I try. I’ve always tried. When I was a kid, I tried to be good, I tried to be smart, I tried to keep the peace in our house. Kids think the world revolves around them (you may also know adults who did not outgrow this) so they try extra hard to control things, especially in an unpredictable alcoholic household.
I’ve always tried to avoid conflict. It reminds me of the dinner table when I was growing up, where I couldn’t understand my father’s tirades or my mother’s silence in the face of family chaos. I tried to be invisible so as not to become the target of paternal wrath or sibling ridicule.
When I was a teenager, I tried to belong; I tried to be the cutest and the coolest; I tried to act like I didn’t care. I tried to end the Vietnam war.
As a young adult, I tried. I tried everything. I tried to see how many drugs I could take without passing out or going bankrupt and how much tequila I could drink and still drive home. I tried to see how many boyfriends I could run through.
Thankfully, grace abounds.
As an older adult, I tried to get ahead in my career as an environmental lobbyist, and I tried to be a good mentor and manager. I tried to make members of Congress vote against the polluting industries that funded their campaigns. You see how well that worked out.
Trying to Save My Sanity
When I was young, I tried to save my father from the bottle, but he died at fifty-eight. In recent years, I tried to save my brother from mental illness and heart failure. That didn’t work either. He passed away in December.
Nowadays I try really hard. I try to work through my grief. I try to “let go and let God,” to surrender my illusions of control and accept what is. I think I finally get that I can’t control anything except myself, and that’s where I need to focus my trying.
I try to manage my time better. Because I know that life is short and getting shorter with every breath, I try to spend time with safe people doing things I enjoy. I spend quality time alone with God, whether that means journaling, meditating, or being out in nature.
I try not to try so hard, and I remember to schedule time for having fun. I just bought a djembe drum!
So my trying is a constant, though the object of my effort evolves. Now I’m trying to learn to play the drum.
There are a few constants: I will always try to avoid math whenever possible. I will always try to be grateful. And I will always try to change the world; I think I’m hard-wired for that. That’s not trying to control, it’s trying to hope. I’ll be marching in the streets as long as I can, trying to end endless wars and trying to get action on climate change and trying to promote justice.
Because you have to try.
Trying
♦ ♦ ♦
Thanks to WordPress for today’s Daily Prompt: “Verbal Confirmation: To be, to have, to think, to move — which of these verbs is the one you feel most connected to? Or is there another verb that characterizes you better?” http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/verbal-confirmation/
Writing with Spirit 
Oct 02, 2014 @ 06:42:56
Sad to hear for your father and brother, You are indeed brave and your trials are definitely going in positive direction. So well said” I can’t control anything except myself and that’s where I need to focus my trying.”
Oct 02, 2014 @ 11:11:24
Hard lessons, for sure! I did not learn boundaries growing up and thought it was my job to take care of everyone else — to get them to do what *I* thought was best for them. Live and learn.
Oct 01, 2014 @ 19:39:08
You’ve sure made a difference in mine….and without even trying.
Oct 01, 2014 @ 22:48:02
Ha! You didn’t even know you were a special project of mine, Bill!
Oct 01, 2014 @ 16:53:26
All your trying is not in vain, dear Melanie. You really do make the world a better place! Just by being you.
Oct 01, 2014 @ 17:16:38
Aw, shucks. Thanks, Shobha! Back at ya!