Good morning friends and followers! Happy Monday to you all! Only two weeks to Christmas! And happy final day of Hanukkah too! I love the holiday season, so I’m happy to give or receive any well wishes for the holidays. :)

Anyway, holidays aside, as awesome as they are, they do not start with X. Hold on… let me double check the Google. Okay, well, there seems to be an X-ray day on November 8th and an X-Terra World Championship on October 21st – but I’m not sure how real those are. So I shall still stick to my original X plan – X is for Xena, Warrior Princess!

I know you know who I’m talking about. Anyone born before 2000 (and probably plenty after that), know that screaming war cry and those badass circular chakrams. Her and Hercules were pretty much the bomb.com through the 90’s, and I loved them both. Hercules because Kevin Sorbo was quite good-looking, and he was such a chivalrous hero. And Xena because she was badass – obviously!

From a young age, I was enamored with strong, fierce women. Women who handled their shit, and looked good while doing it. I was never a small girl, and I knew I was never anyone’s Venus – but I knew I could be strong. I knew, with the shape of me, that I could be a warrior too, and I could do good with that.

As a kid, did I run around screaming out the Xena war cry when I felt like it? I sure as heck did! And I started lifting weights in high school – where I held all three weight lifting records for a long period of time. But I didn’t really find the warrior mindset until college.

What is the warrior mindset, you may ask? Well keep in mind that my mind is always just a little different than others – so I do not speak for warriors in general, or any martial arts. This is just how I’ve interpreted being a warrior.

Warriors value strength over beauty – not to say they can’t be both (hello! Xena!), but the strength piece is more important. For me, it’s physical strength. I used to desperately want to be pin thin, like runway models, because I thought that was the world’s chosen beauty. And it took me far longer than I like to find this piece of Warrior. I’d still like to be thinner, but I’d never sacrifice the muscle I’ve built to fit into some jeans I wore when I was smallest. My strength is a big part of what makes me beautiful.
Warriors will use their power for good. Whether that power be crazy awesome ninja skills or sharpshooter prowess, it’s used to help those that can’t help themselves. I’ve trained in Krav Maga for over 10 years, but I’ve never gotten in a fight. That’s not to say I’ve never bravadoed, and stopped several fights before they started (thank goodness), but it was never for me. I don’t care what people think of me or say about me, but my friends and family – whooo Nelly – you mess with them and you will see what I can do.
Warriors can talk a big game, but at the end of the day they try diplomacy before force. Just because I can arm-bar you to the ground and break your wrist, doesn’t mean I will – unless all else fails. I really think you can solve a whole lot with just not being a jerkface, and you should probably start there before you take it to broken bones.

And that's it. That's how I see being a warrior. Being strong, kind, and as diplomatic as I can be. ::laugh:: So get out there, and warrior it up!

“What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.” --- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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