26 for 30

“One, two three…
Jumping off the porch like mom’s not home
Tell me why the best things feel so wrong.”

I heard these lyrics this evening and it brought me to a place a nostalgia.

​Don’t you love when you hear a song and it can bring you back to that exact time and place when you would be your top listen? 

Tonight, I ate dinner with my Sister and her Fiancé at their house. Before dinner, my go-to summer 2017 song played which was the first time hearing it for quite some time. The place this song brought me was a pretty low spot for me. Physically, mentally, spiritually, and financially I was lost. I had just broke up with my girlfriend while living in Kauai, Hawaii and I was rooming in my Dad’s basement. Amongst all this chaos this is the one song that I found myself playing over and over and over again...

So what?

After this song started to play tonight, I made the comment that it’s amazing how certain songs will bring you back to certain times in your life. I followed with the comment how amazing it is how fucked up your life can be only a years difference from where you are now. I know. Trust me. 

Now, I know of a handful of times this very same thing has happened and I have been on the other end of it. I have listened to songs that have brought me back to greener pastures and made me realize my current situation requires some change. In fact, that’s how any transformation is sparked… becoming self aware as to where you are, how you act, and the results of such actions. Now, I could go on and write all night about self-awareness, for the purpose of this blog I want to keep things much shorter and get to the punch line of the point I am making. 

So, the point?

Whichever end of song nostalgia you find yourself on next time an old tune plays, remember this…

I have been there. I have felt I can conquer the world and I have felt like I didn’t want to spend anymore time in this world. I’m sure you can resonate with a similar story. 

My resolution?

On either end, learn to have patience with yourself. When you’re on top it’s easy to feel like you’re unbeatable, stay humble. When you’re in the dirt, keep looking for the light. Life is a continual battle of eating shit in the dirt to dining in the clouds to back to eating more shit. Love it. Love eating shit. Love dining in the clouds. Be grateful. Give yourself time to see it through. 

If you hear a song and it brings you back to better times…What made those times better? Can you duplicate that again in your life now? 

If you hear a song and it brings you back to worse times. SAY THANK YOU FOR TODAY. Ask how did you arrive here? What changes did you make to deliberately improve the quality of your life?

Maybe I’m thinking too hard about an old song that you used to jam to. Maybe I’m onto something. Maybe, regardless of the answer, one thing is true… 

If you aren’t continually finding ways to assess, adjust, and objectively view your life, plan on having more songs added to that “turn this shit off I hate this fucking song!”….List….