Finding the switch

You’ll never know what worse luck your bad luck just saved you from.

Cormac McCarthy wrote that in ‘No Country for Old Men’ and I recall it every time I think of the occasional character who’s dealt me a hard life-lesson. Tyrants can be our greatest teachers and while I’m thanking them through gritted teeth for the education I’m also reminding myself of the crueler tyrant further down the road they helped me avoid. A historian once said that Hitler might have saved Western Europe from Stalin who proved in time to be an even bigger arsehole. Too far? Probably. But you get my drift. 

So, because I’ve noticed that the stories we tell about our past have this sneaky habit of becoming the script of our future, I try to frame it that way because there’s no point continuing to write yourself as a victim. But also, if you are finding yourself singing a few ‘somebody done somebody wrong songs’, because those hard life-lessons are often wrapped in the most gorgeous, seductive, packaging, try this on for size… 

For somebody to have done you wrong they must have first done you right, right? That’s the only way that story can play-out. I mean let’s face it, to waltz that smoothly through the blind-spot in your self-esteem they must have really, really done you right in the beginning. All those glorious feelings, that bliss – that all happened inside of you. By doing you right they showed you your light. That wasn’t their light. It was yours. They just helped you find the switch. 

Here’s to being grateful for life’s lessons, finding the switch and shining our own light.