Skip to main content

Comes A Time....

There comes a time in every one's life where they have to stop blaming others for their unhappiness.

Sure, pop psychology says it's OK to blame your parents for your upbringing, or to blame the bullies who picked on you, or the ice cream man who touched your secret no no place. But seriously...at some point, one must own up to their own life.

If you had a bad childhood...I'm sorry to hear it. So did I. So did most of the people I know. Few of them are total and complete emotional wrecks. Why? Because they took ownership of their own life.

Life is hard. There are NO guarantees except eventual death. (Now doesn't that sound just cheery!)
But...it's what YOU make of YOUR life that counts. To sit back and whine and complain and mope and bitch about how life and everyone in it has done you wrong is just counterproductive.

If for some reason or other you are incapable of coming to grips with life on your own, get a therapist. Or a dog. Or both. If the therapist ain't working, try another one. If the dog pisses on the carpet, learn to clean and learn to house train the dog. Don't complain about it.

Sure, venting is fine. We all need to from time to time. But when some one's entire life is centered on complaining, what kind of life is that?

As part of my faith, I believe in "Love thy neighbor". I honestly and sincerely try to get on with everyone. I can be abrasive, loud, immature, and obnoxious. That's my nature. I'm OK with it. Most folks can tell that I do genuinely care about my fellow humans (and most other creatures).  Some don't get me, and guess what...I'm OK with that too. That doesn't make them any less of a person to me. Just means we don't click.

In this day and age, people complain far too much. If I was one to complain, trust me...I could out-complain all of you! My life has been shattered in more ways than I care to think about. For starters, I have a bad ticker, no job, a criminal record that makes it difficult to find work, and a questionable future at this point. And that's just the obvious stuff! If I were to dwell on those aspects of my life, I'd be downright suicidal. But I don't.

I know the problems I have and I actively look for ways to fix them. A lot of them take time to fix. Lots of time. So far, that's one thing I've been blessed with. Time. If you woke up this morning, you've been blessed with time. Use it wisely.

If all you have in your life is misery and complaints, you may want to take a long, hard look in the mirror. You just might be the cause of your own problems. How so? Because you haven't taken ownership of your own life.

Want to be happy? Then fucking be happy! If you surround yourself with people and things that make you unhappy, get rid of them! If you don't, then you're choosing to be unhappy. That's fine too...just don't complain about it. You made the choice. Guess what...you can always change your mind.

Quit looking for the quick fix. It doesn't exist. Stop believing that someone else can fix your problems. They can't. Only YOU can. Most of all, stop complaining. If you have a problem, fix it. More importantly, take stock of all of the good and positive things in your life. Trust me, someone out there cares about you. You might not know it or possibly you're too self-absorbed to realize it...but someone does care. Someone would miss you if you weren't around.

Your past is just that...your past. It doesn't decide your present or your future. You do. Don't hold on to your past problems like an anchor. If you do, they'll hold you down like one. Let go and move on.

Forgive yourself. Forgive others. Easier said than done...but it is do-able. To hold on to anger, hatred, sorrow, misery, etc., is to give up on living your life. If someone has done something bad to you and you allow that action to control your life, you have given that person total control of your life. You have, in essence, become a slave. Most folks I know don't like the idea of being a slave. Do you?

Why am I writing this? Because I know many people who have become enslaved by their past. It ties them down, and rots away their soul. It makes them bitter and vitriolic...and the excuse is always the same. "I had such a bad life!" By remaining angry, bitter, sad, and/or miserable, you're only setting the course for a miserable existence. No one wants that.

Let it go. Take ownership of your life. Take control of your destiny. Fate doesn't control it. You do.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Clearing up the Great Gretsch/Rockabilly Sham!

I've had a long-standing friendly argument with a couple of friends about guitars. This has gone on for 20+ years. We're all pickers, and we're all usually lumped under the rockabilly category too. They both love Gretsch guitars. I can take them or leave them. Rockabilly fans have asked me many times why I don't play a Gretsch, which is often associated with rockabilly music.   First, I point out that what I play ain't exactly rockabilly. Sure, there's a definite rockabilly influence...but there's also blues, jazz, surf, garage, punk, country, Tex-Mex, and even some Gypsy & African influences in my music. A Gretsch just ain't gonna cut it. Don't get me wrong, Gretsches have their place and their own, unique sound. But...for a picker who is coming from the afore-mentioned influences, a Gretsch just ain't gonna cut it.   The new Gretsches, mostly reissues, are well-made guitars. MUCH better made than the original ones, which tended to ...

Since they changed YOUR life, how about YOU changing someone else's?

The recent deaths of Lemmy and David Bowie have caused a mighty ripple through humankind. People that I never would've guessed to be "fans" have shown their true colors. An old lady I know, it turns out, is a huge Motorhead fan. Folks I work with, who seem much more at home listening to bland modern country, have vocalized their lifelong love of Bowie's music and movies. These two musicians changed a lot of lives for the better. Both died of cancer. As a two-time cancer survivor, as well as being a musician, their death hit home with me...and hit hard. I was lucky enough, both times, to not only survive but to also have decent health insurance at the time. My out of pocket costs were minimal. Many aren't so lucky. With Obamacare we're all forced to pony up for affordable health insurance...or be fined. For many, it's just not feasible. One of the groups hardest hit by the US health care nightmare is musicians. Professional musicians make their liv...

Colin Hardy: We'll Meet Again

 2026 has been off to a rough start. Not even a month in, and I’ve already lost a few friends. Now, before anyone reaches for the tiny violins and assumes I’m whinging - relax. I’m not. Yes, it always hurts to lose someone, but I’ve learned to use moments like these to lean into the good memories: the reasons we got along in the first place. This morning, I found out my old buddy Colin Hardy passed away over the weekend. Col hailed from Stoke-On-Trent (which I always jokingly called Stoke-On-Rye ). He was a working-class bloke through and through, but we shared a deep love of music — especially the old-school rockin’ variety. We first crossed paths on a music-sharing site and immediately began raiding each other’s collections. This was back in the dial-up days, when downloading a single MP3 could take half an hour if the phone didn’t ring. Eventually, we started emailing instead. Col sent me tracks by the likes of Crazy Cavan, Freddie Fingers Lee, and others. He was always hungry f...