A Toast To Being Open!

Hello Reader.


Spunk is a must for the recipe of life. When you lose spunk other things like joy, gumption and pizzazz all pack their bags and follow. This blog is an attempt to keep my finger on spunk and make sure it doesn't go anywhere. Spunk's main diet consists of humor. Laughter, like H2O, keeps life flowing in the direction of less grey hairs and more purposeful wrinkles (if we have to succumb to them they might as well be associated with laughter in my opinion). Humor brings relief to insecurity and distrust, which are two things that can easily plague adult life I am finding.

This last year, 2009, has been life shaking for me. I was turned upside down and beaten on my bottom like a glass ketchup bottle until I questioned everything. I told myself that if I could just make it to 2010, then I would have opportunity to tuck 2009 into the recesses of forgotten years and move on. Then I heard the question in my heart, "Do you want to be closed or open?" Funny, it made sense to me. I pondered on the question some, but did not really pay much attention to actually answering it. Then again I was confronted with the question, "Laura, do you want to be closed or open?" I could feel the tears come forward, stinging my eyes and I whispered, "Open. I want to be open."

See, open means less perfect. Less perfect means I can expect more "looks" from those who find it reasonable to be perfect (eg. my son!) But in all honesty I have found that the most unforgiving of women is the burnt out, caffeine propelled women themselves. When we reach this state of craze we begin letting go of the things that bring us joy and begin to focus on the things we need to survive. So we let go of playfully teasing our children that we are going to hang them out the window - we just discipline them quickly. We let go of tossing spaghetti noodles on the ceiling with our kids to make sure they are cooked - we don't have time or energy to wipe the day old make-up off our face let alone the ceiling. We find that Superwoman becomes the chosen character for our daily superhero under garments and our faces seem to harden with stress. When is the last time you just had a good "hee ha" with your kids or ate dessert before dinner?

See, I have known unspoken secrets. This last year has been full of them. Unspoken secrets spawn from stress and reside in the dark. They are responsible for that place in your life that you feel you can hide from others and no one will judge you. I have learned that when you are most fearful of being judged by others is when you are the most judgmental of yourself. This judgment of one's self can only exist when insecurity has become foundational. I doubt that I am alone in wondering where spunk has gone. So I have decided to not tuck in as much as I would like and instead skirt the temptation to be closed with my experiences in this crazy adventure referred to as my life. Openness is a responsibility in order to live wholly. I not only want a whole life, but I want richness.

If I can give you, my reader, any gift I hope it to be authenticity. I promise to be real, because I don't know any other way to be. I am real and messy and I think I will grow on you. You will go away laughing and come back again and laugh some more. Have a think and then read the next post.  I enjoyed meeting you.

Laura Araujo