"Shut Up!!"

January 11, 2012.......I am going to let the lyrics to a song that's on a cd I've been stuck on lately do my talking for me right now.  The name of the artist is Ledisi, her cd is amazing.  Every song on the cd has a meaning near and dear to my heart.

"Stuck in the middle, I can see where I've been, my eyes are open and I know where I'm going.  So much is in the way, there are people who like being negative and they always got something to say.  They say you'll never be what you want to be and that you'll never get but so far.  I'm trying hard gotta hold my tongue.  Times like this I wish I really could say, I wanna tell them SHUT UP!  I'm moving up no time for the haters, working hard to be greater, you need to SHUT UP, I'm climbing up, this is my calling, I don't see myself falling.  So SHUT UP!!  Working hard every day to be noticed, they don't want the best for you.  There are people around being jealous 'cause they wish that they could do what you do.  They say you'll never be what you hope to be, and that you'll never shine like the stars.  You're trying hard, gotta hold your tongue, times like this, I know you wish, you could tell them SHUT UP!!  Please forgive me, I don't mean to be rude.  This is not my normal behavior.  When people say them things to knock me off my rain, I can't help it, gotta tell them SHUT UP, I'M MOVIN UP, NO TIME FOR THE HATERS, WORKING HARD TO BE GREATER!!!"

Try stepping out of your comfort zone and going against the grain, it's then that people will show you who they really and what they really think of you.  People will try and break you down and chop you up into little, itty, bitty, pieces.  If that doesn't work then they will resort to child like behavior and put you down with their words.  Ask questions like "Why are you so different?  When what they really mean is why aren't you like me or others that are like me?  Try and be different and you'll be told that it's not right to be different.....When what they really mean is "you are supposed to act the way I or we act and if you don't something is wrong with you.  It's been said that if you're not being talked about then you must not be doing much of anything...That's true.  It's funny how some people aren't satisfied with other people doing themselves the way that they are comfortable with themselves, they want you to conform to the norm and if you don't then that's not acceptable, they label you an outcast.  We say we respect character and morality, yet those that do have character and morals don't look like others, nor do they act like others, and that must be such a foreign concept these days because it's not recognized as acceptable it somehow becomes questionable behavior to be ridiculed and approached with disdain rather than celebrated and admired as a pinnacle of success to be reached by those that lack the ability to reach for higher ground by standing up for who they are rather you like it or not.

  Peer pressure is a just that pressure by your peers!!!  Pressure: 1. the state of being pressed, the exertion of force.  2. harrassment; oppression; stress.  3. to force toward a particular end by exerting a constraining or compelling influence; coerce.  4. to pressurize.

When we are able to withstand the force put onto us by undo pressure, it's then and only then that we will be successful in whatever our goals are.  The key is to not put undo pressure on ourselves especially if it means to conform and cave in to pressure brought on by peers, society, people, finances, mental, or physical.

And if standing up against the pressure means that you have to say SHUT UP!!!  Then guess what homie, open your mouth and say:  "SHUT UP!!"

Ledisi, thank you for that one........

Today I power mall walked for 45 minutes!!!  Yesterday I walked for 30 minutes, I forgot to say it yesterday!!

"L"