I just had an interesting revelation… I was listening to some music tonight and put on one of my favorite songs… “Off he Goes” by Pearl Jam. It’s always been sort of an anthem to me… It’s about a guy who’s always too busy for his own good and stressing out about it .. the lyrics go:

One, two, one, two

Know a man his face seemed pulled and tense

Like he’s riding on a motorbike in the strongest winds

So I approach with tact

Suggest that he should relax

But he’s always movin’ much too fast

Said he’ll see me on the flip side

On this trip he’s taken for a ride

He’s been takin’ too much on

There he goes with his perfectly unkept clothes

There he goes

He’s yet to come back

But I’ve seen his picture

It doesn’t look the same up on the racks

We go way back

I wonder ’bout his insides

It’s like his thoughts are too big for his size

He’s been taken where, I don’t know?

Off he goes with his perfectly unkept hope

There he goes

And now I rub my eyes for he has returned

Seems my preconceptions are what should have been burned

For he still smiles and he’s still strong

Nothing’s changed, but the surrounding bullshit, that has grown

And now he’s home, and we’re laughing, like we always did

My same old, same old friend

Until a quarter-to-ten

I saw the strain creep in

He seems distracted and I know just what is gonna happen next

Before his first step, he is off again

You can hear it here

Strange thing was as I was listening to it and trying to pick it out on a guitar I realized I don’t identify with that song anymore I’m still trying to figure out what that means. Does it mean I’m not as stressed and overcommitted as I was? Is that Covid? Is it giving up? Is it reaching a point of deep satisfaction in my life..

Some of all of those ?

I’m voting for the satisfaction part… Stay tuned to find out

-jc