Friday, June 15, 2012

Rationalizations-R-Us Redux


A while back (almost two years, in fact--my, how time flies!) I did a post on excuses. (What? You need proof? Okay, click HERE.)

In that post I talked about my imaginary website, "Rationalizations-R-Us," where people can come if they need to justify some behavior they may be feeling a tad guilty about engaging in, and I provide them with a handy rationalization.

DISCLAIMER: I will not provide a rationale for anything that will physically harm another person or animal. There is no excuse for that.

If you, however, feel an urgent desire to decimate a whole pizza or main a hot fudge sundae, I'm your gal. 

I felt bad about providing excuses for poor behavior ... until I, yannoh, visited my imaginary site and browsed around until I came across this: "Relieving people's guilt about actions that don't harm others is a good deed. Reduced guilt = less anxiety. Less anxiety means fewer anxiety meds must be taken."

See? I'm not enabling bad behavior. I'm reducing the nation's dependence on Xanax and Valium!

So, anything I can help you out with today? Tell me what you need justified, and I'll give you a rationalization in the comments. 

Or, if you've already mastered the technique yourself, do share the highlights of your rationalizations!

P.S. It's Friday, so I'm over at The Debutante Ball. This week the topic is "If you like my book, you might also like ..." Which was difficult for me, since my book hasn't been released yet. So I had to mix it up a bit by ... oh, heck. Just click HERE and see for yourself.

Have a great weekend!

18 comments:

Kimberly Sabatini said...

Dear Linda,
I need to feel better about my house never being clean..ever. *head thunk* Or my yard...or my laundry clean and folded...or my....oh you get the picture!

Delia said...

Rationalizations are for amateurs. I go for a nice, confident, "Because I don't feel like it, that's why." Works every time. ;)

Dianne K. Salerni said...

I'm a little stuck on my current WIP. I don't need a rationalization not to work on it today. I need somebody to pry the darn laptop out of my hands and force me to take a break from it!

I know breaks help.
I just don't like them.

abby mumford said...

"i don't see myself working today." CLASSIC. i'm going to use that one and give you a break from thinking up another excuse for me. i'll take a rain check on that excuse and trust me, i'll collect. :)

The Reading Frenzy said...

hmmm, I'm thinking of mainlining that hot fudge sundae to make me feel better, mind if I add pecans.
thanks for the post

deb

Kristina L. Martin said...

Well this was a fortuitous read today. I have a rather long list of things I don't see myself working on today either. But now, I think I'll just say "No" to them and not give them another thought. Thanks beautiful! :)

Linda G. said...

K-pop -- Oh, this one is easy-peasy. A messy house is the sign of a creative mind. It means you're working on one of your books! What could be more important than that?

Delia -- LOL! I like your style.

Dianne -- Sheesh, girl. You need help. Maybe a martini. Or at least a hot fudge sundae. ;)

Abby -- Ha! Yeah, I like that one myself. ;)

Debbie -- Hi! And welcome to my humble blog. There's not much in life a hot fudge sundae won't fix. Well, except the size of my jeans, but let's not go there. HFSs feed the creative soul! We must ingest them the same way we would vitamins. ;)

Kristina -- Hi, gorgeous! My pleasure. :)

Carol Kilgore said...

Love that graphic. Unfortunately, I see myself working all day. And it's Friday. What's up with that?

Happy Weekend!

Teri Anne Stanley said...

I need some help with compulsive online jigsaw puzzle solving...instead of blogging, or writing, or, yannoh, WORK?

Linda G. said...

Carol -- Obviously you've been infected with the affliction known as "responsibility." You need to take two siestas and call your spin doctor in the morning. ;)

Teri Anne -- Hey, jigsaw puzzles, online or otherwise, build brainpower! You wouldn't want your brainpower muscles to get slack, would you?

Judy,Judy,Judy. said...

For days now I've been procrastinating working on my wip. Can you rationalize that for me?

Linda G. said...

Triple-J -- You aren't procrastinating. You're "recharging your creative batteries" so you can come back to your WIP with renewed vigor. ;)

LD Masterson said...

Um, it's almost 3:00 and I'm still trying to visit blogs - something I'm suppose to have finished be noon. And I'm behind in my crit group crits.

However, I do have an award/meme for you on my blog. Stop by when you can.

Linda G. said...

L.D. -- Some days just go like that, huh? And I saw the award/meme on your blog -- thanks! :)

Patsy said...

I never behave badly - but sometimes I research how it would feel to behave badly. To a casual, judegemental observer this might look very like actually behaving badly, but writers can appreciate the difference.

Anonymous said...

I need a serious nap, but will have to cancel things the kids want to do to kick off their summer vacation. What should I do?

Linda G. said...

Patsy -- Oh my, yes! Research. There are just SO many things that require research when you're writing a book. it took me forever to figure out my MC's favorite cocktail, for instance. ;)

Stephen -- This is why Gog invented video games. Park the kids in front of one, a snooze away. Trust me, they won't mind. Reassure yourself that they're working on perfecting their hand/eye coordination. It's a necessary skill. ;)

Dawn@Lighten Up! said...

And what, pray tell, is wrong with Xanax and Valium? Better living through chemistry, I always say.
;)