No Need to Run, No Need to Hide

by Shannon Baker

Anyone else out there remember Chambawamba’s song Tubthumping? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H5uWRjFsGc

Every now and then I need to pull that one out and listen to it, you know, when I get clubbed upside the head with life.

I’ve always been blessed with a certain shallowness that allows me to keep floating through life, even when unexpected setbacks arise. Or maybe it’s because, as the third and youngest child of an exhausted mother, I learned early to self-soothe. I have an overdeveloped denial muscle and experience has shown me that if I delay panic, often the crisis passes and I won’t have to deal with any bad feelings.

I think I took this coping mechanism to extremes standing in the hospital hallway eighteen years ago, when the doctor told us my father had a brain tumor and only days to live. I turned to my sobbing sister and said, “Don’t over-react; he’s not dead, yet.”

Sometimes people don’t understand me.  

And sometimes I’m just plain wrong.

In this political season, I prefer to avoid all the issues. It’s not a responsible reaction, of course. I call it Head-in-the-Sand syndrome and I’m pretty happy with it. I vote and this year, I’m swinging in the great state of Colorado so it’s super important. I’m not ignorant, thereby avoiding true bliss, but I refuse to join in the political fray.

Never-the-less, denial and avoidance can only go so far and occasionally I have to face the Truth. When that happens, I resort to a collection of music (old, because, well, I’m old). It’s my Disaster Playlist. It got really long during and after my divorce. These days, after several broken and lost computers and destroyed CD’s (yes, I collected them before iPods) and a relatively peaceful life, my play list is pretty small.

Today, though, I’ll be cranking http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxLWFTIvRnMby Jem and remembering that It’s Just a Ride.

For anyone having a bad week, remember if you get knocked down, you’ll get up again, they’re never gonna keep you down.

What’s on your Disaster Playlist?