Michelle Obama Fabulous On The December Issue Of Vogue Magazine

“Everything we do is by choice. I could have spent eight years doing anything, and at some level, it would have been fine. I could have focused on flowers.

I could have focused on decor. I could have focused on entertainment. Because any First Lady, rightfully, gets to define her role. There’s no legislative authority; you’re not elected. And that’s a wonderful gift of freedom.”

On the most demanding part of being the First Lady, vibrant Mrs Obama says:

 “I have to be in tune All the time. I have to be in tune with my husband, where he is, how he’s feeling. I have to be in tune with where my family is. The same thing is true in the work that I do. It’s all about me feeling where people are. So that’s why I try to be really present, even when I’m on a rope line.

I never take for granted my interactions with people. And it’s never black-and-white. I’m usually reading the crowd, reading the people that I’m with. I guess if this role has changed me, it’s improved my ability to do that. I’ve gotten better at sensing where people are at any given time.”

On leaving the White House, Mrs Obama said:

“It’s time. I think our democracy has it exactly right: two terms, eight years. It’s enough. Because it’s important to have one foot in reality when you have access to this kind of power.

The nature of living in the White House is isolating. And I think Barack and I—because we’re kind of stubborn—we’ve maintained some normalcy, mostly because of the age of our kids. I go out to dinner with my girlfriends; I go to Sasha’s games; Barack has coached a little basketball with Sasha’s team. But at the same time, when you can’t walk into CVS?”

In addition, she vows to continue fighting on behalf of the issues she cares about.

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“I will always be engaged in some way in public service and public life,” she said. I’ve always felt very alive using my gifts and talents to help other people. I sleep better at night. I’m happier.”

Mrs. Obama also likes to spend so much time learning from young people.

”Kids are watching us. I experience it every single day. They hang on my every word, what I wear, what I say. They are writing papers about us. They come to us and they’re like, ‘I dressed like you for Halloween’.

It makes us want to live right and do right and be right—Every. Single. Day—so that we don’t ever disappoint these kids and they have something to hold on to, and so that they know—as I say all the time—I can do this. You can do this,” she said.

Photo credit: Vogue