Mustachio’d Thoughts: Position to Transition

Mustaches of Change: A Position of Transition

The slow picks of the acoustic guitar, adding in the intoxicating melodic whine of Robert Plant, that continues on a windy river of sound that reaches a bridge that leaves you wondering why you haven’t drifted into space. All of a sudden you arrive, the amps have been turned on and Jimmy Page is proving why he is one of the greatest of all time, shredding harder than employees at Arthur Anderson in 2002 (It’s embellished, get over it). The boys of Led Zeppelin have taken you from a river of melody to raging sea of rock and roll. They have transitioned your state from soft to hard, ice cube to steam, content to thirsting for more. Put you in a position to transition. 

Life is a constant transition, child to adolescence, adolescence to teen, teen to adult, adult to parent, parent to grandparent. In each of our life stages, a changing list of priorities, another set of challenges, a different set of opportunities to prove why we are here. My grandparents survived the great depression, my parents saw a man walk on the moon, my brother and I watched a building fall and a country rise. Each a daunting task proved to become history, our past, if its one thing I know history is not a story of defeat. History can only be history if we are still here keeping the memory alive, and as Charlie Sheen would say #winning.

Stuart Scott endured one of the greatest transitions a human can go through, Cancer. An evil that seems to take only the good ones and leave the rest of us broken-hearted. But at the end of the day it is a road, a fight a battle, a transition; which in Stuart’s case was tripled. About his journey Scott was quoted as “When you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer. You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live.” Scott lived a life filled with “Booyah!” moments, but his biggest accomplishment was telling the world that only the human can defeat itself. Defeat is a mindset, an infection that if it gets the best of you leaves you a shell of your former self, but if you preserve can leave you at your strongest. (Watch Stuart’s speech here: http://youtu.be/Yl_0ieqSi7Q)

In light of Movember and raising awareness for Men’s Health everywhere, it is important that we never become defeated, never give up, and embrace every transition that we make in this life. When we are faced with the imminent challenges of this world, our legacy is determined by the creative intuition that wills oneself to achieve feats not thought possible. We all have an end, whenever that end might be, we owe it to each other live in a way that writes us into the history of each other’s lives.

As we all attempt to write ourselves into the history books, it is important to help find a cure so that we can triumph over evil. I encourage you to donate to a cancer charity of choice, whether it be prostate, testicular, pancreatic, brain…the fight needs all the support it can get.

Veni, Vidi, Vici

Mustachio’d Thoughts: What are you laughing at?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwyP-vl_eOA

A few years ago there was a commercial by Volkswagen, one that had a montage of people at different stages in their life laughing, with the catch phrase “It’s not the miles, it’s how you live them”. And while I’m not the brand new owner of a Red Beetle (similar to the one that, without fail, cuts me off every time I’m on the freeway), the commercial did help me to realize something: Laughter is our signature of happiness. It is our John Hancock on humor. And while John Hancock was able to tell King George to “Stick it” with a few swift scribbles on a piece of parchment, laughter is a true declaration of uninhibited raw happiness.

This past week I had the opportunity to see Craig Shoemaker, a tenured comedian with a set that left my stomach hurting. Craig at the end of the show broke from his routine and explained how he thinks we as a society don’t laugh enough. He’s right, we don’t. The news is so dark you begin to think “He who shall not be named” is doing the programming. Often leaving you as depressed as if you had just gotten rick-rolled (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickrolling), or as creeped out as seeing Rob Lowe at your swimming pool (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMfzh8Zfi5U).

