**Disclaimer –
This post is in no way a political rant, diatribe, ramble or other
equivalent form of opinion venting. I am in no way educated or
informed enough to offer any relevant insight to any political
situation, especially one abroad. At best it would be embarrassing,
at worst ignorant and offensive. This is simply about us. And me.
Mainly about me. It's always about me.**
When
I woke up this morning, I had that groggy ache in my head and clumsy
sense of nausea you get when you drank too much red wine the night
before.
It
probably had something to do with the fact that I drank too much red
wine the night before.
My
shower took too long to warm up and my house felt so cold it almost
made me dislike my bed because it appeared to be taunting me with
warmth and comfort that I knew I couldn't embrace. For the record, I
love my bed. In leaving my house I was greeted by the kind of
quintessential cold English rain that I hadn't felt since leaving for
South East Asia almost 3 years ago. My umbrella got turned inside out
at least twice during the roughly 3 minute walk to the bus stop,
during which period the bus itself rushed past me and pulled away in
an amount of time that could have been scientifically calculated to
cause the maximum degree of frustration. The followup bus was stuck
behind the recycling truck as it inched it's way towards completion
of its suburban civic duty. At this moment, it struck me. I had also
forgotten to put out the recycling.
Oh
yeah, and whilst I was cleaning my teeth, Donald Trump was declared
as the next president of the United States of America.
It
is safe to say that I felt like it was going to be “one of those
days”.
Now
I am not a believer in 'those days', things happen randomly and
sometimes an unfortunate series of events all fall within one
rotation of the planet. In my opinion there is no greater
significance to this than the simple fact we are more inclined to
notice it. None the less it is a hard feeling to shake. I get the
impression I was not alone in my funk.
If
Facebook serves as the modern town square where people bare their
opinions and their souls, the general consensus surrounding today was
somewhat, shall we say, gloomy. The news feed is an insight in to the
wider mood, you lay witness to the mirror held up against responses
on cultural events, the passing of public figures, global tragedies,
humanitarian crises as well as the eternal struggle between heroic
iguanas and demon Medusa-looking hell snakes on remote tropical
islands. That reference may well date quickly but there is never a
bad time to re-watch Planet Earth.
I
have never witnessed a wave of negativity akin to the one that
greeted me today. Sad, angry bewilderment. I can hardly blame people.
As far as this year goes, the camels back was one straw away from
being broken and a 107kg man* with an extra 3kg of hair and fake tan** just jumped on it to catch a ride to the oval office.
I
don't know what this means for the world but when I told a friend of
mine that I was feeling ill, he wisely told me to relax, the sky is
not falling. I was actually referring to the after effect of the wine
but he had a good point.
I
totally understand why people are feeling so awful. I feel like a
large part of it has to do with how helpless we all feel. The bad
thing has happened and our role is relegated to that of powerless
spectator. It is just one of those days. It is just one of those
years. And you are right, we can't change it, we can't stop it, the
Hall of Presidents at Disneyland will be forever tainted.
There
is one thing we can control though, and that is us. It is a trite
cliché to say that if you let them get you down, they have already
won. Especially in this case as he has literally won. There is
inevitably some truth in that sentiment though. This year has thrown
up countless demonstrations that we can't rely on public figures to
save us. Our heroes may eventually die, our leaders may badly
under-serve us and our society may not represent us in a manner that
we believe is true to our spirits. Howevere, without meaning to sound
overly dramatic, we can still save ourselves.
Now
is the perfect time to rediscover your joy. Remember that joke or
that stupid thing you did which made your friend laugh so hard that
the result seemed like it would be death or defecation? Phone them up
and remind them of it again.
If
you have a favourite song that makes you giddy even under threat of
being disowned by your loved ones, play it loud. Better yet sing it
loud. Now is the time to take singing lessons if you want to sing.
Now is the time do dance and if you don't know how then learn. Get
back in to that sport you lost time for. Watch that box set you have
been putting off. Bake a massive cake. And save me a slice.
Seriously. I love cake.
If
you don't have a hobby, take one up. If you don't have a passion,
take the time to discover one. If you don't like your country right
now, start saving tomorrow for your round the world ticket. I have
been putting off writing my blog for over two years. My mind boggles
just stating that. I was always going to start it up again tomorrow.
But the dates don't lie. Positivity is rarely my strong suit but the
events of this morning have made me realise that I am responsible for
how my day goes. One minor victory at a time is all it takes. The
lifeline may have been severed and the hand-basket may be freely
floating to hell but the journey doesn't have to be wasted.
Far
more enlightened people than myself have stated for a long time that
the surefire path to misery is to focus your happiness on the thing
you can't control. You don't have to bury your head in the sand but
that doesn't you can't look towards something better. The world may
look different but it's still the same and we can deal with it the
same way we would yesterday. With laughter and nature documentaries.
And wine. Maybe less of that. Maybe. The sky is not falling, even if
our spirits are.
Be
funny. Be stupid. Be thoughtful. Be creative. Be passionate. Be
weird. Be active. Be productive. Be absolutely ridiculous. But don't
be defeated.
Do
remember to put out your recycling though. The world still needs
that.
Stay
positive y'all!
*Body weight verified by Google
**Hair and make up weight in no way verified by anything. I just made that up
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