Bloggerstock: What Inspires you?

Hey guys! It's time for Bloggerstock, again. Where someone writes for me and I write for someone else. This month's topic is "What inspires you". Be sure to read about who inspires me on Kris's blog Because or Why Not. And now Riley from Wayfaring Warrior will tell us what inspires her. Enjoy!

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What Inspires me? Competition. Revenge. Fear.

It’s not the most mature response, but what rouses me from my bed at 04:45AM to go to the gym is the thought of ex-friends, lovers, and frenemies seeing my perfect six-pack and crooning with jealousy.

All humans want to be somebody. They want to be someone good. We want.

Somewhere between wanting and becoming is a long line of excuses that we might pick up, distractions that lead us astray, and feel forlorn that we’ll never get our goals. That’s when competition, revenge and fear take hold.

I compete. I’m afraid of not measuring up. So I work hard. I sublimate my insecurities by measuring myself against others. Can someone run a mile thirty seconds faster than me? I must catch them! Then the next guy, and the guy after that, and the guy after that.

Like most people, I feel like I have been wronged in one way or another. I seek revenge by being better (it goes right along with competitiveness). They say that living well is the best revenge? Well, I do just that.

I once had an NCO tell me that I had no idea what I was doing, that I wasn’t going to be an officer, and that no one would ever put me in charge of soldiers. He called me “Parade Pretty”, and “Princess”. I should have punched him in the face. Later on, in the small world that we call the Army, I passed him in a parking lot.

“Good afternoon, ma’am,” he said as he rendered a salute.

“Good afternoon, sergeant,” I responded back, walking past him into the building.

I don’t know for sure, but I think he looked back, realizing who I was, doing a double-take and miss-step when he walked into the curb.

You salute the rank, not necessarily the person, but it was pretty sweet all the same. I won’t go after him. I’ll certainly never be anything than professional and fair to him… but in that, there’s a sweet taste of vengeance as well.

Lastly, I use fear as an inspiration. I don’t fear heights, crowds, or loud noises. There are no devils, or monsters in the closet, or shadows in the night. I fear failure. I’m afraid of not doing well, of not performing. I’m afraid of that slippery slope – hey, if you skip this morning’s run, what’ll keep you from skipping two? Or three? What will keep you from slipping from running entirely and become one of those people that just don’t exercise anymore, using time, age, work, and laziness as an excuse.

Is that the fate I want for myself? No.

Is it wrong that use such negative emotions as a source of inspiration? Maybe.

Deep down, I have more than just these three things pushing me towards my goals, but those won’t yank you out of bed before the break of dawn. It won’t push you that extra mile.

Different things inspire us. These are mine.

Thank you Lily, for hosting my post on Bloggerstock! When you get the chance, please take a look at Shelly’s post on my blog While you're at it, go check out Shelly's Blog too!

I love the snuggie

I'll admit that I hate snuggies. I like blankets and hoodies and fluffy robes. In fact, I'd rather lounge around in my fluffy hooded robe than blanket. I never understood it, or why people liked it. And those commercials … oh, my god, so annoying. I would change the channel so quick. That’s one of my favorite pastimes. 

But, for Christmas my aunt gave me a snuggie. And Guess what? I like it. So screw you guys, and whatever you say, but I am going to go ahead and say that this is the best invention ever. It’s so warm and soft. 

Maybe I’m a convert. And now I’ll start collecting all the snuggies in the world. Have them monogrammed with my initials, and have extras for guests when they come over. And those would be monogrammed to with the word “Guest” around the collar. 

Okay maybe that was an exaggeration, but really, I just did want to say that I love the snuggie, and I’m sorry to the people I made fun of for having a snuggie. 

Dad, are you reading this?

Unlike most Christmasses in my past, this year there were no family fights and whatnots. I'm not saying I'm disappointed, but I love that this Christmas was very enjoyable. I had so much fun. Usually, I'm dying for it to be midnight, so I can open presents and go to sleep. That bad.

Not this year. I didn't want the fun to stop. I wasn't even drunk like I had planned to be. I needed to be sober to remember how much fun it was.

Remember my Christmas List? 3/4 is complete. I swear my parents are reading my blog. It's kind of scary thinking that they might be reading this. But, it's not like they don't know I have a poor attitude, drink a lot and generally don't care about other people's feelings  stupid people's feelings. Because really, they don't count as people.

I am however really disappointed that my joggers request wasn't taken seriously. I, honestly, wanted joggers the most. So... we're going to rename the list Perpetual Birthday Present Wish List and pay close attention to number 4.

Thanks. Love you, dad.

Remember that time I didn't care?

Sometimes, I don't understand people.

So, I'm not sure if people do stupid shit on purpose just so I can comment (I know this sounds like I'm way to into myself, which, I mean, yeah kinda, but still... ) or if they're just that dumb.

People who are usually like 3 tiers below my acquaintances on the social totem pole of my life always do the stupid things that make me wonder.

I was hanging out at a friends house after work. They had a bunch of people over we played some games and had some food. It was pretty fun. People started leaving and I decided I would stick around and help my friend clean up her apartment a bit. Another person had the same idea. We're cleaning up and out of nowhere this chick says "Oh I have to take my birth control pill". Okay. Why do I need to know this? I don't care if you're trying not to have babies. But whatever. She stepped out of the living room (I assume to take her pill) and I continued picking stuff up.

When she came back, she started telling me something about her boyfriend and how they're getting engaged soon. Okay. I don't really care. This isn't the kind of small talk I want to participate in. I wouldn't mind the "How do you know so-and-so" ... "what do you do for a living" ... "What's your favorite movie"... that I can handle.

This wasn't even the worst part. My friend asked me to stay for a while and I agreed. I had nothing else to do, might as well. This same girl decided to stay too, even though she wasn't asked to. It kind of bothered me, but it's not my house. As we're sitting in the living room, she begins rustling through her purse. I'm thinking, well maybe she has something to give my friend... or maybe she's looking for her car keys... something. Ignoring it is the best option.

I begin talking to my friend. I had not seen her in a month so I tell her to catch me up on everything I have missed out on (parties, drunkenness... all the fun stuff). As she's telling me stories about one of our other friends puking in a cab after a big night of drinking, the other girl throws her little birth control pill case thingy majiggy. It flies across the room and lands at my feet.

Ha! I should take this as a hint! I told my friend. My friend just laughed.

All the other girl said was "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm over here throwing my baby-stoping pills all over the place"with a little tee-hee in her voice. I wanted to ask her what that was about. Was she mad that she wasn't in our conversation?

After that she left. I stayed behind. I learned that she is my friend's friend, but they're really not that close, but she's the kind of girl that gets sad if she's not given the attention she wants. My friend told me "I think she threw that at you because you didn't seem interested in her". I must have missed the memo where we were told to care about everyone.