Friday, November 16, 2012

The No-Shave November Logs, Day 16: Dust Yourself Off And Try Again

Well, I don't know what part of the process did it, or if it was all of the parts working in congress, but the depression is gone. After talking about it with my friend Rob at our weekly writers' meeting and writing about it here, I put on my iPod and listened to OMC's album How Bizarre and The Best of Patti Smyth back-to-back.

But the real turning point was Pete Seeger. When his incredible live version of "We Shall Overcome" - probably the greatest protest song ever written - started playing, I had to stop what I was doing and just have a manly cry. By "manly cry" I mean, of course, that I sat there for two minutes breathing deeply and bravely holding back tears. Then, when he got to the part of the performance where he talks about the verse, "We are not afraid," I squinched-up my face for 1.5 seconds and allowed one tear to fall from each eye. Then I took a deep breath and felt much better. Sometimes you've just got to let your emotions flow like that.

Next time I get depressed - and believe me, it's only a matter of time - I'm going to try the exact same sequence of events. It might not work again, but what's the worst that could happen? "On The Run" and "I Should Be Laughing" rack up an extra play and you people have to endure another self-indulgent blog post. It could be worse.

I'd like to take a moment to thank my family, friends, and fans (I must have at least one of those who isn't already in one of the previous two categories, right?) for putting up with yesterday's whining. I'd especially like to thank those of you who have real problems to deal with for not tracking me down and slapping me silly. Some of you are in agonizing pain all day, every day, and here I am griping about existential ennui. Your forbearance is neither unnoticed nor unappreciated.

Until next whine!

DAILY NO-SHAVE NOVEMBER PIC:


I call this look, Just Reached Base Camp.


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