We Are All Conundrums

Don’t be scared, for here you will find support. And fun.

Recently I was inspired and wrote an article that I thought was legitimately inspiring. The very next day I found myself writing an article about just giving up because you are a decaying meat bag and all is pointless. (Granted, that piece was satire, but still, the irony wasn’t lost on me.) The day after that I was trying on Jennifer McDougall’s G-string.

My attitude and outlook changed so rapidly over the course of just a couple of days that I realized I must have tapped into three different wells for articles. Those muses can be teased out depending on environmental conditions. We all have them. I’m not alone in this.

Krystal Mossbarger and Kristine Laco can make you smile and cringe while Kristen Stark talks to worms. Will Hull and Carlos Garbiras can crank out limericks, humor, or strum your heart strings. Raine Lore and Louise Foerster will spin you a wonderful tale and make you smile. Michael Burg, MD (AKA Medium Michael Burg) will do something weird over at Doctor Funny, and Ginger Cook will write you a sexy poem and then tell you about that time her son gave her the old Stinky Leg Drop. Lara Starsearch will draw you a weird but accurate self-portrait, and kasey sparks will be curious about all of it. And all of those skills are interchangeable with all the writers. It’s amazing!

To summarize, this is us:

The truth is that if I were to combine my last three articles, they’d add up to something like, “embrace your weird, try on a G-string, don’t be afraid to let go and write your own wild story.”

Maybe it’s like playing Texas Hold ’Em. We can’t handle the swings. We try to keep our shit together all the time and we can’t handle it when we lose control. Maybe that analogy doesn’t work at all. We’re so afraid to embrace the chaos, but maybe we shouldn’t be. It’s the illusion of control. By trying to control things all the time, we’re not simply letting them be what they are.

Hollie Petit, Ph.D. asked us the other day to write an article about what it means for us to have fun.

What is your philosophy of fun? In other words, how do you approach experiences when you want to have fun? — Hollie’s Article

Hmm. This was harder than I thought it might be. Define fun — I dare you.

This is fun. Right now. Reading and writing and trying crazy shit. We are all things all the time. I can’t be alone in actually feeling those things deeply, can I? Am I the only person that can switch perspectives in an instant? If life is a roller coaster, it goes up and down. It doesn’t cruise down the tracks at a steady 20mph. Actually, that’s a train. Trains are fine, but they’re not fun. Okay, maybe they’re fun. Shut up, you know what I’m trying to say.

Don’t be a train. Be a roller coaster. Enjoy the ups and downs and the in-betweens, because that’s where the magic happens. That’s the fun stuff.

As humans, we can be giddy one minute, then sad the next. Life has a way of doing that. We’re always trying to be so “cool.” WTF does that even mean? Why are we always pretending to have our shit together? Can’t we just be?

The truth is that even when you expect the unexpected, the unexpected unexpected happens.

The Sober Vegan Yogi has a pretty amazing About Me story you can read if you click on this handy link. In it you can read about her battle with alcoholism, abuse, cancer, and co-dependency, and how she’s still a happy human being. Life just has a way of throwing us the weirdest shit at the weirdest times.

From her article:

…I found out I had cancer on my younger daughter’s 5th birthday. We got the call when we were at Disneyland and she was taking pictures with a princess. I put on a brave face and cried alone in the bathroom.

When I read that I just couldn’t stop thinking about the juxtaposition of one of the most beautiful moments in stark contrast with one of the darkest.

So many of you have been through the wringer, but you come out and keep fighting anyway.

Sorry, I may have completely lost the point of this article. What was it? Fun. That’s right, fun.

For many years I drank to have “fun.” I thought it made me fun and loose in all the right ways. It actually robbed me of the opportunity to have fun in my own weird way.

My point is that you have to embrace both the richness and the depth of all things to have fun. I think it’s fun to get to know all you amazing writers and dig into my psyche in front of you. Yes, all three of you.

I really just can’t get enough of your stories.

Daniella Montage is another survivor trying to teach her kids to have fun, and she’s taking back her childhood. It’s so wonderful to read about her giving them that freedom to play and imagine.

That’s the point. That’s where the fun is. Where you dare to imagine is where you’ll be free to have fun. This is the sandbox. Come play in it. It’s fun!

Ironically, this is not the most fun article I’ve written lately. Sorry, Hollie. I’ll whip up something about farts or gourds or dog lingerie soon. In the meantime, I’ll actually be on a trial jury this week, so not as much writing time as when I’m half-assing it at work.

Sometimes these articles feel like shameless name drops, but I only mention you because I’m having the time of my life writing with you. Yes, really. I’m so grateful.