{"id":783,"date":"2013-08-10T06:18:36","date_gmt":"2013-08-10T13:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michellejolin.com\/wordpress\/?p=783"},"modified":"2013-08-09T20:31:17","modified_gmt":"2013-08-10T03:31:17","slug":"dont-just-stand-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=783","title":{"rendered":"Don’t just stand there, do something!"},"content":{"rendered":"

“What do you think I’m going to do?” She asked him.<\/p>\n

“Whatever it is,” he answered, “I think you’ll be terrified when it happens. Don’t let that stop you.”<\/p>\n

–Kevin Wilson\/The Family Fang: A Novel<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you want to change your direction
\nIf your time of life is at hand
\nWell don\u2019t be the rule be the exception
\nA good way to start is to stand<\/p>\n

–J.Bass\/Put One Foot In Front Of The Other<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I can’t believe I’ve been reduced to using a song from Santa Claus Is Coming To Town<\/em> in my blog. It’s not even one of the good cheesy Christmas specials! really prefer Rudolph. Yes, I needed to explain that or you might have thought I liked it. Yes, that matters. It just does, OK?<\/p>\n

Well, it’s not like I have anything particularly original to say about doing stuff, so perhaps the cheesy song quote is appropriate.<\/p>\n

Everyone knows they have to do something sometime, right? (Oooh, George Michael flashback: “not everybody does it, but everybody should.”)<\/p>\n

This doesn’t seem to be going well. I’ll try back later.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

It’s later now.<\/p>\n

I’ve still got nothing.<\/p>\n

Do some stuff, okay? People seem to mostly agree that it’s important. But don’t do too much stuff. That is apparently bad too.<\/p>\n

Yeah. You can’t win.<\/p>\n

Here’s my best advice:<\/p>\n

–Be mostly<\/em> positive, but stay rational about it. Sometimes things do suck and I think it’s OK to acknowledge that.<\/p>\n

–Do stuff. Live your life mostly the way you want it. Sometimes you won’t be able to, but aim for that to be the exception. You won’t get what you want unless you take some sort of steps to make it happen. They can be small steps, as long as they keep going.<\/p>\n

–Don’t be afraid of doing the wrong thing. Trust me, doing nothing is far worse.<\/p>\n

–Don’t beat yourself up if you do the wrong thing. But.\u00a0 If you have been a douche canoe, please admit to it and make amends.<\/p>\n

–Don’t completely buy into that stupid Zen saying about you being responsible for your own reactions and emotions. Yes, it is true that you choose how to react to what happens to a great extent. But if someone shoots your dog, it is not unreasonable to be pissed off at the shooter. In fact, I think anyone who can be all peaced out about really awful stuff is just plain weird. On the other hand, if you lose your shizz over sitting at a traffic light that isn’t synched up then I reserve the right to laugh at you. Other people will do things that piss you off. YOU will do things to piss yourself off. It’s OK. Get over it.\u00a0 BUT if you’ve done something horrendous, give yourself an ass-kicking first if you deserve it and then<\/em> get over it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Use your judgement. If you have terrible judgment, get advice and follow it.<\/p>\n

Use some balance.<\/p>\n

Nothing is 100% right or wrong.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Also, before doing anything you have to know what you want.<\/p>\n

That. Is. The. Hard. Part.<\/p>\n

I am still working on it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“What do you think I’m going to do?” She asked him. “Whatever it is,” he answered, “I think you’ll be terrified when it happens. Don’t let that stop you.” –Kevin Wilson\/The Family Fang: A Novel   If you want to change your direction If your time of life is at hand Well don\u2019t be the … Continue reading Don’t just stand there, do something!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-words"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7lr3R-cD","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8547,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=8547","url_meta":{"origin":783,"position":0},"title":"An imaginary conversation about Christmas","author":"Michelle","date":"December 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"If I never hear another Christmas song it will be too soon. Bing Crosby should be boiled in oil! (Stops humming \"White Christmas\" and tries to look sympathetic) Don't you agree? The stores were all decorated before Halloween was even over! (Hides the box of Christmas lights about to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Imaginary Conversation"","block_context":{"text":"Imaginary Conversation","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_2357.jpg?fit=896%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_2357.jpg?fit=896%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_2357.jpg?fit=896%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/michellejolin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/IMG_2357.jpg?fit=896%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7719,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=7719","url_meta":{"origin":783,"position":1},"title":"Songs as barometers","author":"Michelle","date":"October 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"As I was driving home from a friend's house the other night, I sang along to James Taylor's song \"You've Got A Friend\" and hit the repeat button, the way you do when you like a song and want to sing some more. Maybe a few times. Four times. Four.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1054,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=1054","url_meta":{"origin":783,"position":2},"title":"She’s a what?!?","author":"Michelle","date":"August 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"So I was listening to the song \"Brick House\" on my way to work this morning, and something has always bugged me about that song. No, not that it's a Commodores song and what was it doing in my ipod. Well. Actually. Yes. But no. The babe in question is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Music"","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1477,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=1477","url_meta":{"origin":783,"position":3},"title":"Just a song before I go","author":"Michelle","date":"September 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"1 2 3 Turn it up. --Lynyrd Skynyrd\/Sweet Home Alabama Music and cars. Between Summer road trips and football games, I spend a lot of time in the car this time of year. That means a lot of music. It's a home game weekend, and Mark has a wedding to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Music"","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=9"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7223,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=7223","url_meta":{"origin":783,"position":4},"title":"An imaginary conversation about owning a song","author":"Michelle","date":"August 25, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"You know, I hate it when I lose songs when a relationship ends. Lose songs? What? That doesn't happen to you? I have no idea what you are talking about. You know how certain songs seem to just belong to how you feel about a certain person? Like my first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Imaginary Conversation"","block_context":{"text":"Imaginary Conversation","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8595,"url":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?p=8595","url_meta":{"origin":783,"position":5},"title":"Trying new things","author":"Michelle","date":"December 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the stupidest thing I have ever seen. Just stick a knife in my head. --Rick In life you try a lot of things out, if you're a person who's at all open to new experiences. A lot of them are fun. Going up in a hot air balloon.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Words"","block_context":{"text":"Words","link":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellejolin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}