What do the Stock Market and a mattress have in common?

Inspired by a conversation I had this evening with a male friend of mine, I've summed up how women feel about sex and men in three sentences:

Women are sexual creatures, just like men, we love sex, we really do.

We are also, however, instinctively built to be investors of our, let's just call it, time.

In other words, if you don't show promise of future, prospective growth and the best return on my investment, then logically, there is no reason for me to continue contributing my (ahem)…talents.

The difference between being and adult and being a grown up

The day I turned 31, I had an interesting realization. Interesting only for the fact that I had uncovered this consciousness at 31 years of age. On that day, I remember it distinctly, I officially became fully aware of my mortality. It was the first time ever that I truly grasped the fact that one day I was going to die. I'd thought about death before, tried to imagine my own and how it was going to happen. Much like Emma Thompson's character in Stranger than Fiction, as she insists, we all do it. But it was just that, imagination, it didn't feel real. I don't know why it hit me that day, there are probably a number of things that finally came together in just the right way to make me 'get it', but I do know that everything changed in that instant. While I had been an adult for quite some time, choronologically speaking, it was that day in December that I finally felt I had grown up. I remembered thinking, I'm 31 there's no denying shit anymore, there's no pointing fingers or placing blame or stomping my feet and throwing a tantrum when things don't go my way. I have to be accountable for me. I'm not just an adult anymore, I am a grown-up!

I also realized the vast difference between the two.

As an adult, I can:
drive
vote
drink
get married
get a credit card

As a grown up:

I can handle uncomfortable circumstances with tact, decency and maturity. I don't run from awkward situations because I'm afraid of conflict. That's life, that's human interaction…that's what is so beautiful about the fact that we get to mingle with one another in the first place.

I can realize that sometimes things are going to be wonderful and perfect, other times they are not. As a grown-up, I realize that those imperfect times are not my cue to put up my defenses or simply act like I don't care.

I can argue like a grown up. I don't feel the need to be short with someone to avoid the confrontation, I don't feel I have to be unpleasant or mean to them just because we're having a disagreement.

I can hold people accountable for their actions. If you've done something shitty, I'm going to call you out on it. Why shouldn't I? It's how you grow as a person.

I can hold myself accountable for my actions. If I've done something shitty, I know it, so there's no sense in me denying it. And you should call me out on it too. It's how I grow as a person.

I can let go of my ridiculous hypocrisies. Just because you project something on the outside, if you're not sincerely practicing it at home, ALL the time, you're nothing more than a fraud.

I can tell you how I feel and if you don't feel the same, I will not falter and change my mind just to falsely protect myself.

I can have enough love and respect for you to look you in the face and tell you the worst truth rather than the best lie.