What "Papa Don’t Preach" can do for you

Madonna’s oldie, “Pappa Don’t Preach,” always gets me going. Whenever I need a quick boost of motivation, especially when I exercise, I listen to this song.

I didn’t grow up listening to 80′s music like everyone else in my generation. My mom and dad met in a rock-and-roll band and played a lot of old southern rock (did I mention my dad is in his 60′s and still plays in this band? See us to the right – that’s him playing at my wedding reception in 2008).

So, I am ashamed to admit that I heard Madonna’s song for the first time in late 2009. And now I’m addicted to it.

What I like about this song is the bold, brass statement she makes when she says, “…but I’ve made up my mind! I’mmm keeping my baby!”It makes me feel so rebellious!

I really believe that to be extraordinary in any area of your life, you have to be rebellious. I don’t mean you need to butt heads with authority and break the law. But you DO need to break the rules of society sometimes. The standard way of thinking tells us, “You can only lose weight if you do xyz…You can only make money by doing xyz…You can’t do it this way, you must do it that way!”

Whenever we strive to meet the standards of mainstream society, we often fail to reach our BIG DREAMS. Know how I know? Look at the norm. What are most people doing? What are they making? How are they living? In the past few years, I have always looked, not to what my peers were doing, but what my role models were doing. If I wanted to do, be or have something MAJOR, I found someone who had already done it, and I listened to and followed them.

If you really want to start living differently – and you want to do it in a BIG WAY – you have to start following a different path. Remember Madonna’s words, “…but my friends keep telling me to give it up! Saying ‘I’m too young,’ I ought to live it up…” Yet she still decides she gonna’ keep her baby…ooh, oh!

(Smile) I know that song is about teenage pregnancy, but it’s true that, if you want to live passionately and extraordinarily, you MUST make up your mind to make choices that go against normal society rules.

Forget what society says about your life – listen to your intuition. It will only lead you to a bigger, bolder, better life

What do you think about this song? Does it get your rebellious nature flowing like it does mine??