She also talks and writes about the death - and betrayal - of her husband and the very real experience of grieving while under COVID lockdown. 
She's also a writer with three published books. She was talking about her most recent one, a memoir told through a collection of essays titled No Filter: The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful. I admit I don't know that much about her or her work, but she came off as thoughtful, vulnerable, and truthful. Here are some of my thoughts about some of the discussion. 
I think one thing that was very meaningful to me at this moment in my life was her talking about how she deals with anxiety. She explained she feels anxiety, but she decides she's "not going to let anxiety win" and pushes herself to do what she's afraid of. Simple, but that's something that was especially helpful to hear, especially from someone who has already achieved success.    Paulina also talks about how people see famous people as a reflection or mirror of what they think that person is, not who that person really is. I've long found this an interesting theme. Why are we so fascinated by the famous? Just this morning I found myself caught up in watching "reels" of famous people doing every day things. A while back I wrote a novel that featured a supermodel. The basic premise was an "ordinary" woman discovering that she has a sister she never knew about - who is now a famous supermodel - which explores this theme (and others, mainly about family). 
Paulina went to see a psychic when she was young who told her she'd be famous and in movies, but that eventually she'd be a writer. At the time she balked at being "an old lady writer." "And now I'm an old lady writer!" she said with glee. I'm not sure what my exact takeaway is here, but I thought it was cool and interesting and perhaps says something about while we might have some ideas about how our life might go, we never know how we are going to ultimately get there. (I also always find it intriguing when people provide stories of psychic abilities. Is it possible? I don't know, but in this world, I think there is still so much we don't know (and perhaps never will. So I just see what lessons I can take away from it, rather than worry about whether something is true or not.)