Other than remembering the lyrics to practically every song I’ve ever heard, my only other super power is the ability to take something simple and complicate the ever-loving hell out of it. Seriously, if there were awards for jerking around a situation until it’s an unholy mess in your own head, I would have to build an addition onto the house to store them all.
Two Tribes Go To War
I often feel as if I’m at war with myself. Long Game Woman frequently wins the day, but I spend a lot of time mopping up after Instant Gratification Girl. This is mostly because the whining wears me down and she can be quieted by simple things, like cake or a long ride in the car. Mainly, they just fight with each other- which leads to all those sticky complications. LG Woman is looking at the big picture, setting goals, and trying to get things off the ground, but IG Girl gets dismayed by all of the pesky details and the amount of work that has to be done. She will helpfully point out all the pain and suffering (i.e., less time to lay around and eat cake) that these big goals are going to cause, and maybe we should just get outta here and find some of that cake. Sometimes LG Woman gets worn down, and starts questioning the big picture. It is an awful lot of work, and what if she isn’t smart enough or good enough to do it? Maybe IG Girl is right. What’s the point? And did you say something about cake?
It’s exhausting.
I’m not alone, though. This is why self-help is such a big business, but that’s a whole ‘nother story. We all find ourselves battling against our better interests. Because doing the right thing is almost never doing the easy thing, we throw up constant roadblocks in the path of our best intentions, making them seem much less attainable. It’s way easier than doing the work, and gives us so much more time for all those fun things like pity parties and laying awake at night worrying – which is what tends to happen after the cake high has worn off.
The Tunes
Getting past all of the shiny distractions in life is no small feat. I have the attention span of a coked-up squirrel on my best days, so distraction is my stock in trade. But I keep trying to knock aside or scramble over the boulders on the road, because forward is the only way there is. And sometimes, your brain will cooperate beautifully to get you there. I started pulling these tunes together in February, without any concept of theme – I just liked the songs and they got stuck in my head. But during a long car ride with Instant Gratification Girl, I realized that almost every one of them dealt with creating complications or trying to move forward, and I’d made it to send a message to myself. Long Game Woman is good like that.
Next time you feel like you’re stuck in a rut that you created, drop this batch of songs on, and remember that you’re not alone. Everyone else has this challenge, too. And both sides of our brain are only trying to help, even if they sometimes need a reminder that they’re in this thing together.
- Hot Thoughts * Spoon
- Smoke Signals * Olympia
- Rogue * Hill
- Odessa * Caribou
- High Hopes * The Havalinas
- Psychic City * YACHT
- Call It Even Later * Dressy Bessy
- Viking * Los Lobos
- Snakeskin * Deerhunter
- El Toro * Bonobo
- Ran * Future Islands
- The Greatest Denier * Doves
- They Put A Body In The Bayou * The Orwells
- Livin’ Is Easy * The Embassy
- Restless * New Order
- Hi-Speed Soul * Nada Surf
- Vincent * Car Seat Headrest
