recreatingreality.com

If you are old enough to remember Janis Joplin, you are familiar with the words from the song she made famous, “Bobby McGee.”  One of the lines that all of us older people have sung is “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”  Back in the day most of us were looking for freedom of some kind or another.

Let me say first and foremost that I am aware of the pain of losing one’s house and everything you own.  I have had that experience in my own life.  I have had a house that was foreclosed following a catastrophic family illness that left our family $750,000 in debt.  Having moved the furniture to another rental house while trying to put our lives back together, we discovered everything… and I mean everything… gone when we went to pick up the furniture.  Someone had backed a U-Haul up to the front door and loaded up all the furniture.

I have to tell you that was a low moment in my life.  I had lost my dream house.  I was left in debt beyond anything I could hope to pay off.  And, all my personal and family treasures along with all our furniture had disappeared.  Basically, our family had a few changes of clothes and lots of friends.  So, I do understand the pain of losing everything.  And, to be very honest I spent a few days crying.

Then, one day as I was driving to the grocery market the oldies radio station was blaring Janis Joplin.  “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”  To be honest, I skipped the grocery store and headed to a used CD store.  I purchased a Joplin CD that included that old song.  Who would have thought words I had sung back during my hippy days would come back into my life with real meaning?

Thank goodness I basically have a good outlook on life.  I have made it a habit of looking for life’s positives.  Sometimes something positive can be hard to find in life.  I know.

But, there are two things to remember.  First, with every adversity there is a seed of equivalent or greater benefit if looked for with a positive mental attitude.  Please note that there is a seed.  Not a fully blooming flower… but a seed.  Once we discover the seed, it is up to each of us to nurture the seed and grow the flower.

The other thing I have come to accept in life is “what is is what is.”  That doesn’t not mean that we cannot change our realities.  It simply means that before we can make change we must accept what is.  We must have the courage to face the truth and admit to ourselves exactly what is in our lives at this very moment.  This is not always easy, especially when you first try to accept life as it is.

All that said, once I found myself without anything but a car and the clothes on my back, I had to make a few decisions.  I could continue to whine and cry.  But, really if you think about it, what was that accomplishing.  I wasn’t going to get my house back.  I couldn’t pay off the $750,000 hospital bill.  And, I didn’t even have a bed to sleep in.  Talk about freedom!  I had nothing left to lose.

That’s when I woke up and accepted “what is.”  I am not saying that I realized that my life had been changed, but I accepted it.  Please think about this.  There is a difference between knowing and accepting.

In fact, all this happened not so long ago.  I suppose there should have been some embarrassment.  But, I refused to be embarrassed or humiliated at having lost my home to foreclosure.  None of us buy a house and expect foreclosure.  If you are honest with yourself if you knew you were going to lose your house you probably wouldn’t have bought it.  Sometimes, life happens.  And, if you are facing foreclosure let me just assure you that you are not the only person in the world who has had to move from your home.  You are not the only person in the world who has been homeless or on the brink of homelessness.  So, get over it.

Now, I would be a little bit crazy to think that some people, even some of my friends, were not whispering behind my back.  I’m sure some did.  But, here’s the reality of it all.  It was my fifteen minutes of front page pity.  My life and its trials and tribulations were the topic of chatter until the next big topic came along.  I am not so important as to be an ongoing topic.  So, I endured a week of everyone asking me what I was going to do… and let’s face a little more reality, I didn’t know what I was going to do… not right then.  You get the idea, I’m sure.

I could have continued to feel sorry for myself, but after a few days the pity party was even becoming boring to me.  So, I took the attitude that I am free.  Just think about that one!  I am not encumbered by stuff!  I don’t have to worry about someone stealing my stuff.  They already did.  I don’t have to worry about debt or credit cards or spending more than I earn.  My credit is shot!

I bet you are wondering if I am on medication.  Nope!  I don’t need any.  I have freedom from just about everything.  And, for the past few months I have decided to start over… at my age.  It is the most exhilarating feeling in the world.  You know, I have discovered that I don’t need too much stuff to be happy.  In fact, I didn’t use a lot of the stuff I had.  I know that because I have had no need to replace it.

Close your eyes and think about your life for a minute… or more.  What would your life be without your possessions?  How would you handle it?  While I’m not suggesting that anyone just toss in the towel and let everything go, I am suggesting that for those of us who have no choice, there is a positive outcome on the horizon.

And, when my friends talk … and worry… about credit card debt, or how to pay this month’s mortgage payment, I go home make myself a fresh lemonade, sit on the front porch, look across the valley below, and listen to Janis.  “Freedom’s just another work for nothing left to lose.”  And, freedom isn’t all that bad.