Reason #351: Now Ain’t Forever

Posted at July 26, 2010

When things have gotten really crappy for me, and that seems to be a frequently re-ocurring experience, I like to remind myself of two “truths.” The first is that “the past does not equal the future.” I have Big Tony to thank for that one. The other is that “now is not forever.” I came up with that zinger myself. It seems that when things do get bad, we have a tendency to slip into patterns of thought that are the direct opposite of my “truths.” I put “truth” in quotes because it doesn’t matter if either of those statements is actually true or false. What matters is that they both can serve to help me out of the hole. Thinking that the past always repeats and that things will never change will only keep me stuck deep down in there. And believe me when I say that there are plenty who will happily help by picking up a shovel and throwing some dirt in. Why is it that when you are down some folks relish in keeping you that way? I guess because it makes them feel better about themselves to be able to look down upon you. My last post was a lament about how horrible this month of July has been for me. So far it hasn’t gotten any better, until today. Today’s post is my attempt to begin climbing out of the hole I fell in around July 4th by reminding myself of those two truths. Already the vultures are circling. Will this be the one that does old Scott in, finally. they are asking themselves? No it won’t. Because you see, I may be pretty good at getting myself down into those holes. It is the result of being someone who doesn’t commit lightly and who is not afraid of risk. But I am also someone who clings to those two positive thinking truths that will either pull me out, or provide a shovel and a light for me to keep digging deeper until I strike gold.