How long down this next article will I able to resist the urge to queue in Ted Lasso references, a show I recently finished watching ? What mind-blowing observations crossed the mind of this young middle-aged adult writer while fighting the elements and the Dutch Metro transportation system ? This next piece is a train of thoughts on personal health, societal intrigue and taking metaphorical plunges without a safety net.
My mind is very much like Ted Lasso’s Roy Kent: it’s here, it’s there, it’s every … where. Last Friday afternoon, on my way back home from work and due to on-going work on the habitual commute Metro line, both my mind and my body were stuck in a metro for more than an hour. The whole door-to-door trip took upwards of two hours!
Oblivious to the fact that there was a book on my backpack which I could have taken the time to read, soon after I jumped onto the train my phone battery died. Not much later, I could only think one and one thing only:
“I am… just sooooo incredibly bored right now, my face is going to very soon slide right off”.
Was I merely missing letting myself sail without a destination through the waves of Reddit posts ? Or was it something deeper ?
To make matters worse, it was also a cold and rainy day. After the bloody thing eventually got moving back to a station, I then spent another hour waiting for public transportation practically in the cold and rain. That morning I had decided to face the elements with the spirit of Summer… so the waiting was in runners, shorts, t-shirt and a thin raincoat. And since I had no battery, calling a taxi wasn’t an option either. Neither was just walking home since Maps on my watch was telling me that it was more than a 2h walk home.
As Roy Kent would have definitely said: "… me". - Roy Kent (Ted Lasso)
I then spent most of this Saturday working on this article, finishing the last season of Ted Lasso and sleeping off a low-mid temperature before it turned into a strong cold. Ultimately this implies that whatever you’re reading right now might have came out from either a stroke of inspiration or delusional fever. What’s the difference anyway amirite ?
During the trip, even though I couldn’t fiddle with my phone, I still had access to music through my convenient but overpriced Apple Watch. I scrolled from song to song and yet, while my ears got busy, my heart still remained restless and empty. I then do that one thing that we humans generally do when faced with such a situation, people watching.
To my left, a mom cared for her young child. That kid went though many of an adult life stages in a mere 30 minutes: crying, sleeping, laughing, contemplating the void and going bonkers running down corridors. There was not much there to work with in terms of entertainment or distilling interesting thoughts from mundane situations. Live, laugh, don’t be afraid to run down metro corridors giggling ? Just do it!
On my right, a family from Finland. I immediately deduced their country of origin using my acute powers of observation, their accent and the fact that their kid had “Finland something something” stamped on the back of her jacket. Observing this family in particular was surprisingly rewarding. They were asking other fellow passengers for information on why the … were we still stopped after so long.
Even after another passenger explained to them that there has been ongoing construction work on the lines, they still repeatedly asked “but why [do we still need to be stopped for such a long time] ?”.
It proved to me yet again that we mere mortals do have serious issues accepting a reality when we do not understand the “why” of it. I’m not immune to that feeling myself and so it made me feel a bit less guilty with myself.
People watching and watching air slowly condensate on the windows, drop by drop, by drop, by drop … until we almost couldn’t even see outside, therefore making our small world feel even smaller … had its own entertainment value and all but there was still an empty hole in my shoe sole.
I was still deeply missing the One Piece … my very own Youtube playlists. Like most people, I’ve curated a series those video playlists with an assortment of my favorite content. Much like music playlists, they’re a collection of memories, thoughts and emotions wrapped up in visual stimulation.
I’m a Youtube loot goblin! Along side “A Anime”, “A Music” (some are prefixed with “A” so they show up on top for quick access), “Comedy”, “BL Combat Zone” (favorite Borderlands OST action tracks), “Classic Theme Songs from 80s and 90s” (nostalgia!), all sorts of gaming videos and everything, there’s an even more extensive list of videos under “A Movies”.
After I juiced up my phone’s battery while warming up late night dinner and for personal reasons, I loaded up one particular video from that playlist while also pondering if I shouldn’t just juice up some Paracetamol as well.
In The Dark Knight Rises (2012), there’s a whole segment where, after Bane imprisons Bruce Wayne in a clandestine prison pit, Bruce goes through a whole personal journey while finding a way to get the … out of there.
Just like a well, there is a large opening at the top, there are even some steps on the sides of the walls and not one single gate between the prisoners at the bottom and freedom. The catch is … that close to the top there is a very large gap between some steps and a larger platform. Over time, only one prisoner has ever been able to jump that gap and get out, many others have tried the jump and felled down. Some saved by a life rope, others perishing to Physics, I guess. The torture is prisoners being able to clearly see their freedom at any time, so close yet so far. They’re, very understandably due to gravity at times being a harsh force of nature, prisoners in their own mind by the fear of lacking the required skill, the subsequent failure and most importantly, its consequences.
Putting aside a parallel between why didn’t the prisoners use their undies to make a VERY large rope to climb out and why the eagles in Lord Of The Rings didn’t just fly to Mount Doom and dropped the One Ring, Bruce eventually is able to make the jump on his second try. Needless to say that if he hadn’t, the movie would have ended there and that would have sucked. The way he does it though, is very interesting.
Both superficially and in fact, one of the reasons he makes the jump is because he ends up doing it without the safety rope. Another local guest eventually states to Bruce that the only one to have ever made it out so far, made it so without the rope and that the fear of death was the most powerful impulse of the spirit. Now I have no clue if thats true or not. One of my deeper and more interesting analysis of that situation is how Bruce eventually got to that statement and his freedom.
Bane had broken Bruces body (his back) and supposedly also his spirit. Then while imprisoned Bruce had built a connection and a relationship with the “local medic” that was responsible for healing Bruces physical injuries. Over time that other local guest, a “medic”, intentionally or not also patched up more than Bruces body. He mentored Bruces way out of both the metaphorical (psychological) and not-so-metaphorical (physical) bottom of the dark pit.
So, while it’s true that Bruce was eventually able to pull himself up and out by the bootstraps because he had it in himself, he would not have been able to do so without the support of people around him. While this conclusion is not by far a new discovery, how important it is to keep it in mind in the day to day and how it applies to so many things in our lives, is still a very nice thought ain’it ?
The icing on the cake is that there’s an empowering chant, song, thingy, music track behind the whole thing, “Deshi Basara”, which reportedly means “Rise” in English. That track and the Beowulf Main Theme are some of items on my “Running” playlist, you know, for the extra morale boost when I go out running, fall out of breath after a few kilometers and need to hug my legs…
So, to summarize, a few true and tried words of advice:
- Be strong but sensitive like Roy … Kent
- Always, ALWAYS, check the Weather app when selecting attire for the day
- There are many train tracks leading to the same goals in life. Sometimes, choosing the one without construction work on it is the wisest choice but things will still work out OK in the end
- Having a power pack with you might save you if you fall down into a dark pit (knock on wood)
- If you do ever find yourself at the bottom of a dark pit, you can rely on the people around you to support you on your way out (worse case by tying their undies into a very large rope)
- Exercising regularly will help you in any of the above situations
You’re welcome, that is all for today.