In the first condition, women showed an increased risk for cardiovascular disease later in her life. In the second, a woman’s overall risk of dying, stroke, and heart disease increased.

Studies like this are often scary if not properly explained and understood. If you have had a preemie or underweight baby, you should ask your doctor how it could affect your heart health going forward. Likewise if you are having your ovaries removed, discuss all the possible risks, both immediate and future, before deciding on a course of treatment.

Image from StockXchange.

Post from: Blisstree

Women’s Heart & Reproductive System Linked

Stereotypes are borne out of prejudices and not from well-founded thought. Some are generated from inferred evidence and others, uh — from real encounters? Heehee. The latter is not a cause for us to generalise, though. That would be a tad bit unfair for the rest. The society and our culture have a lot to do with the foundation of stereotyping. So, that’s a step to understanding this particular human behaviour.

This subject first came to my attention here at Dating Dames when it was raised in the conversation a few of us had when I’d written a post about how men find women who eat sexy. It made me see how stereotyping affects the dating scene or our choices on who to date, at least.

It caught up with me yet again when I talked about the Sex and the City character, Miranda’s skinny jean fashion-turned-dating experience over at Tops 2 Bottoms when it was noticed that in the show, she kept dating geeks or geeky-looking guys. In short, she’s been pegged as the geek-magnet reasoning that compared to rest of her friends, she’s the “plain” one.

It, therefore, raised a few questions like what type of guys do plain-looking and/or geeky girls get and it further reinforces the idea that hot girls = hot guys [Which we all know is total bullocks. Heh.].

It makes me wonder, though. Just how much of our dating preferences are influenced by stereotyping? Coming from someone who thinks she’s a poor judge of character [that'd be me. hehehe.], how can you tell if you’re gaining or losing something or, better yet or worse — someone — when you do stereotype?

Or is it just a case of “whatever works”?

Personal opinion: Always give them the benefit of the doubt, you really can’t know the person by simply looking at or by trusting what other people say about him or her, don’t you agree? There’s always a reason behind everything and it’s always worth taking the risk [what's there to lose?]. What good would it do to stereotype, anyway? This other person just might surprise you. Think of it this way, he or she might be “the one”. Heehee.

Post from: Blisstree

The Subject of Stereotypes: Risk or Opportunity?

It’s only an idea because I haven’t really experienced skydiving. I’ve seen footages of it, though. I’m sure you have, too. Anyway, I’m going to try to describe and speculate on what happens when you engage in such an activity.

I reckon you’ll go through theoretical lectures and some sort of simulation before the actual jump. It’s part of the preparation so you’ll know what to expect. I guess, instructors will do some troubleshooting sessions so you’ll know how to handle certain situations that may arise. All in the spirit of safety.

Safety?! Skydiving is safe?! Gah.

Anyway, join me as I try to picture when the actual time comes that you’re scheduled to jump off a plane that’s cruising at an altitude of 10,000 kms [or higher perhaps] from the ground.

Your hands get clammy at the thought, probably shaking while you do your best to put on the harness that will hold the chute, which is vital to your landing safely and in one piece. You check it. Double check it. And even triple check it.

You try to laugh it off — the idea of what you are about to do. You’re probably terrified and excited at the same time. But still you feel safe since you’re just boarding the plane. And you can still feel the ground underneath your feet. You’ll probably kid around with the instructors and other jumpers while the plane’s taxiing on the runway.

You’ll probably forget about your fear for a bit while the plane takes off and you begin to feel the excitement. Well, up until that moment when they open the doors and the instructors start to shout out last minute instructions. It’s time to jump!

You stand up and inch towards the door with a mixture of renewed terror and excitement when you see how far up you are. All the possible worst things that can happen will come rushing into your head that you’ll actually begin to question your sanity.

Peeking into your thoughts, we’ll probably hear you screaming something like this: “What the hell am I doing? What if my chute doesn’t open? What if it doesn’t open in time? 10,000 friggin’ kms.? Do I really need to do this? Is this worth it? What if I die? OMIGOD!!!”

