5 Ways to Compliment Someone using Frida Kahlo as the Example.
Frida Kahlo with her artist husband, Diego Rivera
3.7 minute read
If you want to inspire someone or tell that what a great job they are doing, why just say ‘Good Work’. Instead, tell them they are ‘Fabulous like Frida’ and use a story from her past to give depth to what it is you are trying to say… why not even take it a step further and use one of our ‘Fabulous like Frida’ stickers and slap that on them ;)… I mean, can we please stop looking at the Kardashians for inspiration and start looking at ‘real’ people with hardcore lives that are just fabulous to say the least? So here are just some of Frida Kahlo’s attributes and why I think she has these qualities… I’m sure you will be able to work them into conversation next time someone needs a pick me up in one of these areas ;).
1. Self-Confident- Frida didn’t play into vanity and beauty standards. She always painted her moustache and monobrow which she never waxed off… and it’s lucky she didn’t because her most expensive self-portrait, ‘Roots’, was sold at auction for US$5.62 million in 2006… and maybe that’s a lesson to all of us out there, particularly women, to stop using filters, waxing everything, poking and prodding and dieting our lives away, because not only is a hairy Frida worth US$5.6 million, but the most expensive female self-portrait ever sold was, ‘Propped’, by Jenny Saville which went for US$12.4 million in 2018…. And this showed a very overweight Jenny, nude on a stool. Hmm, this is making me re-question my beauty regime… but back to the point. Frida was self-confident, let’s remind others to be the same and learn to love their so called, ‘flaws’, because maybe they aren’t flaws at all. Maybe they are a million-dollar attribute. Next time someone puts themselves down, try ‘well a Frida Kahlo portrait is worth millions and she never hid her so called flaws’.
Roots, 1943. Oil on metal. Frida Kahlo
2. Resilient- Frida contracted polio as a child. This left her in bed for months on end and having to miss school. The end result was a right leg that was shorter and thinner than her left and she was also left with a limp. When she did return to school Frida was bullied, due to her disability. But did her disability stop her? Oh no, this woman was fierce. Not only was she ridiculously smart and on track to study medicine, but she also became arguably the most famous female artist of our time. So, who’s laughing now? Next time someone worries about being bullied, not being enough, or their disability… tell them this story.
3. Trailblazer- When you saw this, you probably thought I was going to talk about her being a female artist… and you’re not wrong, she did trailblaze in this area… but this wasn’t the only area. Did you know that even with her disability, she loved sport- and sports that at the time were not seen as ‘appropriate for girls’? Frida played soccer and loved wrestling and I have no idea if she was any good at them, but does it matter? This woman did what she wanted despite the so called, ‘social rules’, and that rocks. So, if you know someone who enjoys doing something, but it’s not seen as, ‘socially inappropriate for their gender’, or they just want to have a go at something that not many people before them have done, I say tell them to stick it to the man and do it anyway. Frida would have.
4. Dedicated- Maybe this word underplays it, but the only other one I could think of was workaholic, which carries a negative connotation… just because someone is passionate and works hard, it is not always a bad thing (at least that’s what I tell myself, lol). Frida was pretty much dedicated to whatever she was doing whether it was study, being in love or working on her art. And thank goodness she was dedicated. She ended up producing 143 amazing paintings that the world deserved to see. She worked from her bed, from her wheelchair, in her garden, wherever she could. I mean, this woman was so dedicated that she went to her first ever solo exhibition in an ambulance and had her bed delivered to the space on a truck so that she could be there for the duration of the opening. Talk about not letting obstacles get in your way! Next time someone is making excuses, use Frida as the example to motivate them to get moving again.
Frida Kahlo’s bed with the mirror above, allowing her to paint her self portraits while lying down.
5. Fighter- Was this woman tough or not? Not only was Frida left disabled from contracting polio at age 6, her tragedies did not stop there. She had to live through the Mexican revolution as a child. She was expelled from one school for being a ‘troublemaker’ (yes you know I love troublemakers because often they are on their way to brilliance or upturning some archaic and unfair law- case in point, Frida Kahlo was definitely on her way to brilliance), but then at her next school she was betrayed by someone who was supposed to be there to care for her, not hurt her. Then at 18, she was travelling on a bus which collided with a car. This nearly killed her as an iron handrail literally went through her hip and out the other side. On top of this, the accident broke her spinal column, ribs, collarbone, pelvis and right leg in 11 places and dislocated her shoulder! It took 35 operations for her to recover (as much as one can from an accident like this), and left her in chronic pain. During this time Frida had to wear at least 28 different corsets made from everything including leather to steel, to try to correct her spine…yay, I love a steel corset- so comfy, mmmmm not. Frida also walked with ulcers on the bottom of her feet for years before finding a doctor that was able to help close them. Unfortunately, the trouble with her feet kept growing and in 1953, one year before her death, gangrene set in to her right leg and it had to be amputated below the knee. From here on Frida wore a prosthetic limb. You think the woman would deserve a break after this but no… she met and married Diego Rivera who not only cheated on her throughout their marriage but was already married to two other women when he married Frida! One of the affairs was even with Frida’s younger sister- OMG poor Frida (Yes, Frida cheated, ended up cheating too, but I have to wonder if this was a coping mechanism… or maybe I’m just biased because I like Frida more than Diego ;). So, this obviously was not the start of a fairy-tale romance. Frida would also never bear a child, which I have to assume she aspired to, due to the fact that she was pregnant multiple times but unfortunately lost them all. Frida and Diego’s marriage was turbulent to say the least and they did end up getting a divorce, only to remarry a year later (I said she was dedicated). After their second marriage, and when Frida was very sick, Diego had yet another affair which sent Frida over the edge. At this stage she battled a serious bout of depression…. Poor Frida, she really did have it tough in a lot of ways, but her life was also full… and there are so many more stories I could tell you about her that show just how rich and great her life really was, despite some of these upsets…. Honestly, you could use any one of these examples to describe what a fighter she was and use her life as an example for what can still be achieved in spite of what the world may throw at you. Fighters deserve praise and need hope at times…. Frida Kahlo’s story would, in my opinion, surely give people hope, that if she got through it, and was also actually brilliant… then why can’t they get through it and also achieve something great?
One of Frida Kahlo’s corsets and her prosthetic limb
So next time you want to give someone a compliment or a motivational boost, please tell them they are fabulous like Frida… Hey, maybe even consider buying our sticker pack that has her in it! ;). She’s such a fricken legend.