(www.sass-pants.com) — What seems like a lifetime ago, I wrote a post called “Why I Could Never Be Friends With Bridget Jones.” My comments, in part:
Bridget’s on the right track when she resolves to take better care of herself by cutting back on the ciggies and the booze, but the fact that she measures her happiness by whether [her boss] is more or less interested in getting into her knickers on any given day just grates on me. …Happiness isn’t about what the scale says or how many men are trying to seduce you. It’s about feeling good physically and emotionally.”
(You can read the whole post at Lively Women, the women’s health blog I hosted for almost 2 years for b5media, which is now hosted by Peggy Rowland.)
I’ve had this remarkable revelation though: Bridget Jones is everywoman. (It’s obviously not a revelation to the publishing industry, as that’s the basis of the chick lit genre, but whatever, we’re talking about me here.) I think the reason I couldn’t stand Bridget Jones is that she exemplifies everything I hate about myself:
- Overall insecurity
- Falling for the WRONG MEN (see cross-reference: every guy I dated or crushed on before my husband) for the WRONG REASONS
- Incessantly vowing to change but never following through
Except Bridget finally DID follow through. She told off her jerk of a boss. She got a job she liked. She lost the weight she was struggling with. She cut down (or quit? I can’t remember) on smoking. She ended up with the right guy. She actually WROTE in her journal just about every day for a year.
Aside from the British accent and the tobacco habit, I am Bridget Jones. Quirky, dorky, chronically committed to changing, but taking forever to actually do it. No wonder she drove me so crazy at first. Watching/reading Bridget Jones was like looking into a mirror. It just took me 2 years to figure it out.
So now that I’ve had this revelation, not only do I take back everything I said about poor Bridge, but I want to follow in her ultimately successful footsteps (until the sequel, which, at least in film form, was godawful).
And I’m serious about it. Get this: I actually did CRUNCHES. And I don’t mean the sound the chips make when you chew them. I mean stomach crunches. And I JOGGED. On a TREADMILL. Admittedly, the jogging part lasted about two minutes until I had to slow to a brisk walk lest I collapse and be thrown off the belt into the wall behind me. But it’s progress. And I intend to do it tomorrow, too. And the next day.
AND! I bought a notebook. (“Because you don’t already have eighty-four thousand notebooks, Kristen?” Quiet, you.) And I have written in it. I’m not committing to anything daily, but I am committing to physically recording thoughts in ink and on paper and contemplating them. This used to be routine for me, as evidenced by the more than a dozen notebooks and journals sitting on my shelf that chronicle my life from about age 10 to 17 or so, when journaling fizzled out. Not sure why I stopped, but it’s amazing to look back and relive conversations recorded in painstaking detail, and try to figure out bizarrely cryptic references that I’m sure made plenty of sense at the time. I miss that.
So, Bridget, I take it back. And I’m sorry for taking out my frustration with myself on you. Thanks for showing me the light through Oxygen, TBS, and the numerous other networks that replay you weekend after weekend after weekend. I needed that.
Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King
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Ohhh, you really ought to watch the DVD. They butcher the dialogue on cable.
Hurrah for epiphanies! :D
Thanks, Sandra. Not sure I can bring myself to spend money on this, but I did read the book a few years ago, so at least I get the essence of what it really sounds like. ;)
I kept a journal all through high school and college. Now, my problem is that I want to burn them in case something happens to me. I don’t want anyone to read them! That’s the only problem I see with journals. Maybe I should start a secret password online journal this time.
Thanks for the link and mention to Lively Women! : )
Oh, Peggy, don’t you dare burn those! You can never get them back. But you CAN put them in a lock box somewhere and forget about them so they won’t be rediscovered until you’re dead and gone and can’t be embarrassed by their contents. :) But don’t destroy them, please, please, please.
You don’t know how horrible my handwriting can be!
I wrote kind of fast, esp. in the high school ones : ) I know I shouldn’t care about people reading things after I’m dead, but that’s what worries me. ha.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Peggy’s last blog post..Why is Sass Pants talking about Bridget Jones?
The reason why I could never be friends with Bridget Jones: I would constantly be thinking about how to steal Colin Firth…er…Mark Darcy away from her!
And don’t worry Kristen, I too have about a dozen journals on my shelf – only mine are all empty! Don’t you love when you fill the first page of a new journal with your inner-thoughts, only to never write in it again?! Good luck with the new notebook, Kristen…here’s wishing you have better luck!
It’s embarrassing, but actually I 100% relate to Bridget Jones. The movie adds a whole new dimension as well. I was prepared to hate Renee Z, but she’s fantastic.
Sonia Simone | Remarkable Communication’s last blog post..Why This is the Best Time to Finally Break Free
@Peggy, If mine are in any way similar, I feel you. :)
@Sonia, I felt the same way about her as Bridget.
Oh, how I loved Bridget Jones :)
Putting ink to paper is definitely therapeutic for me. Plus, in today’s fast paced, technology obsessed society (something in there should be hyphenated, I just know it), I cling to writing. Good ol’ tangible pen and paper. There’s something almost raw about it at this point.
@ Peggy – I agree with Kristen. Don’t throw them away! I’ve kept all mine since junior high. For years I carried around a shoebox of old love letters from my high school sweetheart/husband/ex-husband. From home, to college, to my first apartment, to my first home. Finally, I threw them away. I didn’t want anyone to find them, and I rationalized that by reminding myself that part of my life was over. I swear, just the other night, I was wishing I still had them to pilfer through. Not exactly a journal, but a decent example nonetheless, ha.
Alicia’s last blog post..Torturing Guantanamo Bay Prisoners With…Music?
P.S. I get a tiny daily newsletter from the Sierra Club called “Daily Ray of Hope.” Each morning, it includes a picture and an inspirational quote. This morning’s quote:
“Pen, ink & paper, and a sitting position are great helps to attention and thinking.” – John Adams
Naturally, I had to head back over here and pass it along (re: your notebook purchase). :)
Alicia’s last blog post..Torturing Guantanamo Bay Prisoners With…Music?
@Alicia, So good to have you here. Thanks for the encouraging quote via Sierra Club. :)
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