5 posts tagged “love”

What were you doing one year ago today?
Submitted by CassandraMorgan.

 

A year ago today, I was probably crying into a Super Value Meal, chain smoking, denying that I would ever feel OK again. 

About two weeks prior, I had been unceremoniously ejected from (in retrospect) a debilitating relationship, in which I had completely lost sight of who I was.

One year later, I'm the person that I wanted to be the whole time (and I met someone that loves me for it who I absolutely love in return and who makes me feel like a sexy, funny, smart, righteous love ninja). 

Electric Firefly and I caught up online with an old friend from the Oxford days.  Turns out that she's getting married.  We asked her about her future husband, and here's what she had to say:

He really does complete me in so many ways...where I am outgoing and sometimes allow outbursts of opinions before I think, he is more introverted and thinks carefully before speaking; where I am more cynical and negative about life (after the crap I deal with each day), he sees more of the good in people and tries to remind me of their potential instead of their past; he keeps me grounded; he reminds me to stay true to my inner kid; he has dreams of seeing all the places I've already been and all of those places that neither of us have ever been; he has such a good business head that combines nicely with my creativity (that I think I never realized I had).

Beautiful, isn't it?  It's the love that we all strive for, it's the love that we all hopefully have, but can't verbalize quite as well . . .

Mazel tov, my Southern belle!

It's been a hard past few days for me and my man-friend.  We're at the three month mark where you start to freak out because it stops being casual fun dating, and it starts feeling real. 

And feeling real, for me, stirs up a lot of the muck from the past, much of which I'm actively taking out on the present.

So I've taken to looking at it like stretching: breathe into it - it will hurt less, and you will become more flexible in the long run.

Courtesy of Seth Godin:

Make something happen

If I had to pick one piece of marketing advice to give you, that would be it.

Now.

Make something happen today, before you go home, before the end of the week. Launch that idea, post that post, run that ad, call that customer. Go the edge, that edge you've been holding back from... and do it today. Without waiting for the committee or your boss or the market. Just go.

While Seth is discussing this in terms of marketing strategy, it's good advice for living.

 

I am now home from an amazing trip to Maine to see one of my best friends get married.  It was an opportunity for me to unplug for a few days and empty out the confusion that has plagued me for the past few months.  Permit me to be sentimental, and share a few thoughts.

1. If you are strong enough to climb a hill, there is nothing wrong with your body.  If you are strong enough to put one foot in front of the other, there is nothing wrong with your body.  If you can breathe, there is nothing wrong with your body.  Your body is an imperfect machine, but it is much, much stronger than you think.  Stop being critical.

2. Being anyone's Plan B is not acceptable.  (Being your own Plan B is even less so.)  If you are not Plan A to the person who is your Plan A, accept this, and go find the person to whom you will be Plans A - Z and beyond.

3. Simply loving someone is not enough to last a lifetime.  It takes so much more.

4. If you can take an honest look at yourself and say that you can flourish and grow more effectively without the person that you love, you do not need to marry this person.  This is hard to see in the moment, true.  If you have your doubts, ask someone to help you learn to be honest.

5. True friends love and support you regardless of what a fuck-up you are.  They accept the fact that you are a fuck-up and will help you through it.  But you have to ask.  You can't expect them to just know that you need them.

6. Take a moment to look around you. You will be amazed at how much you miss when you're too wrapped up in things that won't matter in ten minutes.

7. Unplugging is scary. Unplugging is also necessary to clear your head.

8. If you have never done something, how do you know that you don't enjoy it?

9. Holding hands is a true pleasure.

10. You will get a mosquito bite on your face.  Your iPod will eat your wedding song.  You will get a flat tire, a blister, a sunburn even though it's cloudy.  You will get hurt, abandoned, have your heart stomped on and handed back to you.  You will get through it – maybe not today, or next week.  Pain and disappointment fade over time.