But you then jump. You experience the exhilirating ride of your life. You’re falling at an unbelievable speed. You have a choice of shutting your eyes or keeping them wide open so you see that you’re literally between the sky and the ground. You’ll realise that there’s nothing that can stop you’re fall and nothing to catch you when you reach land. You’re in a situation that you can’t possibly control. You’ll be resigned to hold on to what your instructors taught you and to one comforting thought — that you have the chute to help you land safely.

If you learn to trust in that assurance, you’ll be able to enjoy the experience. Every second of it. Then you’ll reach a point when you’ll just float. Well, okay — glide safely to the ground. And you’ll finally realise that it was silly of you to have spent those initial moments worrying when everything turned out alright. In fact, everything turned out amazingly wonderful!

So, when you land you’ll just want to lie there and marvel at what you have just experienced. You couldn’t probably stop grinning or even laughing and think that it’s incredible and you can’t wait to do it again.

Now, just think that dating is somewhat similar to skydiving. And the assurance you can hold on to is the fact that it will not kill you. Seriously. So worrying about the negative things that you think might happen will just suck the fun out of it and you might miss the opportunity to experience what may just make your life richer and a bit more beautiful.

Of course, this is only in theory. Hehehe. But it’s a good thought, right? So, think about it.

Post from: Blisstree

Dating Is Like Skydiving

“Here I am, ending my employment, packing house, and moving halfway around the world with my cats, no less, to marry a man from a different culture, different race, different religion, I’d known him online for less than two months, and I’d never met him in person.” — Laurie

You’ll always remember that time when you first see him or her, when you first kissed, and of course the day you say, “I do.”

What if I tell you that Laurie had experienced that in a span of one day? Well, she did. I’m NOT kidding.

My first thought was — she must’ve been insane to do such a thing as marrying a guy 8 hours after she met him the first time. Unbelievable!

However, after giving it a more careful thought, I realised that she took the risk that most of us are too terrified of taking. It reminded me of this theory I have — that the thing that scares us the most is the very thing that will help us define ourselves and our life.

So, yea. It’s a real incredible thing for Laurie and Fahim to find a love online and a happy ending, too!

I’m inviting you to read how Laurie journeyed half-way around the world to find Love. And I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Post from: Blisstree

Laurie & Fahim: Finding Love in a Blog

Now I’d like us to think about the question: what will push you to take a chance on someone?

Based on personal experience, I’ve noticed how I tend to look at the past, mine in particular [of course], most of the time and fail to look at the “future”. So, when found in a situation wherein I need to make a decision about taking a risk, I fail to see the possibility of it actually working out because I tend to look at the signs, which may indicate that it will not. How negative of me, right? Well, it’s just me being afraid of getting hurt, of getting left out in the cold again. I stubbornly try to control a very volatile situation. Call me crazy. Heh.

It’s not the first time I’ve thought about this matter. The first time was actually during a period in my life that asked me to take a huge chance on someone. And I can’t forget this line from the Audrey Hepburn movie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

“You know what’s wrong with you, Miss Whoever-you-are? You’re chicken, you’ve got no guts. You’re afraid to stick out your chin and say, “Okay, life’s a fact, people do fall in love, people do belong to each other, because that’s the only chance anybody’s got for real happiness.” You call yourself a free spirit, a “wild thing,” and you’re terrified somebody’s gonna stick you in a cage. Well baby, you’re already in that cage. You built it yourself. And it`s not bounded in the west by Tulip, Texas, or in the east by Somali-land. It’s wherever you go. Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself.” — Paul, Breakfast at Tiffany’s

He had told me “never fear taking chances” and I kept it in mind eversince. It may not have worked out in the end but I’ve learned something invaluable and for that I’m grateful.

My answer to the question I posted is — when I realise that I can trust the guy, it’ll will convince me to take that chance. Then it’s free fall, baby! Hahaha.

What about you?

Post from: Blisstree

Taking Chances