Love Hangover

Ahh February…the month of love.  I think back on the Dishing With the Divas show we had last weekend called Love Hangover (www.blogtalkradio.com/chatterboxRadio).  When we discussed what our topic was going to be for the month, I really had to think about love and hangovers…and what that meant to me.  I think of Diana Ross’ song and what it says…”if there’s a cure for this…I don’t want it”.  Love is very reminiscent of a hangover.  Well, the process of getting a hangover. 

You get out there and there is this one drink.  It is really appealing and so you get one.  You taste it and wow is it good!!!  The first one is good so you order another.  That one is just as good as the first and by this point you are starting to feel really good.  What can another one hurt?  Well, by this time you are feeling good, life is grand and boy oh boy are you having a wonderful time!  Here is where common sense tends to kick in for a lot of us.  Yes, it is good and we are having a great time but it is time to reign it in and protect ourselves from the impact of too much of a good thing.  The internal self discussion begins….”you know you should quit while you are ahead”…”but I just got started”….”don’t you have to get up tomorrow morning, you have plans”…..”I can get up. What is one more drink going to cost me?”  Famous last words.  You can remember the feel of being hungover, and yet for some people that memory is not strong enough for you to resist the pull…and there it goes.  So some of us try that 11th hour prevention where we drink tons and tons of water when we get home…hoping to stave off the very worst of what we know is coming.  Some of us just say WTF and know what we will be in for the next morning.  The morning does not disappoint and as we listen to the brass band in our heads and drive the ceramic bus we curse ourselves for not using better judgement and for throwing caution to the wind.  We promise we will “never do that again” if we can just make it through this morning of torture.  As painful and uncomfortable as this experience is, eventually the feeling subsides to the point where we can function normally and life goes on.

How many times have you met a person and thought to yourself…wow!  Something about this person really appeals to you.  A lot of times the reaction is purely physical and I know I am not on an island when I make that statement.  Since at this point you know nothing about the person beyond the fact that you like they way they look and like their “potential”,  it is all about making that decision….should I continue this interaction or should I pump the brakes???  This is the point where that same internal conversation comes into play, should I or shouldn’t I????????

 I started this passage a long time ago and put it to the side for a while, but decided to pick it back up after a few occurrences as of recently.  For one, I have been reading Steve Harvey’s book.  Some of the things he says in this book have touched me when it comes to understanding men in dating situations.  I wish I had owned a book like this some 20 years ago, but we won’t go there today.  I will cover more on that in a later passage.  What does matter at this current time is that to me dating is like drinking..even still.  If you indulge yourself in guilty pleasures…sometimes you can indulge, know your limitations and be just fine.  Other times you go all out and end up suffering the consequences.  The key is knowing that you are flirting with danger and guiding yourself accordingly.  The one positive with a hangover is that it is temporary.  You feel like crap and make declarations that this will be the last time you indulge, but that lasts only about as long as the bad feeling.  Eventually you forget and you get back in the swing of things.  With Love Hangovers that is the key…a bad experience will make you feel terrible but guess what?  It will pass and you will eventually get back into the swing of things.