SkaraBrae

Jack Black.

These Days - Powderfinger

And some people are truly wonderful. Offering empathy and understanding to internet strangers is a simple kindness that can make someone’s day brighter. Thank you.

You’ll probably feel that way for a while. Try to not hold on to it. Carrying resentment and anger around is like deliberately filling your life with negativity. It’s draining and will leave you emotionally and physically exhausted.

You may eventually find that it’s a blessing that so many people showed you their true colours in such a direct way. You have a clean slate. Start surrounding yourself with people that are supportive and empathetic. You can choose who your friends are. Make good choices. Move slowly. Trust your gut.

You’ll be okay, friend. Good luck.

Yeah, mate. When my ex left me, even my older brother asked me to not come to parties at his place because it made her uncomfortable.

She was there with my brothers’ friend. She had been seeing him for a while and I was the last person to know. The whole time she had been telling anyone who found out about them that I was abusive and to keep it quiet for her protection (yet she was verbally and financially abusing me).

In the end I was shunned by almost everyone that I knew. I lost my home, my friends, most of my family and ended up in debt for years as a result.

Only my younger brother stood by me and stood up for me. Everyone else believed her. When I started dating my (now) wife, she was approached by several of my old “friends” and told that I was ‘bad news’ and to avoid me because I was abusive. My (now) wife told them she was “a grown woman and capable of making up her own mind, thank you very much!” We’ve been together 22 years, married for 17 years and have two amazing kids. In the end, though I suffered, I have come through way better off than I was then. The perspective that I have gained has made me much more aware of the value loyalty, friendship and love.

My ex married and had a kid with the brother’s friend. They didn’t last 5 years. She pulled the same shit with him, but nobody believed her this time. They had seen the same playbook when she cheated on me. He’s still single, and she’s with another ex-friend’s brother, burning bridges as she goes…

Just take small steps, my friend. Start a journal. See a counselor. Get up every day and see what it brings. You never know what’s around the corner. Eat right. Exercise. Just exist in the world without expectation and you’ll find your place. May it be filled with joy.

She caught the Katy - Blues Brothers or Taj Mahal*

Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash

Midnight Special - Creedence Clearwater Revival or Leadbelly*

Love in Vain - Robert Johnson*

Locomotive Breath - Jethro Tull

Barricades and Brickwalls - Kacey Chambers

Train to Nowhere - Savoy Brown

Hear My Train A Comin - Jimi Hendrix*

*There have been loads of songs about trains or that mention trains in American blues history… I’m barely scratching the surface, here. In the early days of the 20th century the blues artists used to travel around by hopping on freight trains to get from town to town, so they featured in many, many songs. There would have been even more songs written to the rhythm of a rolling carriage, too, that don’t even mention trains at all.

Bill Cosby. I was raised on Bill Cosby albums and TV shows. I can’t listen to him any more.