“Far out. Far fuckin’ out.” Then mayhem.
I gotta tell ya man, had a few years of things always going sideways and bad damn luck.
They say trauma takes many forms, and can have severe impacts on your life. You’ve got your acute trauma, like assault, serious illness or injury, losing a loved one, that sort of thing. Chronic trauma which is repeated events over time like abuse, domestic violence, neglect, and even religious trauma. Then there’s what they call complex trauma which is a combination of the above, swirling around into a nasty trauma soup which nobody wants.
I’m writing this in… what day is it? Midway through 2024. Well we had some shared trauma there didn’t we? Seems like a certain pandemic did a number on us all. Whatever trauma can be had from elections (and their aftermath) is another shared bit if it hit ya that hard.
Then we have some economic fallout – our lives have been changed. So there’s some ingredients we all have in that pot.
This old duder can throw into that pot a fairly abrupt change in relationship status. Loss of job. Moving. And… well I can go on but honestly I’m skirting around the point here, suffice it to say, we all are packing some amount of trauma. Well all got our own complex trauma soup.
I don’t know about your coping mechanisms, but I’ve adapted by always questioning good news, always trying to guess how someone or something is going to screw me over, and fearing the worst result. If I have low enough expectations, I’m rarely disappointed.
I didn’t really realize how cynically and negatively that strategy has impacted me. Sure, a bit depressed, man. A bit suspicious of others’ motives and keeping new people at arm’s length.
Despite my coping mechanisms, I did manage to land a pretty sweet gig. Not as strenuous as being a roadie for Metallica on the Speed of Sound tour, but it sure pays better than being an author of the Port Huron Statement (first draft, of course).
Well, this new job has given me the opposite; at nearly every turn the reasonable or best result has happened despite my cynicism and fear. I’m treated well, and in return I’ve worked hard.
We really gotta take all that to heart and let go a little bit and stop expecting the worst. So much of a joyful moment is lost when one questions that moment.
That’s all I have for now. Hope it helps ya work through something, get out of a rut, or maybe just give ya a chuckle. I think writing it helped me out a bit.
Take ‘er easy dude.
