Sunday, July 27, 2008

The Importance of Thrilling Yourself
Part 2

I am all about thrilling myself... I say, defiantly, as if 8 months ago I wasn't laying in bed despairing over the extraordinary downfall of my life with just a tubful of Twizzlers and a Chihuahua to comfort me.

Okay, so I haven't always been all about thrilling myself. It's just that for a while, I was all about being down in the dumps and then I realized, that was not working for me. If this blog serves as anything, it's a journal about a girl who's spent a lot of time being bogged down, overwhelmed, certainly stressed out and not so psyched that life can be a big fat monotonous routine.

And then doing something about it.

(Here's a kicky, little story about "boredom": I took my little nephew to Griffith Park today. It's the biggest park in the US with beautiful trails, play grounds, an Observatory. It's spectacular.

He looked at it in all it's green mountain splendor and said, "This looks so boring." I gazed into his little five year-old eyes and said, "Wait until you have a job, have to pay bills, buy and maintain a house, worry about advancing your career and if you're ever going to find someone to love you. Then I think being chauffeured around in an air conditioned car to a beautiful park where you are bought anything you want on a whim by your guilt-ridden aunt who never sees you, will then, NOT SEEM SO BORING."

My sister asked that I please stop scaring her son.)


Back to my original point. As most of you know, I resurrected the Adventure Bowl as a way to force myself out of a major state of bummed-outted-ness after my cousin died, ETC.

The "ETC." is capped 'cuz, ya, know, it reflects so many things that went wrong in such a short amount of time after that.

The Adventures are a way to keep life a little unexpected, a dash of fun and a whole heaping of THRILLING. I pulled the Bowl out today, just swished around in it to see what's in there:

GET PINK HAIR: This one scares me a bit. I mean, pink hair to me is like the ultimate act of rebellion for a good girl like me. But I have been having so many meetings lately. Would pink hair be a funny story to tell or am I just going to look like a lunatic?

RIDE A ROLLER COASTER: Yay! Can you think of a better idea as an adult of feeling like a kid again? I picked this one today and I have to say, the idea that I have to stop what I'm doing sometime this week and ride a roller coaster ROCKS MY WORLD!

CONTACT THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY:
Um, yeah, I know who this one is. I met him when I was 14 and we were gaga over each other. I can't help wondering what happened to him. When I pull this one out of the bowl, I guess I'll find out.

GET A NOSE RING: See "Get Pink Hair"

CROWD SURF AT A CONCERTS: I have seen a ton of shows and I have watched a ton of people, with absolute abandon, jump up and crowd surf. To me it's the most spontaneous, crazy, ballsy, life affirming, fearless thing a person can do. And I've never done it.

Because, I've let that part of me slip away. I need to get it back. If I do these things, if I thrill myself, I know I will.

Don't let the things you love slip away from you. I don't care if you're a Mom or you have a 60 hour work week. You have to still have fun. At the very least, it's good for your kids to see and I promise it will enhance your work. And your "adventures" don't have to be these big crazy things. They are just the things that come to you when you have a moments peace and think, "I wish I could..." Whatever that is - WRITE IT DOWN.

So what is it that comes to you? I would love to know. Maybe I'll just have to borrow it and put it in my bowl!


This blog is dedicated to NOT throwing up on roller coasters.

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