Just keep on living......

My mother, whom I love dearly, her  favorite sayings is, "just keep on living" and when she would say it  I would imagine, and this is going to sound harsh, but I imagined every time she would say it, IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE ING SOUND OF LIVING, I would smash  her in the face with a whip cream pie!!! It would annoy me SO BAD, and I guess rightfully so, because as a YOUT
 (one of my favorite lines from the movie My Cousin Vinny)  it didn't make sense to me.  I'm thinking, why do you keep saying that? It really states the obvious momma,
 just keep on living? Mommy... you not saying NOTHING...! If one doesn't keep on living? YOU DEAD!! so why in  the ham sandwich are you even saying it?
But now that I have a little age on me, and a kid who is 7 going on 37, super intelligent, inquisitive, and always challenging any and everything she is not 100 percent clear on ( my momma says I was the same way, and children are just God's way of getting back at baddass kids who grow up to have children who are the EXACT WAY they were when they were children) I digress.....A.D.D......
Anyway.... dag.... where was I?  oh yeah.... so anyway.... now that I am older I finally GET IT!!! You truly have to live, experience, acknowledge, adjust to, deal with, and get over it!!!!  As a young person any  minor setback, disappointment would destroy me.  Crushing.... But as you age ,hopefully.... and
KEEP ON LIVING.... you develop better coping skills.  Skills that equip you to handle life's little challenges.
Now..... along with that age and these new coping skills, hopefully  you are a person who has learned from the past and make the appropriate adjustments to not have to keep experiencing the same trauma over and over.
 I'm going to  assume you are a sane person, because insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome  So..... if you are sane, you have mastered the ability to discontinue toxic behavior that lands you in the same situation.  Be it matters of the heart, your professional life, your personal relationships with friends and or family regardless, you have been able to handle things. 
For myself in the past 3 years, my faith in God and understanding and believing God has and always will have a purpose for all that has happened and ultimately ALWAYS HAS my back, my faith  has lessened the blows of life's challenges and disappointments.  I have found with my faith, it has given me an edge in dealing with stress.
 Recently I was having some real personal setbacks, I mean if I had the time and  energy to go into the chaos that has surrounded my life, someone would be trying to plan an Olivia Fox Aid Benefit Concert  to raise funds for psychological assistance.  I can see the t.v. commercials now....
"Wont you give... to this cause".... Olivia Fox.... a seasoned professional caught in the middle of New York Ave in Washington DC. in a tank top with half  her GUT   and muffin top hanging out, cause her  dam  shirt is TOO YOUNG  and a grass hula skirt talking to herself OUT OF HER MIND, due to too much drama, setbacks, loss, and bad news where she literally  is sitting on a cooler with a hair brush in her hand holding a full tilt radio style interview with a stuffed teddy bear sitting in a dirty baby high chair....
I'm hollering cause I SEE IT!.... But we don't have enough time to go into my life and the chaos that it has seen....
But I will tell you, if it wasn't for my faith, and my ability to cope, that imaginary vision would be a reality.
So I say all this to say......The thing I have learned most from mamma's saying "to keep on living", is ..
you age and for most of us, we learn.  We learn..... IT IS WHAT IT IS, regardless how traumatic, sad, disappointing, crushing, devastating, IT IS.... WHAT THE HELL YOU THOUGHT IT WAS!...... IT IS.
Redundancy in its finest form.  But once you truly acknowledge WHAT IT IS, then..... you HAVE TO ACKNOWLEDGE IT.  Then take responsibility if needed of your role in what that situation is.  What did you do or not do?  And why did you do what you did?  Did you get the lesson? 
Next, place the situation in a realistic light.  Meaning, so many times it may not be the problem that crushes us, but THE WAY YOU PERCEIVE IT AND  REACT TO IT.  Perhaps the problem's shadow, which in the mind's eye, is how you perceive the situation, is bigger than what the initial situation is. 
Am I making sense?  Basically............................
SIT YO ASS DOWN SOMEWHERE AND GET A GRIP!!!!  Breathe..... I am the queen of receiving bad news and each time I amaze myself.  Because just when I thought.... ewww girl... if someone told me that?  Or did that to me?.... I don't know if I could go on.  Well guess what?  YOU GO ON, and not only do you go on, YOU CAN THRIVE FROM IT, because God has provided you with a testimonial that could quite possibly help another person.
I have been told more than once by perfect strangers, which is strange in itself, but I have been told, my life, my experiences, good and bad, will serve as a testimonial for millions. I have been told as recent as this past Saturday that God has a magnificant plan for my life that will literally blow my mind because of the places and things I will be able to do with my story of faith, perseverance, patience and clarity.  And each time I never worry or wonder how this will all come about.  I receive it, acknowledge and thank these strangers for their words.  But it turns out ,they always hit me with the good...."GOD told me to deliver this message to you!" 
People are a trip to me and at least once a day someone says or does something that has me shaking my head and saying;....PEOPLE ARE A TRIP!.... But as I said ,I receive it and today when I opened my laptop, THIS MESSAGE came to me for someone who needed to receive.  So.....in closing,  I Love you momma and I have learned to love this saying.  In fact I caught myself telling my daughter the same thing  last week, and after I said it I  was looking for a whip cream pie!!!! Hahahahaha....
As always GET LIFE.... this ain't no dress rehearsal.

*By the way... follow me on twitter@oliviafoxradio.... dam shame...... can't go through one blog without
self promoting... Hey.... Just keep on living.......(wink)