After the Morning After - your youth disappears...

"As I sit and ponder your effect on me... the thought makes me smile subconsciously."  


No matter where you find it, this is what we are all searching for whether knowingly or unknowingly.  The love, the pitter-patter of your heartbeat that turns into lust in your loins... the dream as a kid afforded by the blind optimism of youth.  I will have a beautiful woman, I will have a handsome suitor - we'll have a dog, an argyle sweater vest wearing son, and an adorable plaid pleated skirt wearing daughter and we'll live each day in love, laughter, and unabashed devotion vacationing in the South of France.  It's not until later in life that your optimism is stripped bare and beaten to a pulp by the neighborhood bully, or in most cases, your first love! That first taste of love, raw emotion, guiltless pleasure, and s-e-x!!  Woo-hoo!! Hell, after that, your parents can't tell you anything, laws mean nothing, colors are brighter, you seem smarter, and a strong fearlessness settles into your soul - YOU'RE IN LOVE! Everything else fades into the background, until... he/she breaks your heart... oh bloody hell, now everything's RUINED... food has no taste, you can't focus, you don't care about your appearance, your breath stinks, he's/she's gone - why does anything else matter? Dear God, why hast thou forsaken me?! lol.  Sad part is... the cycle of life will continue without you.  You will eventually pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and life assuredly goes on...  How you recover from your first love/heartbreak, will have consequences on all your relationships going forward.  Trust me.

So fast forward to adulthood...

You are an adult.  You cannot claim ignorance for the situations you put yourself into anymore.  Your youth is behind you and the remnants of that period face you day after day.  Whether they crawl out of bed with dragon breath and Spongebob Squarepants pajamas, are attached to your being in the form of bad knees and dark circles under your eyes, or gawk at you from a stack of bills on your counter - one fact remains the same... YOUR YOUTH IS GONE!!

What does life and love consist of After the Morning After - your youth disappears?  For some of us, it's about doing things that kids half our age are doing - partying, drinking, smoking, and leaving our kids to figure out life on their own.  For others of us, it's full time work, part time play, and sporadic moments of pleasure from spouses or partners that we may or may not want to keep around full time.  It's about the juggle.  It's about how we transition from being a selfish teenager to a productive member of society who actively seeks life, liberty and happiness.  Our definition of those three things - routes our journey.

For me, it's about understanding what happens next and maintaining my excitement at what God has in store for me.  I work hard everyday so that I can vacation with my girls (would be my man, if I had one).  I try to experience new things, step outside of the box, color outside of the lines, and exercise outside of the house.  I learn rules so that I can bend them - I educate myself on something new weekly (daily would be exhausting!) and I try to encourage others to do the same.

My cousin (a very intelligent man) told me that he found it really interesting that I use p90x analogies to describe life!  He was being sarcastic, but I think it's spot on.  Tony Horton says that the key to p90x is muscle confusion, you keep them in shape by switching up exercises and not doing the same thing all the time.  I think life needs some muscle confusion too!!  How can you become a better person, mother, father, thinker, worker, or lover by doing the same thing everyday?  How will you ever progress in life?  Answer: YOU WON'T!  Don't be afraid to flip the script.  To do something different.  Go outside the norm - the norm sucks!!!

I challenge you to evaluate your morning after - and if you find that you are not where you want to be, find a way to change it.  Find a way to get there!  We're in a recession people, this is where you get creative!

We have a lot more to talk about...

Stay with me!