Are you taking life too seriously? The importance of embracing life's complexities.

Be willing to be rejected. Some people will think you are AWESOME. Some people won’t like you a bit. Why do you care? Do you like everybody? I don’t think so, so stop expecting everyone to like you. There are millions of people and someone is going to fall madly in love with YOU. Yes, you, but you won’t know until you allow yourself to be vulnerable and meet some doozers along the way. There are no bad choices because we have an opportunity to learn from each one. Besides, I love telling my gal pals stories of my relationship mishaps. It makes for good story-telling☺

Fail sometimes. Better yet, make what are called mistakes. Nothing is really a mistake – it’s just an opportunity to do it better next time. So, you invested in that pasta business that lasted one week, maybe, you figured out running a small business is not for you. Check. Now onto the next job adventure with a little more planning and foresight. It was an experience you needed and, believe me, what you learned in that time you can take into a future job. We always do. Even bad bosses teach us, if we pay attention, how not to be that kind of leader when it’s our turn.

Make an ASS of yourself. Yes, you read that right. I mean it. We adults are so busy acting all grown-up that we forget how to be silly, to laugh at our own jokes when nobody else does and, let me tell you, I love laughing at my own jokes! My hubby thinks it’s weird (he and his family lean on the serious side of life) but my friends love that about me. They love that out of my tiny body comes a big, roaring laugh that breaks up a room. My friend, Anne Langford, has this type of booming laugh too. It’s called spirit – find it and use it!

And, please stop trying to control everything that happens in your life. Newsflash: you can’t control most things that happen but you can control your reaction to them! Life isn’t tied up in some neat little package organized in quaint little boxes, no, it’s messy and complicated and that’s just how it should be. Let things unravel and put them back together when you are good and ready – not a minute before. If you feel like tearing your hair out, grab a beer – manhattan for me – and sit out in the backyard and look at the clouds in the sky – they are pretty calm and they’ve witnessed all sorts of natural disasters!

And, last but not least, have you given someone a hug today? We are such a touch-me-not society that people are starved for a little affection. Even elephants can die from broken hearts. I dare you to hug a total stranger. You might just make their day and yours too! Okay, if hugging is a little too close for comfort for you, tell someone they look great and when you witness that smile light up their face, tell me that doesn’t feel good.

Now, enough sitting at your desk reading this story – get out there – be silly, get messy, laugh out loud and please don’t take everything so seriously – just simply embrace the adventure of living with all its peaks and valleys.  It’s not supposed to be a straight line, that would just be plain boring and who wants that. Not me ! - Besides I have to go – time for my 5 o’clock manhattan!