“…to be my girl. You don’t have to be cool to rule my world. Ain’t no particular sign I’m compatible with. I just want your extra time and your kiss…”
Please, please, please tell me that you’re chuckling quietly to yourself right now as you envision Julia Roberts belting out those lyrics in a ginormous bathtub of bubbles in Pretty Woman. You know, with her bright yellow Sony Walkman and kissy face?! (You totally just did the kissy face, didn’t you?) “Don’t you just love Prince?!”
Why yes, Julia Roberts pretending to be a hooker with a heart of gold, yes, I do! Maybe just his earlier stuff though. He kinda lost me when he changed his name to that symbol. (I realize I’m getting away from my point here but how did his friends call his name during the symbol era? I mean, did they flash a card with the symbol printed on it at him? Did they try to describe the symbol? “Hey circle-cross-arrow-swirly thing! How ya’ been?” Maybe the whole point was so people COULDN’T holler his name anymore. If that’s the case then I know about six million moms who might decide to go that route too!)
I’ve got a job for you. If you haven’t heard that song in a while, I need you to go the link below and listen to it. Seriously. Right now. I need that song to be fresh in your head before we go any further, okay?
Okay. Now that it’s at the forefront of your mind, I want to ask you a really, really, REALLY important question.
You ready?
Who’s singing that song to you?
Is it Prince? Your signifcant other? Your kid? Your job? The crap that’s covering the counter tops in your kitchen? The internet?
Who or what is trying to entice you into a big ole wet slobbery kiss? Who or what is trying to seduce you out of your time? Your energy? Your space?
The way I see it, there are two categories of stuff in our lives.
-
The good stuff.
-
The life ruiners.
Now the good stuff is easy. That’s the stuff that feeds our soul. The stuff that should get the very best of us. The stuff Kenny Chesney is singin’ about in that song. The life ruiners are a little more tricky. Sometimes they’re necessary evils that we can’t fully eliminate from our lives but need to keep in check and sometimes they’re just completely worthless items that mock us as we spend our precious time on them. You know, like Regina George in Mean Girls.
Now, take a second to think about something.
Would you rather spend the bulk of your time and your energy with ole’ Kenny or with bitchy Regina who won’t let you wear hoop earrings? If given one hour, would you rather spend it wallowing around with The Plastics or would you make beeline for the handsome, shirtless man with a guitar singin’ for ya?
It kinda seems like a no-brainer. I mean, shove Regina in front of a bus as quickly as possible so you can launch yourself into Mr. Chesney’s sculpted arms, right?
Unfortunately we tend to let the C.R.A.P. overshadow the important things in life. We waste our beautiful moments on things that don’t matter. We throw our pearls to swine. We use up all our energy on stuff that doesn’t deserve it and wonder why we don’t laugh or have fun or feel passionate anymore. We let ourselves be seduced by life ruiners who want our extra time and extra energy yet give us nothing in return. We’re so drained by Regina that the things we yearn for, the things we dream about, the things we love (How glad are you that I didn’t use Kid Rock in this little visual exercise?) don’t stand a chance?
Take a second and think about your life ruiners. Which ones can you completely kick to the curb? Which ones need to be put in their place, need to be streamlined? And most importantly, what sets your soul on fire? What makes all the C.R.A.P., all the bothersome annoyances in life, worth it?
BTW, I’d love it if you shared that stuff with me in the comments! I’ll even go first!
