Various Wild Hairs

A couple of totally unrelated things occurred to me today.

One, when I was talking about the Oprah show and self-image and the roles mothers played in their children's dysfunctions, I went back and thought about it some more, and have to say I can't buy into all of it. I can't think of a single thing MY mother did to have any kind of negative impact on my self-image at all, and yet a negative one I had indeed. She never ragged on her own physical appearance in any serious way that I can recall, and Certainly not ever mine. In fact, she was the biggest defender of brown eyes and freckles, and never told me not to eat this or that in case I got fat, etc. :) So sometimes I think a cigar is just a cigar and sometimes you just feel bad about yourself because that's the age in which a person feels badly about themself. If they have a parent who is exacerbating the issue, then that certainly will make it worse, but that's why the show wasn't about "blaming" a parent but trying to address the issue of self-image in women. While I'm at it, why can't you have the great body AND the good self-image at the same time, instead of finally getting the decent self-image AFTER the body starts going to pot?? Not fair!

Two, I was listening to "St. Elmo's Fire", the song. I'd always loved that song, and can remember singing along to it at many various points in my life. Today I was listening along, and one of the parts I always enjoyed, I had to disagree with. The last paragraph; "Just once in his life, a man has his time...my time is Now..." A man (we'll call that generic for all of mankind, of course) doesn't have just one shot in his lifetime. You have as many shots as you prepare for and reach for. There have been several times in life I've thought "Yes, my time is now!" Well guess what? It was. Several times. And since I'm only 34 years old, I am quite sure my time is coming again in the future too. And I'm going to do my best to be ready for it. :) Good things happen if you do something you love, work to do your best at it, keep your eye out, take a few risks, try to swallow the doubts while still using your head, are prepared for opportunities that may knock, and get back up when you're knocked down. Not one shot in your life, but about as many as you have time and ability to handle, I think...