The real reason I don't turn my air conditioning on, is so I don't have to pay for hot yoga sessions

This morning I woke up, looked in the mirror, and said to myself, "Today is the day I take on the world." And then I thought, I should brush my teeth first.

And so I did.

I've been particularly cognizant of the dichotomy between dreams and reality of late. And equally aware of the fine line I walk.

I'm not sure if that makes any sense, but I'm going to try to explain it anyway.

With pie.

Today I went to the Great American Pie Festival.

A year ago, I dreamed of moving to a small town in the South, where people did things like dress in summer dresses and go to pie festivals. And today I went to one! I wore a sun dress and everything! I sat next to a pond covered in lily pads, and ate pie under the Florida sun. I thought, this is exactly what I want.

In reality, I paid $10 to eat grocery store pie and gain four pounds. And then I sweat off at least a pound of that as I was walking back to my car through the 90 degree, 300 percent humidity, weather.

And so this is my life.

Sometimes I wonder, is it better to be happy or realistic? And is it possible, to be both?

Because the realistic side of me understands that I am never going to be wealthy in the job that I'm in. It understands that I spend too much money, eat too many carbs, and haven't earned very many of the joys and lucks and blessings which I've been afforded.

On a more frightening note, the realistic side of me understands our nation is struggling, the world is wrought with poverty, there are wars, and that's real.

But the dreamy side, it has hope for world peace, no matter how far-fetched that seems. It believes that substituting plastic bags with reusable ones can save the ocean.

It understands that I spent too much money, but my new purse is really cute. It knows that pie is more than calories--it's memories of warm afternoons and a momentary escape from the reality of bad skin and messy bedrooms. It believes that the job I'm doing is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and something I'll never forget.

And I like to live in the dreamy side. It's happy here. And mostly carefree.

But I don't believe in ignorance.

We don't move forward by pretending everything is rainbows and sunshine. We can't elicit change if we fail to see the things that need it.

So, I wonder, where's the balance?

My inability to fix the things that need fixing, will drown me if I let it. But my failure to acknowledge truths--no matter how hard--will dull me, if I let it.

Without transition, I am going to switch to something almost entirely unrelated.

Harry Potter.

Please don't judge me for making a Harry Potter reference. We must find inspiration where we can.

I remember finishing the 7th Harry Potter book and being impressed with the symbolism, with the ties, with the seemingly perfect conclusion of everything.

But, for me, the most inspiring part of the Harry Potter series was much simpler than the story of the deathly hallows.

In one of the books (and my sister may disown me for not knowing which one) Professor Lupin teaches a class of wizards how to defeat a boggart. The boggart turns into the students' worst fears, and in order to overcome them, they must find a way to make to them funny.

They must laugh at their fears.

Now, if this were something that were going to be edited, my editor would surely make me remove this tidbit about Harry Potter. On account of it is unrelated, and it unnecessarily lengthens the article.

GOOD THING THIS ISN'T EDITED AND I CAN SAY WHATEVER I WANT, RIGHT?

Because it's true. Laughing at our fears demoralizes them. And if there's anything deserving of demoralization, it's my fears.

For example, last weekend, I was in New York, giving a presentation about the internship I did with Sport Diver magazine.

I talked about writing my first story. It was 150 words, and it took more than four hours to complete.

I told the room I was afraid if I didn't get the words just right, they would send me home and I would never become the journalist I wanted to be.

We all laughed. Because how dare I assume one 150-word story would define my career as a writer? What a silly fallacy my fear had created!

But it was a real fear. That I wouldn't be good enough. That I would let down the editor. That I would never become the person I wanted to be. And it all hinged on 150 words. You would take more than four hours too, wouldn't you?


So here's what I think, about life and about pie:

(And for the record, I maintain the right to change my opinion. Because if there's one thing I know, it's that love is the most important thing in this world. And if there are two things I know, it's that our minds our constantly subject to change and maybe we owe them the right to do so. Maybe.)

I think we shouldn't eat 10 pieces of pie and two scoops of ice cream every day.

Most days, we should eats salads, and legumes, and various varieties of vegetables.

I think we should read the news. We should be aware of the plights of our nation, our oceans, our world. We should send money to Red Cross when we can, or give a granola bar to the homeless person at the corner of the freeway exit.

I think we should look our fears in the face. We should acknowledge them. We should do everything we can to prepare to avoid them. We should forgive ourselves for having them, too.

And then we should laugh at those poo heads.

Seriously, picture your fears with poo on their heads if you have to.

There is a difference between being ignorant and happy. It's a fine line to walk. Because there is so much suffering in the world. I'm afraid, if I join in for all of it, there won't be time for anything else.

But compassion is essential. Without it we fail to do the most important thing, which is to love.

And so I think, we ought to try to hold on to happiness AND to share it. Who's to say we can't alleviate suffering by spreading light?


And so it seems, we should eat pie. On some days.

We should think we can change the world. Because we won't do anything we think we can't.
We can only do what we think we can.

Which is to say, we will only change the world if we're realistic enough to see the change that needs to be made, and unrealistic enough, to believe we can make that change.

Interesting dichotomy, no?


My friends, today is the day you take on the world.

But, you should probably brush your teeth first.