Love Is Making This Idol Idle
Singer, and first American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson jokes that love is ruining her career. She’s been dating talent manager, Brandon Blackstock for the last half year or so, and she says her song writing has lost its edge. ”It is killing me,” she told People. “I’m trying to write a tough song and it is coming out like butterflies and rainbows…It is ruining my creativity. I’m writing all this happy stuff.”
On The View this morning, the hosts were talking about this dilemma: can love mess up other aspects of your life, especially the first part of a relationship, the honeymoon stage? According to Joy Behar, she claims the Greeks warned to get through the honeymoon stage as fast as possible because you become incapacitated during the first part of love. And, in some ways, Joy and her Greek buddies are right. Read more here.
During the honeymoon stage, the first 6 to 18 months of a relationship, brain chemicals and hormones are going haywire and we find ourselves in a strange type of euphoric, addictive psychosis, and all we can think about is our next “fix” (our partner) which can make for difficulty focusing at work, getting enough sleep, and, yes, writing pop music. So, then, is it worth it? Absolutely.
Why? First, although it slows us down in other aspects of life, that honeymoon stage is what we all long for when we think of a love relationship. And, the thing is, it doesn’t last. Well, it can last, but it takes work after Mother Nature pulls the plug on the hormone-chemical brain cocktail she’d been serving. Second, we need to traverse that stage to get to the next which includes security, contentment, patience and trust. But, most importantly, once the passion and excitement die down, people who are in string, stable, loving and balanced relationships find that things in their lives fall into place a lot better than for others.
Studies have shown that these folks live longer, can be more productive at work, have a more youthful appearance, are healthier, are more fit, can handle stress better, exercise more, and can even write great pop songs. So, Kelly, enjoy this time. Struggle with the butterflies and rainbows, because if this relationship is “the one” you’ll come out on the other side hitting the charts once again.
