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Subject: |
But I Just Don't FEEL Like It! |
| Date: |
2009-01-13
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But I Just Don't FEEL Like It!
Hi, I'm Dr. Laura Schlessinger and welcome, welcome, welcome! And thank you for being here. This is the Dr. Laura YouTube Channel, where I get to answer some of your questions and share some of your wisdom.
This one particularly struck me, because you know what I hear so often?
"I just don't feel like it!"
"Should I have to have sex with my husband when I don't feel like it?"
"Should I have to go to my wife's parent's house when I don't feel like it?"
Man oh man, where do we get the idea that the only things you do are the things that just make you feel good? Running into a burning building, I don't think, makes a fireman feel good. But he has a commitment to saving lives.
This email, from Tracie, speaks to this. She said she's been a listener for 13 years. Thank you. She said, "I often come across things about which I think, 'Dr. Laura would probably like this'." Evidently she's a huge Ralph Waldo Emerson geek and she came to this quote and sent it to me. Quote: "The force of character is cumulative. All the foregone days of virtue work their health into this." "The first sentence, 'The force of character is cumulative'," she writes, "hit me like a brick. I've read this a hundred times and for some reason, on this evening, it resonated with me in some inexplicable way. My husband goes to work, day in and day out, even when he's tired and worn down. My mother faithfully calls each member of our large, extended family on a regular basis to keep us all together. I cook our family's meals, even when I'm tired, the baby's crying, the three year old kid is whining...well that's character. And with that is honor. I thought of you and how you tell us all, your listeners I mean, that very thing each day in a thousand different ways. Even when you, Dr. Laura, are tired or cranky or don't feel much like speaking into a microphone for some reason. Character is born out of a dedication that eventually becomes habit. Reading that quote from Emerson reminded me that there are so many ways I don't live up to that standard, but it is sure something to work toward. I've written it in bold, black ink and I'm putting it on my refrigerator to remind me that character is cumulative; it becomes a habit. Thank you for being a role model," (thank you!), "and providing the support for those of striving to build our cumulative characters."
I love when you folks have these epiphanies, because that quality of you as a human being really comes from you doing what doesn't necessarily please you, gain you anything at the moment, but would please somebody else and gain something for them at the moment. That's the measure of your character... IF you're willing to put yourself out. Are you? Are you going to practice that now? I sure hope so! I don't want come to your house and have to pinch your head off!
I'm Dr. Laura Schlessinger. Visit us again, right here at the Dr. Laura YouTube Channel.
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