Sometimes I make myself want to bang my thick head against the wall. Really I do! Well, metaphorically speaking anyway. I’ve known about this Hell Yes Theory for a while and talked about it quite regularly. So why is it that I keep forgetting about it? Oh yeah, I’m a human being! DUH!!!!
So here’s the thing: if it’s not a Hell Yes, then it’s a Hell No. Simple as that. If I could learn to live by that one rule, everything would instantly skyrocket in my life. The possibilities are mind-boggling.
Do I want to take Daisy to Ward trail riding Saturday with my peeps? Hell Yes! Will I hug and kiss my buddy William Bell when I get there? Hell Yes! Do I love my job and the people I work with? Hell Yes! Should I take the lift kit out of my truck? Hell Yes! Do I want to respond to the message my ex-husband left on my cell phone Sunday night? Hell No. OH HELL NO!
But what about the gray areas in between? What about the things I’m ambivalent about? What about the things I feel I should do but don’t want to do? What about those things?
I’ve tried in the past to have those things fall under the “Which Thought or Action Feels Better” category but I have found that things in that category are just too easy to get muddied. It’s too easy to do what I think I should do or what I think is polite or what I think I should do to get along. For the last few weeks, I’ve been struggling with making decisions that “watered down” who I am for the sake of getting along with someone I cared about. I found myself being polite for the sake of being polite. I found myself acquiescing in order to not rock the boat. Really? Me?
Somewhere along the line I must have forgotten what Dierks Bentley refers to as “My Last Name” cause there’s never been an Elam that acquiesced just to not rock the boat. But we are always – right down to every single one of us – unfailingly polite. Well we like to call it Being Classy but it’s really being polite. And there’s the rub. I’m finding I’d like to stay classy and get over being polite. Polite is term society uses to control those of us who have learned to think for ourselves. Screw polite. I’m going for Hell Yes whether it’s polite or not with the intention of being as gentle as possible but as firm as necessary.
Lucky Bucky lives his life in Hell Yes fashion. So does the Damn Donkey. I’m always having to convince both of them that my ideas are Hell Yesses for them! I just love those guys. What amazing teachers they are for me!
I’ve spent a lot of time pondering “essence” of the people, animals, places, and things that I absolutely adore and have adored in my lifetime. There are very definite common denominators among them. Very definite common demoninators. So those demoninators are what I’m looking for – the feelings I have and the reasons I adore those that I adore. Those are Hell Yesses for me. Anything else – well anything else is a Hell No.
My intention is to put this theory into practice as much as possible for the next 30 days. If I don’t post an update on December 9, 2011, someone remind me. And lick and chew on whether the choices you’re making are Hell Yesses for you. Let me know . . .