Laughter is the cure, and not just to our societal news blues, laughter is good for you physiologically. Laughter oxygenates our blood, lowers our blood sugar levels, boosts our immune system, and decreases pain (and that’s just the base model). For a society that overeats and hardly works out, laughter seems like a workout plan we can all get on-board with (work out videos to follow). Norman Cousins an American journalist diagnosed with the very painful ankylosing spondylitis, said that the pain relief that he received from laughter was more effective than any of the prescription drugs he was ever treated with. Laughter more powerful than drugs, that’s right, move over Breaking Bad, here comes Laughing Lad. What a terrible joke, turn off my mic. Seriously though, therapy through humor and laughter is listed as treatment for cancer by the American Cancer Society. AND LAUGHTER IS FREE, NO CO-PAYS, NO ACA, NO DOCTOR VISITS, IT’S FREE! It’s an acceptable addiction to have, with no D.A.R.E campaigns against it.

I was fortunate enough to be raised in a family that never stopped laughing, through the best times and the worst times, we always found strength in humor. And in that we have cultivated some of the best laughs in the world, full of honks, snorts, giggles and whatever my cousin Jack does. It is our favorite past-time, current and future activity. As we continue on this tainted upper-lip journey of Movember, it is important to find cures for the things that ail us, with Movember’s causes of Mental Health, Prostate and Testicular cancer in mind.  Everyone has been touched by cancer in some way, some more deeply than others, but shouldn’t we all do our part to self-medicate and medicate each other with laughter. As the old Irish proverb goes, “A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cure for anything.” We need to laugh more. Let’s see each other’s John Hancock of Humor. Put our signature of happiness on the faces of others.

We can change the face of Men’s Health (and Health in general) by cracking a smile and letting that cackle, giggle, rumble be heard, and becoming a laughter addict again. If you feel inclined please donate: ​http://mobro.co/TedChristy.

Mustachio’d Thoughts: Mental Health

There is a certain something in the eyes of everyone, the glossy sheen of the all knowing optic that draws your gaze into the iris’ life and color, that is abruptly juxtaposed by the dark black pupil that hides all of our desires, secrets, passions and pain. That something when it came to Robin Williams was magical. The crystal blues that reminded you of a frozen glacier, the twinkle that let you know that he was your biggest fan, whether you were the subject of a joke, or a kid in a movie theatre: He was MAGIC. Not magic in the sense of “hoo-haw ala-kazaam”, rather his ability to create an illusion for his audience that transported them to his beautifully raw, lucid world of laughter and joy. As so many found solace in the joy and laughter Robin created within each of us, the true story was that the real illusion was to hide a dark pain that was deep inside of him.

I never had the chance to meet the Great Robin Williams, but felt like I knew him deeply. He was a big kid with the mantra: “We are all given one little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it!” A performer that wore his heart on his sleeve and left everything on stage, giving himself to the audience every time and being at the mercy of their reaction. A genuine person that lived for others. I am not here to right a memorial for Robin (Billy Crystal cannot be outdone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UljNDz7jiOg), but rather try and act on his mantra. “We are all given one little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it!” a saying that encourages everyone to chase their passion with a manic craziness that reveals a true genius, just as Robin did. Unfortunately, that spark of madness was dimmed by the ever present depression, a disease that is all too present in today’s society.

November has been renamed Movember in hopes of bringing awareness to Men’s health issues like Prostate Cancer, Testicular Cancer and Mental Health through the dawning of follicle infested upper lips.  As a participant for the past 5 years, it is awesome to see the exponential growth in the movement and the subsequent increase in 70s Porn Stars and Cops (or so it appears). But there is a certain responsibility that comes with the facial badge of honor and that is to draw attention to these issues. As my focus this week is mental health, I encourage all of you to find that “little spark of madness” in each of those you love, admire and cherish and tell them just how much they mustn’t lose it. If this is a cause that you wish to support then please feel free to donate to Movember (​http://mobro.co/TedChristy), my intention this year is not to make as much money as I can but to raise as much awareness as possible. There is an old saying that says the real way to keep a person alive is too share the stories that mean the most to each of us. Each of us has been touched by depression in different ways, and sometimes at the greatest of consequences. In pain there is strength, let’s use that strength to find a common resolve. Robin provided all of us with a lifetime of stories and laughter, it is important that we share his and others in an effort to keep all of our spark’s alive.

One of my favorites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqdSagycCWc