The Chaos Drop.
I’ve always been fascinated and terrified by how fast life can change. A simple phone call can bring news that forever changes your future, either good or bad. Yet in my experience, I have come to believe that things fall apart far faster than they ‘fall together’. It’s kind of like that monologue by Sylvester Stallone in Rocky Balboa…
“But it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forwards, how much you can take, and keep moving forwards”.
But sometimes, that shot comes out of nowhere, like a sucker punch in a dark alley, and it seems like it’s perfectly timed to hit you right where you never thought you’d be hit.
As you desperately try to get your mind around it, you stumble to your feet, bleeding, scared and confused, and you realize that it’s a different world than the one you knew 5 minutes ago, and that nothing will ever be the same again.
And that you have a choice.
Because it’s so easy to let that fear get the better of you. So easy to let the tears flow, and just stop thinking for a while and try to breathe without being aware of anything other than the movement of air, and the passage of time without worry, anxiety or pressure.
Sometimes, after taking a hit like this, you just want to let the world move on by, and quietly try to survive away from everybody and everything.
If you’ve ever been there, you know what I mean. It’s so tempting, so inviting.
And in reality, it’s ok to stay in that place for a little while if you can. As a people, we tend to dismiss the grieving process that’s necessary when reality changes out from underneath you.
We expect people to just move on, when Chaos has dropped on them from a terrible height, spreading its poison of doubt and despair, when really all they need is to take a little time to cry for that which they have lost, even if it’s just the certainty that things will be ok.
Because eventually, we have to move on with our lives, and try to face a new and uncertain future.
And that’s where courage and belief come in.
I am constantly in awe at the courage of people in my life who have taken tremendous hits from an uncaring universe, and who have risen to their feet time and time again. I marvel at the belief of others that things will work out, and that they themselves will be ok, even if things aren’t.
And they keep moving forwards.
If you find yourself in that place, where reason has fled, and where chaos drops from every cloud, I offer you my shoulder to cry on, my ear to listen and my heart to flood with compassion for you. While I may not be able to help, in my darkest times it has helped to know that someone has cared for me, and been there for me.
May we always have the strength to keep moving forward, together.
— Dr. Alan Barnes
@maddrbmusings