Note: Another repost. I changed a couple small things and added an image. Hopefully someone, somewhere gets something out of this piece. Originally posted 01/08/24.
For the past couple of days I have been struggling a bit with what to write. I’ve mostly been responding to the daily prompts and playing around with image creator to keep my mind somewhat nimble.
Even today I don’t really feel like I have much to say, but I feel the need to write something, so please bear with me.
I’ve been sitting here listening to music while I was screwing about and one of my favorite songs came up in the mix.
It’s a song titled “The Blessed Hellride” by Black Label Society.
For those who don’t know, Black Label Society is a band led by Zakk Wylde, who rose to prominence in the late 80s as the guitarist for Ozzy Osbourne at the age of 19.
Since that time he has been a longtime collaborator of Ozzy’s, led his own band, and is currently playing guitar in the latest incarnation of heavy metal band Pantera.
Anyhow, I won’t bore you with a long history lesson.
As I was listening to the song, the opening lyrics stuck with me.
They go something like this:
Break me down and roll me once again
Got no time to think of now and then
Catch my breath pick myself up off the floor
One more drink, a nervous breakdown, then another war
We can debate if the “one more drink” is always, or ever needed, but I am looking at the overall sentiment here.
It made me think about how true those lyrics sometimes (often?) are to life itself.
We’re rolling along merrily, and then, out of nowhere, life knocks us right on our ass. Whether through our own actions, the actions of others, or just plain dumb luck, we end up on the deck.
Sometimes we get right back up, but other times it takes a few.
Sometimes we do have that “nervous breakdown” and stay down longer than a few. Sometimes we’re bloodied and bruised and just want to hear the final bell. The fight just doesn’t seem worth it anymore.
But that’s when the fight is most worth it. That moment when you’re ready to throw in the towel and take the ten count. When all you want to do is retire to your corner and let the other guy win.
But then you feel that little something inside you.
It starts as a spark, but as you sit there on your ass, it turns into a glowing ember. You remember all those times someone said you couldn’t do it, all the times someone told you that you wouldn’t amount to jackshit, and all the times they called you a total screw up.
Next thing you know, there’s a raging fucking inferno in your heart burning damned near out of control. All the pain, all the joy, all the facets of this awesome thing called life, converge in your soul and there’s an explosion so deep it rocks you to your very core.
Your mind is alive and your skin is radiating pure, crackling energy that’s just dying to be released.
The next thing you know, you are up off the deck. You’re swinging with bad intentions. Your one and only goal is to grab life by it’s neck and punch it’s crooked fucking teeth in.
It’s in that moment that you realize you can do it, you are worth it, you have and will amount to far, far more than anyone could dare to dream, yourself included.
To paraphrase Stallone in one of the Rocky films: It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how many times you can get hit and keep moving forward. That’s how winning’s done!
Now…Don’t you have a life to knock on it’s ass?
© The Beginning At Last
The Beginning At Last 
Leave a comment