New Ask Amy: Crushes

Admit it: You want Amy Poehler to be your best friend, your spiritual leader, and your drinking buddy. And if you don’t yet, you will after you watch the latest Ask Amy video, in which she tells a young viewer what to do about a crush.

“Knowing what we want and saying it out loud is a lesson we learn over and over again, for our entire lives. So tell him how you feel. Maybe he likes you too!”

Goddamn, Poehler, you’re good.

Transcript below the jump.

Hi, welcome to Ask Amy. This question does not have a name, but it says, “I really like this guy. We have a lot in common but I don’t think he knows about my feelings. I’m sort of shy but I really want to be with him. What do I do?”

Well, my advice to you would be tell him that you like him. Life is short. And go for it. Why not? What’s the worst that could happen? He tells you that he doesn’t like you? So what? I mean, opening your heart and being courageous and telling people that you care about them or like them or that you think they’re special only makes you a better, bigger, kinder, softer, more loving person and only attracts more love into your life.

As far as how you want to tell him, that can vary. You can get some advice from people that know him or you can talk to some people that you trust and ask how you can approach him, it could be as simple as writing him a note or having an email that you can send to him, or just telling him very simply that you like him. Person to person stuff works better, usually than that other stuff, because you’re actually just two human beings looking at each other. And I would give you the advice of not having someone else do it, just do it yourself. I know it’s hard to be brave, and to tell someone that you like them, because you become very vulnerable and you’re putting yourself out there.

But my advice to you is if you like someone, just tell them. Just go up and tell them in some way. Let them know in some way how you feel. You don’t have to overwhelm them with your feelings. You don’t have to promise them anything. You don’t have to ask for anything, but you can just tell them. And telling your feelings is sometimes half the battle. Knowing what we want and saying it out loud is a lesson we learn over and over again, for our entire lives. So tell him how you feel. Maybe he likes you too! And if he doesn’t, he’s an idiot, because you seem really great. Thank you. This has been Ask Amy. See you soon!

New York, NY

Chloe Angyal is a journalist and scholar of popular culture from Sydney, Australia. She joined the Feministing team in 2009. Her writing about politics and popular culture has been published in The Atlantic, The Guardian, New York magazine, Reuters, The LA Times and many other outlets in the US, Australia, UK, and France. She makes regular appearances on radio and television in the US and Australia. She has an AB in Sociology from Princeton University and a PhD in Arts and Media from the University of New South Wales. Her academic work focuses on Hollywood romantic comedies; her doctoral thesis was about how the genre depicts gender, sex, and power, and grew out of a series she wrote for Feministing, the Feministing Rom Com Review. Chloe is a Senior Facilitator at The OpEd Project and a Senior Advisor to The Harry Potter Alliance. You can read more of her writing at chloesangyal.com

Chloe Angyal is a journalist and scholar of popular culture from Sydney, Australia.

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