I’m in the middle of nowhere. Literally.
Right now there’s probably only about 10 people on the planet who knows exactly where I am. That’s it. And it feels amazing.
There’s a massive thunderstorm threatening to creep over the mountains to the west and north of me. I am watching the lightning show with a glass of red as the fire crackles behind me.
Dinner for one is done.
A simple braai consisting of a small piece of boerewors and two braai-broodjies – go and Google it. Yeah, no veggies or salad so spare me the whole ‘you have to eat your greens’ speech. It was delicious and that’s really all that matters.
I’ve just filled my glass and put on my Bose noise canceling headphones. Time to let the music take over as the African skies light up in front of me. Music has the power to enchant even the roughest of people. Tame the savage beast they say.
Now I’d hardly think of myself as a beast, although I can bench, squat and deadlift some decent numbers, but sometimes emotions and feelings can be quite beastly. Overwhelming. Scary.
I know you know what I mean.
The combination of time on your own, a fire, red wine, an African thunderstorm and music is without a doubt one of the best forms of therapy out there. If, and this is a big if, you allow yourself to go with it because I guarantee you it’s gonna be uncomfortable and awkward and overwhelming and stressful and amazing and scary as fuck.
Like the movie said, reality bites. I guess that’s how simple it really is. Unless you allow yourself to be bitten, learn from it, recover and move on.
A massive lightning strike not too far from here. Simply stunning.
It’s an interesting thing when you start getting real with yourself. Honest with yourself. And to me music helps. Sometimes you need the music to pull on the emotions and thoughts you’re feeling in order for you to actually see what you’re trying to make sense of and other times you want the beat or the guitar riff to push those emotions down to be dealt with at another time.
We tend to overthink things, sometimes under think, but the music helps. Problems that seemed huge suddenly seem manageable. Concerns that, at 2:38 in the morning seems like a world-ending event, suddenly seems not that bad. Well, I think so anyway.
I have another 4 nights on my own in the middle of nowhere and I’m gonna be listening to a LOT of music. And do a LOT of soul searching and yeah, it might be uncomfortable and awkward and overwhelming and stressful and amazing and scary as fuck.
But it’s time. Holy shit, is it time.
It’s time that get real and when reality bites, I start biting back.
Wherever in the world you are, good morning good evening and goodnight.
Stay safe. Stay awesome.
G.
