You Gotta Know When to Hold 'Em, Know When to Fold 'Em...

Sometimes giving up is easy. Other times, giving up isn't an option. And not because you are some elite para-military freedom fighter and that's, like, the motto you have tattooed on your bicep. Instead it's because you just CAN'T give up...It's just not physically, mentally or emotionally possible. What do you do then, my friends? Do you hold 'em or do you fold 'em?

I have never been a quitter. Yes, I have admitted to being lazy when it comes to trying things that are hard, and I have confessed to my general ambivalence to most things involved in the nature of just living, but I wouldn't necessarily categorize myself as a quitter. So when it comes down to the simple pursuit of being happy, what makes one think that it's okay just to quit seeking it? For some of us, seeking it is too exhausting or it's just hidden away too well. There is a saying, "we will all choose Happiness, when Happiness is actually a choice". I am quite sure that I would have rolled my eyes and walked away from you if you had said something that saccharine-laden to me, before I too made the choice. I used to believe that happiness was something that you had to be medicated to achieve. But I get now that it's not. Happiness is a right, not a privilege. If you squander that right on things that are fleeting and without deep connection, it doesn't make you any less happy, it just truncates the feeling somewhat. Or, you can pursue the kind of happiness that changes your life, long-term. What I have chosen for myself is the latter.

It is a decision that is going to change my life. It may not change it today, tomorrow or ten months from now...But the choosing of happiness will change who I am and who I will ultimately become. It will change the lives of those around me, because they will learn that happiness is a choice that is available for them, too.

Kenny Rogers (Thanks, BTW...My true friends wont let me look like a moron for too long, and that's one of the myriad reasons why I love them) sang:

You gotta know when to hold 'em,
Know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away, know when to run.
You never count your money,
While you're sitting at the table.
There'll be time enough for counting,
When the dealings done.

So for the sake of the analogy, I just sat down at the proverbial table and I, for one, will continue to hold the cards that I have just been dealt. I want to stay at the table, and frankly...I don't give a fuck about the money to even bother with the counting of it. When the dealing is done, I just hope that I am holding the winning hand, cause I really don't plan on ever folding these fucking fabulous cards.