Invisible Game

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February is sort of a month of drudgery for me.

Yeah...the stupid weather.

So tired of getting dressed for the cold. So tired of walking out in the cold to start the car. So tired of scraping the ice off and then listening to the weatherman tell me that in three or four days it's gonna' get up to a balmy 15.

Then the news guy says: "Get out the beach chairs!"

And they laugh and laugh and laugh.

(Idiots).

I also do a lot of driving around and then standing in front of rooms of people to do training. I've been doing it for a lot of years so the course material comes to me quickly...and I try to have fun with it.

"You can work on your stand-up," one buddy said.

I definitely do that.

Yet with the driving and the nights in the hotels, I also do a lot of considering.

Always considering things.

My favorite song off the Bruce record is 'Hunter of Invisible Game.'

It seems like Bruce always writes a song or two about being down in the dumps, and trying so hard to overcome it.

Bruce's battle with depression has received notice in the last few years (didn't really surprise many of his long-time fans) but it also speaks to a lot of what happens in the world.

Daily.

The song resonates with me because I also spend time 'hunting invisible game.'

Everybody does.

We worry about so many things that don't even wind up happening.

We stress about moments that seem to be 'end of the world' type things...and it may even play out the way he dreaded...and then it's not a big deal anyway.

The real big deal turns out to be the stress we put on ourselves.

The huge prize we were hunting skips off into the imaginary woods, never to be heard from again.

Yet without the sun, the dread continues. That's certainly why I hate February.

It's like it'll never get warm again.

But it will.

Just endure.

In the song the narrator finds comfort in the touch of his partner. More than just the physical touch, the narrator feels the mental connection.

That is essentially the answer for so many of the problems in any of our lives.

Feel the closeness when it seems like everything is so far away.

Remember the warmth when the world seems way too freaking cold.

Stop chasing around the imaginary foes.

Get out the beach chairs...

...and laugh and laugh and laugh.

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