TIME AFTER TIME...

HAPPY 2013!!!

No disrespect to Mick Jagger and The Stone's awesome song,

but Tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime, ain't on our side!

2012's most-valuable lesson to me is that lousy cliche:

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE.

The younger we are, the more invicible we feel, and invariably, life will hand us a huge dose of

gotcha usually as soon as get comfy believing we've gotten it all figured out. We bust our backs burning the candle at both ends trying to be productive. We starve ourselves of some of the BEST joys of life, our fave foods and drink, trying to sculpt bodies worthy of sample-sized perfection. We follow the Golden Rule and do unto others until we're blue in the face, and they still don't include us in their thoughts, much less their lives. We fall into a Hallmark moment spiderweb of 'If only I _____, then life will be PERFECT!'. 

2012 sent me on my life's biggest hairpin rollercoaster, and in 2013, I plan to come out the other side.

I've learned some pretty basic and logical things along the way:

I'm 30 lbs heavier than my hubby ever knew me. He loves me anyway.

Whatever my blood type, body type, or geographic diet region, weight loss occurs at calories expended more than calories in. MOVE IT!

It's ok to work on things about myself that bug me, but it's not ok to try to be someone else to please others. If any relationship takes 24/7 work, maybe it's not meant to be 'that kind' of relationship?! Treat those closest to me as kindly and civilly as I would a stranger I've just met.

Loss will take you to your knees. Life will never be the same having lost my baby brother. There is a permanent percentage of sadness that underlies every thought and action in my life. But that shall be balanced, off and on, by happiness, smiles, laughter and love. As I once told him years ago, 'If we all have to go sometime, why not just hang around and see what happens?!'. I don't try to get over his death, get through it, forget it, leave it behind, etc. Wouldn't be able to accomplish those Herculean efforts were I Hercules! But I'll learn to co-exist with the void he left, and fill it with the gratitude of the years we enjoyed together, and the memories we made therein.

When the tears come, let 'em. They'll just find another way out, and it may be even less pleasant than rolling down the cheeks. Then go to the beach. Read. Ride a bike in the fresh air. DANCE. Have you ever just danced for the hell of it? Alone? With the abandon of a gypsy woman (Bryan Hyland, I still LOVE that song!) gyrating by the nite fire? It WORKS!

We seem to revel in conforming our lives into what other's wish, what we think we wish (usually based on what other's wish for us), and what society deems 'correct'. Eff that. ChChChChanges are where it's at! Predictable lives get to be boring. Cloned people? Boring! Shake it off and shake it up! The world is such a huge vast place, with all its differences, its options, its beauty. Life, with all its curve balls, is meant for the LIVING. It's ok to plow through EXISTING when your day has just dragged you to the depths. But YOLO didn't become so annoying without being fact based! 

CARPE DIEM!!!

Stress has been one of my fave research topics for decades. Cos I have too much of it. To the point I have a double muffin top from the extra cortisol I always carry around. Enough is enough. When it comes to material things, I've had a little and I've had a LOT. In hindsight, I can say I'm happiest when I pare STUFF down to less. In every aspect of my life. Oprah couldn't even top that lightbulb moment for me! The biggest puzzles of life seemed to fall into place once I realized that we can have too much, do too much, be too much to too many... 

Pick and choose.

If the relationship is that important, accept it as it is and move forward.

Forget fashion rules, make your own STYLE!

The sky doesn't fall if we have to propel forward from negativity & toss the toxic!

Decide your REAL priorities!

If you want the mac and cheese, have some. Balance it by staying on your feet more than off them!

Move it or lose it!

Realize that if your efforts haven't changed people/things/yourself by now, move on! It's ok!

Mix metals!

Just Keep Living! (Isn't Matthew still hot?!) All we REALLY know is, we've got THIS life!

It's not often the universe lets us be our own boss, or so we think. We have a lot more say so over what happens to us, than we are able to discern at first. Watch a child or a kitten or puppy. They stick to the basics, then branch out from there! They play, love, eat, sleep, on the time tables that work for them. It's when we age and grow up, that we begin adding unnecessary to-do lists to our days' repertoire!

Listen to your body; it will tell you what it needs. When it feels right, when it doesn't.

Listen to your instinct. It will guide you when your brain tries to overthink.

Love with your heart and lessen the strings.

Be still. Boil away the ephemera and find what makes you you, and what makes you happy to BE you.

Then roll with it, Baby!!! It's sooooo liberating, so simple, you won't even need wings once you let go of the chains! You'll simply SOAR!!!