Tomorrow's Fishwrap

I will confess that listening to Keith Urban is just about the only thing that gets me through busy season. I could listen to him play the guitar until his fingers bled and never get bored. His music just really speaks to me. He is so incredibly talented. So, I find any and all ways to hear him. iPod, CDs, podcasts, you name it.

You Tube has become a blessing. I can hear video clips from live concerts, old videos not on television anymore - and radio and television interviews.

I don't actually watch the videos because I am working, but I listen. Singing along in my head. Occassionally out loud according to my co-workers. So, yesterday, in the midst of all the videos that I strung together to play there was an interview Keith did. Suddenly hearing his voice and not knowing the words, I paid a little closer attention.

This interview had to be in late 2007 or in 2008. He was talking about putting himself in rehab for substance abuse problems. He had never intended to be very public with it but, to his credit, he's never shied away from talking about his time in rehab, and that this was not the first time he had sought help. He recognizes that he may be able to reach one person or help someone get through by sharing his personal story. But it is his very personal story.

So often we place celebrities or artist or whatever you want to call them up on pedestals. We elevate them and want to see all and read about all they do, forgetting that they wake up in the morning like we do, want to grab a cup of coffee like we do and go about their day. No one snaps pictures of me running into the coffee shop in a ballcap but, for some reason, the media follow these public figures and gives the rest of us all these details.

Whether they are actually true, 100% accurate details, they get reported.

Keith talked about how he had to reach a point where he wasn't reading everything that was being written about him. That he knew what was going on his life, he is in full communication with his wife and family and that he had to understand that whatever was written in today's newspaper would just become tomorrow's fishwrap.

I absolutely loved that line. Tomorrow's fishwrap.

How nice it would be if we could apply that philosophy to all the things in our everyday lives that don't go well. The person that cuts us off in traffic or steals our parking spot. The friend that hurt our feelings. The client that wouldn't co-operate. The child that defied us at every turn. Just mentally take that day's events, set it aside to wrap the trash in, and toss it out. Start tomorrow fresh. (Yes, I know that officially the newspaper is used to wrap the fish and chips that is being eaten at a meal the next day but it will be trash when the food is gone.)

I will admit that letting things go is one of my flaws. One of many. It isn't that I hold a grudge so much as that I don't just forget it. I may not constantly remind whoever slighted me of the offending event, but I will always know. Now, what is the purpose in that? Nothing. Something just taking up space inside me that doesn't need to be there.

So, I'm going to start trying to go the stack of newspapers in my mind and wrap a lot of fish. Seems a much more productive exercise than carrying them around any longer.