But before I get into that, let me first just tell you the most fabulous thing that happened to me over the weekend.  I completed #11 on the bucket list — I saw Bon Jovi in concert! Hooray for life lists and setting goals for no reason other than fun and living life out loud!

My favorite songs are now floating through my brain.  Or perhaps that’s my iPod set on repeat.  Regardless, I’ve totally realized something.  Some of my biggest inspiration – you know, for living my most awesome, inspired, gutsy, out-loud, do-everything-you-ever-dreamed-of life – it comes from Bon Jovi.

Not to say they put those awesome, gutsy ideas in my head.  They’re just always there, cheering me on.

When I need a pick-me-up, I often turn to music. Music gets in your veins.  It makes you brave.  And if you’re like me, it makes you a little crazy, as you dance like mad in your living room.  Music is what I turn to when I’m looking for that laugh-out-loud, shout-at-the-top-of-my-lungs inspiration.

Anyhow, I’m not exactly sure how my love affair with Bon Jovi began.  I do remember being in the fourth grade, as my brother listened to Slippery When Wet ad nauseum.  I was a self-proclaimed hater of hair bands.  Yet, thanks to my brother, I knew every word to Livin’ on a Prayer and Social Disease. I constantly yelled through his doorway, “Turn it down!”  (At the time, I didn’t realize just how freaking amazing they were.)

The Crossroads album then changed everything.  I sat in my best friend’s mom’s Camaro listening to Jon tell me he’d “be there forever and a day – always,” and my heart melted.

I digress.  ‘Cause here’s the thing — I’ve never been so consistently inspired by lyrics as I have by those of Bon Jovi.  I’ve noticed as they’ve progressed in their lives, each new album brings even more inspiration.  It’s like they’ve been in my mind along the journey, and they know just what I need to hear at any given interval.

They told me it’s okay to be a little broken because Everybody’s Broken in this life.  They constantly remind me that It’s My Life – it’s now or never; I’m not going to live forever, and I just want to live while I’m alive.  They told me to fly like an aeroplane, dance in the pooring rain, spit in the eye of a hurricane.  Why?  Because Love’s the Only Rule.

Their songs are full of inspiration for living the life you want to live.  That’s the best message ever.

And that’s why Bon Jovi is the perfect self help guru. (And compared to therapy, they’re seriously cheap.)