Tag Archives: know your limits

Here’s your stick…..draw your line

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The sand lays in wait. Millions of grains stretch for miles and the beach seems to be swallowed by the horizon line.  But you boldly step forward, take that stick (or your finger) and draw your line.

Personal limits are a must-have.  By setting boundaries, by drawing that line in the sand, we take a giant step towards preserving our integrity.  The line we draw becomes an invisible wall of defiance and gives us the strength to truly stand behind what we believe in and allows us to have the courage to defend that wall.

Knowing where you stand is more than half the battle.  Many people can aimlessly wander through life with no true convictions.  They are easily swayed and can become lost in the crowd, without ever truly engaging their basic human right to have an opinion.  But allowing ourselves to have that opinion can define who we are, to the core of our being, with no outside influence and no second-guessing.  We can create a line that we won’t cross to avoid being swallowed in the maelstrom of millions of other ideals that don’t represent our own.

It’s perfectly okay to have boundaries.  Our opinions are like doorways to our mind.  We can leave those doors wide open and allow others to come in and hear those opinions, or those doors can remain closed to safeguard our thoughts without really having to defend that line.

Have an opinion and be willing to stand behind it.  Here’s your stick – feel free to draw your line.

Instant idiot, just add alcohol

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This post is inspired by the weekend that has just passed.  Our resort hosted a few bus loads of college students, or perhaps a more appropriate definition, potential future employees.

There is a reason that the LCBO and multiple organizations urge us to drink responsibly.  After a few too many, we become abhorrent mutations of our former selves and lose all sense of discipline and self-control.  The “White Elephant in the Room” campaign is meant to draw attention to drinking and driving.  Perhaps we should also have a campaign for drinking and being an idiot.   For now, let’s call it the “Saturated Moron” campaign.

I’m not going to lie and tell you that I have never over-imbibed, but only once have I ever lost control of the person I have strived to become.  And even in that moment that I am not so proud of, I have never left an impression of myself that created any ill will, any harm or caused any negative feelings.  With the advancement of technology today, we have more than a fair shot of seeing our misgivings pop up on websites like YouTube and Facebook, but that doesn’t seem to be enough of a deterrent for those afflicted with the “I’m going to drink WAY too much” syndrome.

There are certain things to keep in mind when you are beginning a night out with friends and alcohol will be involved.  If you think you become more attractive, you do not.  If you feel you can dance like a professional, this is untrue.  And if you think your friends won’t take every opportunity to humiliate you and make sure there is photographic evidence, think again.

Obvious health reasons aside, when we drink too much, we simply make bad choices.  Perhaps the first bad choice was to drink to excess in the first place.  The thing to remember is – what has been done, cannot be undone.  People have very long memories when it comes to things you have done in a drunken stupor, and they will do their best to never let you live it down.  And undoubtedly they will take every opportunity to replay the videos or repost the images of your misfortunes during your intoxication.

Drinking to excess can cause you to black out and have no recollection of the events of the previous evening.  Be assured, it will either come back to you in small scenes, like a movie trailer that you can’t seem to stop, or in one horrific flashback that you wish you could eradicate from your memory.

Be smart and know your limits.  Don’t be the “Saturated Moron” in the room.   And for the college students that may happen upon this blog post, I will not be recommending you for future employment.