I drove around this afternoon. After sitting in my house all day like a recluse, I had decided that I needed to at least be away from it for a few minutes. I had been indoors, battling the internal conflict that has been raging inside of me all weekend.  So I left, hoping to get a little air. But the more I drove, the more lost I became within my own thoughts. I’ve lived here and driven these streets for so long that I was barely paying attention except to notice when the car in front of me slowed or put on his brake lights. I was stopped at a red light, internally berating myself for pretty much every wrong I’ve committed in my life, when an old favorite song came on the radio. The first lines of the song broke through the fog surrounding my head. Instinctively, my hand reached out and turned up the dial. The melodies of Rascall Flatts flooded through the car. I turned the music up until it drowned out the negative voice in my head. The intersection was deserted, so I sat there through another light cycle just to listen to the words. Each time the chorus played, I felt a little bit more determined. They were right, my life has been a series of struggles, and this one was no more likely to kill me than the last. I’m pretty sure the guy in F-150 stopped next to me at the light on the third cycle thought I was nuts as I crooned along at the top of my lungs, but I didn’t let it get to me. I have more important things to concern myself with.

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