Taking Control of Your Life, Grunge-Style

September 16, 2018

I have a secret obsession: listening to post-grunge rock while working out. Nothing fuels a sprint on the bike like a hard-driving chorus of “Higher.” I lately came across a group called Staind, whose music is clearly intended for white teenaged boys who spend their days silently brooding in their bedrooms.  But it works for me.  The album I stumbled upon is called “Break the Cycle,” and it spends its room-shaking guitar riffs weaving tales of how all may seem lost at the moment, but everything will work out in the end.

Odd, really, and strangely profound.  Consider this line:

I only know that I can change; everything else just stays the same.  So now I step out of the darkness that my life became….

That’s one seriously grown-up sentiment:  I have realized that the only person and the only thing I can control is myself.  My past will never change, but I can change my future.

How many of us who are not teenaged boys in hoodies have taken a lifetime to learn that? How often do we still project our self-doubt, or our fear of risk, onto the people and circumstances around us?

We should all take a lesson from that sad-faced boy stepping out into the sunshine for the first time, ready to live life on life’s terms.  At some point, the moment comes when you realize you are the only one who gets to decide if you are powerful and worthy, and you start creating the life you want.

Need a little encouragement?  Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-9VnIba_qQ.