“Which two do you want, Mike”?
I picked Kiss, Destroyer and Donnie and Marie Osmond, Going Coconuts. It was 1979, and we were ordering from a record club order form.
There were 5 people in my house at the time, and we had 11 selections from which to choose. Each of us made two picks, and my father picked three.
I made my choices. I was pretty proud of them.
On Saturday mornings my friend Robbie would come over, and we would play army men, GI Joe, and listen to Kiss, Destroyer. We listened to that album over and over…
We wore it out.
So good.
For the record, no one else wanted to listen to Donnie and Marie with me. I loved Marie Osmond, but we’ll save that one for another day.
After a while, the Kiss record became scratched from two seven-year-old kids handling it improperly. We weren’t careful with it. It was just a thing like anything else.
We just treated it like an object. No special handling.
Every once in a while, the old floor-setting record player would begin to crackle and buzz.
There was a specific spot on the side of the cabinet, that when you hit it in the exact spot, the crackle and buzz would stop. Sometimes the record would skip too.
Sometimes even without the crackle and buzz, the needle would skip, or worse, the needle would get stuck on a single spot in a song and just hang. It would play that same spot over-and-over.
Over-and-over. Never-ending.
Non-stop.
Until you either moved the needle… or hit the record player. Until something else happened, the record was just stuck.
If you grew up with records you are now playing that stuck sound in your head.
Over-and-over.
I know you are. Just admit it.
Anyway…
We would get up from playing army men, or GI-Joe or whatever we were playing, and we would address the stuck record. Because we could hear it, and it would not stop unless we did something… anything, it would not stop.
We tapped the needle, and it moved. It began playing again. Maybe there was a scratch on the record at that specific point, and it would become stuck again… on the next play. Maybe it was just dust or a smudge.
Maybe the needle was worn, and we needed to tape a coin to the top. Maybe we needed to replace the needle.
Only looking for scratches, looking for dust, wiping off smudges, by taping a coin on the needle or replacing the needle… some action, any action would eliminate the cause.
We needed to do something differently.
If not, the record would skip forever. Until the electric went out. Or we turned the record player off. The power died.
Over-and-over. Same spot.
When I reflect on my life I see many times where I let my record get stuck for too long. I held the belief, the pride, the arrogance, that I had life figured out… that my way would bring happiness… I just needed to allow life to be stuck, and at some point, the needle would advance.
It never advanced.
When I became stuck in an area of life, say with my marriage… I just kept doing the same thing thinking that at some point, it would advance.
It never advanced.
Then my life would skip again, say with my professional and career development. And I just ignored it, expecting it to advance…
It never advanced.
Then my life skipped again, say with my health. And I just ignored it… expecting it to advance.
It never advanced.
Then my life became stuck again, say with my confidence in myself. And I just ignored it, expecting it to advance.
It never advanced.
My good friend Shawn White has labeled this “the hypnotic fog of complacency.”
Appropriate label, I believe. Sleepwalking through life.
I did.
Imagine every area of my life, getting stuck at the same time. Many record players stuck at the same time. In unison.
You hear it in your brain. You hear it vividly. I do too.
I just sat there and listened, expecting all the many needles just to move… I took no action. I had it all figured out. My way would bring me happiness… I was arrogant, prideful, egotistical.
Everyone else didn’t understand. I had it all figured out. My way was the only way. My way was the way to go. I just had to keep doing it my way… I would not change for anyone. I was happy…
No, I was not.
The needles never advanced.
Then metaphorically speaking, the power eventually went out.
I seemingly lost it all. Done. Not dead, but close. Imagine feeling like everything just shut off at once. Cold. Lost. Alone. Empty.
Silent.
Then, without warning, a friend of mine called me, turned my power back on, began supporting me by addressing each needle asking me to act in small ways…
And little by little all the records began to play again. Maybe still getting stuck or skipping
every once in a while, but they all began playing again. There were some faded spots… Kiss, Destroyer. God of Thunder.
Slowly, my life regained momentum.
Then he helped me replaced the record. The sound was again crystal clear, crisp, and powerful.
Soon, the record player even stopped crackling and buzzing.
Life is like a record. Eventually, if we do the same things, over and over, the record will wear, the needle will skip… we just might need to do things differently.
It might just need to be wiped off so that the dust and smudges disappear.
We might need a new record. Our old record might be too worn. We might have handled it incorrectly, and played it out.
Either way, if we do not address our stuck or skipping record if we allow it to continue to be stuck and skip if we feel like there is nothing we can do…
…even though we can…
…our lives will continue to be stuck.
Our lives are too crystal clear, too powerful, too beautiful, too precious…
…to continue to be stuck.
We will all get stuck from time to time. Just know that stuck means that old habits, behaviors, choices… old needles, might need to be replaced.
Our life WILL contain some times of being stuck and skipping. It is a signal that we are ready for some attention, some beautification, some development, some maintenance, some love…
Something else. We just can’t keep doing the same, and expect different results.
I was stuck a long time, for years. Others saw my self-destructive behavior. I just allowed myself to be stuck. Now I can see where others are stuck, but they feel they are meant to be stuck.
You are not meant to be stuck forever. You are meant to sound beautiful.
Don’t just accept fading music, a build-up of dust, smudges, or scratches from handling.
Make changes.
I can help. Mind, body, spirit awareness and growth are key.
It is easier, more fun when two are listening while playing with life.
You are meant to be crystal clear, to fill the room with energy, and to bring joy.
You are meant for a high-performance Life. Constantly growing and developing…
…advancing.
You are meant to Shout It Out Loud. You are meant to just keep playing.
Play hard. But do whatever it takes to keep playing crystal clear.
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This post was previously published on Mike Kitko and is republished here with permission from the author.
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