Photo courtesy of Olandria Carthen.
Welcome to Seek Help, a new column where we enlist Interview’s wisest and weirdest friends to give us answers to life’s most profound questions. For our third installment, we tapped Olandria Carthen, the straight-talking stunner from Love Island USA’s seventh season. Before Monday’s hotly anticipated reunion, she dropped by to give her unfiltered thoughts on situationships, self-sabotage, and the importance of knowing your angles.
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What do I do if I’m in a situationship but I really want him to make it official?
Let him know. Closed mouths don’t get fed. If his reaction is what you want it to be, continue to build on what you have. If it’s the opposite of what you want it to be, and I think we all know where I’m going with this one, leave, leave, leave and save your energy.
I want to be kinder to myself, but I literally have no idea where to start. Help, please.
Affirmations. Start by speaking to yourself in the mirror. I am beautiful, I am handsome, I will be successful. Or you can choose to place random sticky notes around your house with different affirmations on them. Every time you go do the most random things like open a refrigerator, you’ll read that to yourself.
I want to be mysterious, but I’m a chronic yapper who overshares every time I open my mouth. How do I fix that?
I used to always share on social media. And one day I decided, “You know what? I kind of don’t care for people to know what I’m doing or what my next move is.” So just sit back, relax, observe, and it’s going to become something that you’ll like.
How do I look hotter in pics?
Confidence. You see confidence, you wear it. You’ve got to look confident. And know your angles. Between confidence and knowing your angles, those are the key to good-looking pictures.
Help me hack into my man’s Instagram.
Now, if you got to do all that, I don’t think you need to be with that man. If you got to do all this FBI work to make sure he’s being loyal to you, leave that man and go be with somebody else. I might throw a little therapy in there too, because we’ve all been there. No shame. Protect your peace before anything.
I self-sabotage when things get good. Why and how do I stop?
Honestly, I’ve been there a lot. Sometimes you got to say yourself, “You know what? Things are going great. This person’s being very good to me, or I’m experiencing all these good things and I deserve it. I deserve good things.” I think we’re used to getting let down and when things are good, so it makes us paranoid. Just take a step back, think about it, reiterate your thoughts, and go in with an open mind. We don’t all need to go through a lot of trauma and craziness in order to get what we need or what we want.
What should I put on my Love Island application?
Love Island loves crazy personalities. But when it comes to answering questions and things like that, be true to yourself. They’ve been in the game a long time, and they’re going to be able to see through your craziness. So come as you and they will love you.
