For the last three decades, Drew Barrymore has been a much loved face in both the TV and movie industries. Having first appeared on our TV screens at the tender age of eleven months and having starred in her breakout movie E.T the Extra-Terrestrial when she was just six, Drew Barrymore has become a household name as well as a worldwide sensation.
Her life and career haven’t always been plain sailing though. Over the years, Drew’s had plenty of ups and downs; she’s made a lot of mistakes, yet she doesn’t regret even a moment of it.
To her, every experience is a learning curve and instead of despairing when things don’t go her way she simply picks herself up and moves on. For me, that in itself is pretty inspiring but here are 10 other lessons we can learn from Drew Barrymore… and a few Drew Barrymore quotes just for you.
#1 Take Life as it Comes
Ever since she was a child, Drew has believed in taking each day as it comes and not worrying too much about what lies ahead. She insists life is much easier when lived that way and encourages others to do the same by saying, “I don’t know anybody’s road who’s been paved perfectly for them, there are no manuals, you don’t know what life has in store for you.”.
#2 Be Yourself
Drew is a firm believer in always being herself, no matter what other people think, and encourages everyone to do the same. She refuses to live behind a false version of herself. “I want people to love me, but it’s not going to hurt me if they don’t,” she says.
#3 Happiness is the Key to Life
Drew is a firm believer in being happy. For her, happiness is the key to everything: Success, friendship, beauty, and not to mention life. She’s often said that unhappy days are wasted days and, as a result, she’s constantly trying to pick others up knowing that happiness is infectious. On the subject of happiness and beauty she once said, “I think happiness is what makes you pretty. Period. Happy people are beautiful. They become like a mirror and they reflect that happiness.”
#4 Don’t Let People Confine You
Drew has always hated the idea of having other people define her and, as a result, confine her. She doesn’t want to be stereotyped and insists no one should be. As a result, she’s constantly trying to surprise the world while being true to herself knowing that it helps her grow as a person. She’s often said, “I want people to be blown away when I do what they don’t expect.”
#5 You Have to Grow Into Yourself
Despite having a rough few years as a child and teen, Drew blossomed into a beautiful and admirable woman in the years that followed. She urges people not to despair just because life isn’t going their way and insists that it simply means it isn’t their time to blossom yet. She says, “Everyone is like a butterfly: They start out ugly and awkward and then morph into beautiful graceful butterflies that everyone loves.”
#6 Life is for the Living
Drew isn’t the sort of woman to simply sit around and wait for life to come to her. She’s a risk taker and believes that she wouldn’t have gained her success if she wasn’t. She’s been quoted several times as saying that “if you don’t take risks, you’ll have a wasted soul” – something that ought to teach us to reach for our dreams and not to be afraid of failure.
#7 Don’t Regret Anything
As I mentioned earlier, Drew’s life hasn’t always been plain sailing. Due to her rise to fame at a young age, she had a somewhat troubled childhood which involved her smoking, drinking alcohol, drug use, and finally rehab, all before she turned fourteen.
That said, Drew never let any of that stop her from achieving her dreams and she pulled herself together to become a true role model. Looking back, she says, “I never regret anything because every little detail of your life is what made you into who you are in the end.”
#8 Beauty Comes from Within
To Drew, beauty isn’t about what people can see on the outside. It’s not about how much makeup you wear or if your hair is tidy. To her, beauty is about the soul; she believes that kindness, generosity and empathy are traits of a beautiful person. She once said, “When I lay my head on the pillow at night, I can say I was a decent person today. That’s when I feel beautiful.”
#9 Accept Yourself
Drew firmly believes that one of the first steps towards a happy life is self-acceptance, especially when it comes to our bodies. Over the years she’s often talked about how she wishes more women would love themselves and on the subject of her own body she says, “God made a very obvious choice when he made me voluptuous; why would I go against what he decided for me? My limbs work, so I’m not going to complain about the way my body is shaped.”
#10 You Won’t Always Win at Life
As I mentioned earlier, Drew is a big believer in taking risks but this trait has taught her a lot about losing and failure. This isn’t something that bothers her though and instead she just picks herself up and takes another risk, accepting her failure for what it was. “You’ve just got to do the best that you can,” she says, knowing that it won’t always be enough but that it’s the trying that counts.
So there you have it: 10 awesome Drew Barrymore quotes and things we can learn from this inspiring, multi-talented artist.
Will you be sticking to her lessons or do you have some tips of your own? I’d love to hear!
Cover photo: www.weheartit.com
All her lessons are worth following. I’d like to add another one.Trust your intuition. It will never fail you.