Accepting Challenges - Our Neverending Story

Accepting Challenges - Our Neverending Story

This 2010, I am devoting some time and personal effort into "Accepting Challenges". This will mean that the rose colored glasses not only have to come off, they have to be ripped off, thrown down, and stomped on in a "Mazel tov" + "Black Eyed Peas" = funky, cool, smooth, fashion.

The invitation is extended. Please, join me on the adventure. I'll be like the Julie from our mental Love Boat. You know, perky and blonde. The communicator who extends her flair for team-building skills, and sudden excuses to celebrate to those she interacts with on a daily basis. Even when the celebration turns out to be just a personal introspection into the environment around us. Find something to celebrate.

Not everything is peachy keen. But the silver lining combined with the small things, and then added to our every day moments deserve to be celebrated. Let's agree to also embrace the challenges we discover along the road. Embrace them. Bitch slap them. Karate chop or high-kick them. Do what YOU need to do. But they are there. Together, we will act like we are getting close to the end of the Neverending Story and must find our new name.

Imagine: Sitting in a scary school attic, with the windows blown open by the thunderous storm that pours upon us with introspection and fantastic education. Seated, criss-cross applesauce style, munching on an apple core; nostrils flared with lightning that strikes like exclamation points on personal learning processes.

Suddenly a silver lining appears! You are face to face with a gorgeous yet innocent looking immortal child with an old soul, (a metaphor for our self conscious), who is looking at you with deep blue, (again, place your preferred color here), eyes that make you feel like you are lost in an mirror of hope. The immortal child asks only one thing from you. Give us a name. Who are we? Who have we become in this frenzied modern world? In the movie, the hero Atreyu rides on the back of a beautiful albino animal, Falkor, that is half dog, and half magic, luckdragon.

I used to have an albino luckdragon. His name was Dusty. He wa s fourteen last spring when we had to put him down before our move from Memphis. I adopted him during my initial move south. Dan and I drove from Dallas to Houston the first month we were dating to adopt him. He was put down, 10 years later, the month Dan and I moved to NJ. For me, Dusty will represent my past adventures and the lessons I learned. My new rescue Taylor Made, who is also strangely light in color, will represent the luckdragon I ride into the future

This is a multi-dimensional adventure that we will conquer together. I will be the amulet known as 'Jennifer'. Together we will go through a quest. I will supply us with the heros, (you, me and our selection of chosen Superfriends), and the tools to solve part of our dilemma. There will be parts of this journey we will have to face alone. In modern times, our journey would be more like the evolution of Madonna. Constantly changing like a beautiful, butterfly with an infinite supply of trendy and bedazzled cocoons tied in a red Kabbalah string.

Adventures #1: Accept a new challenge this week. Identify where you need improvement, and embrace that need as challenges. I am embracing both personal and professional challenges this week. One of my professional challenges happens on Thursday of this week. I am reaching outside of my comfort zone. I have decided that win or lose, I am going to put myself out there. I am going to try something that I am not extremely comfortable with. I am auditioning in front of the CEO of a company for a job. This adventure may not turn out to be successful. The big picture is the adventure. I am going to educate myself along the way.

The personal challenge? Well, we'll talk more about that later this week. It involves putting myself into a uncomfortable situation. It is going to involve having conversations I have been dreading while learning to master emotional turmoil. I am putting my very smart mother's mantra, "Living well is the best revenge", to the test. But first, I am preparing myself for the professional challenge. Once that is conquered, I will be able to freely open myself to the personal challenges that lay in wait toward the end of the week. Come young, padawans. Identify your challenges this week. Let's start this adventure together.