"And it's wake up time
Time to open your eyes
And rise and shine"
Another infusion day another song with a playful twist. Yes, at the end of the infusion it is wake up time but sometimes even more so during the infusion. I cannot overstate how much mental healing can go on during these infusions, as long as you are willing to roll up your sleeves and do the hard work.
Larry’s Perspective:
Shannon and I have always had a punny relationship, and today's song is just another entry in a long line of inside jokes. She has chosen all the songs for Ketamine days and there's always an element of connection, if you will. After her treatment today, it will be "wake up time". But we're both also huge fans of Tom Petty, so this song has had a lot of airplay over the years so it's great that we were able to fit it into our project.
As always the night before an infusion, last night we went through the checklist of things to make sure she was ready which includes a quick mental health discussion.
She shared as usual her slight apprehension - after all, it is a medical procedure where you are essentially put under. I have to believe every person on the planet is at least a little nervous anytime this happens to them. I would be as well.
But being the helpless spouse who is reaching for any snake-oil remedy to help my wife feel, if even slightly or momentarily, better, I view Ketamine infusion days as a celebration. Yes - the day before, the day after and most certainly the day of it knocks her on her ass. So much so that that little son-of-a-bitch doubt creeps his way in and tries to convince her it isn't worth doing this time around.
I cannot imagine the mental battle that she wages every time. Which pain do I want to endure more? The disease? Or the "cure"?
So today's song may have been chosen by Shannon as a tongue-in-cheek reference, but it means so much more to me today. The scene from a movie immediately "jumped" into my mind while thinking about writing this:
There’s not much in the 1992 basketball-based comedy movie White Men Can’t Jump which relates to business and executive coaching, but there’s one classic line from it which occasionally comes to mind.
Wesley Snipes’ character Sidney Deane is in a car heading through town when his friend Billy Hoyle, played by Woody Harrelson, puts a tape into the stereo. The song is Purple Haze, by Jimi Hendrix.
The pair get into an argument, based on Deane’s belief that Hendrix was a black artist making music for black people and that white people just don’t get it.
He claims: “Look man, you can listen to Jimi but you can’t hear him. There’s a difference. Just because you’re listening to him doesn’t mean you’re hearing him.”
Deane’s argument is quickly deconstructed to comic effect when he is informed that the band’s rhythm section (with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell) were both in fact white.
But despite his flawed basis he makes an interesting point, and it’s one which relates to good listening in coaching. To listen properly, you need to be able to relate to the speaker (the guitarist in this example). Very often conversations are two individuals expressing their own thoughts without truly appreciating what the other person is saying and where they are coming from.
I've certainly been listening to Shannon through this whole ordeal, but last night I heard Shannon. So I had my own "wake up" moment.
...and I did get lucky and find a girl who helps shoulder the pain in this world...
Wake Up Time
Tom Petty
You follow your feelings, you follow your dreams
You follow the leader into the trees
And what's in there waiting, neither one of us knows
You gotta keep one eye open the further you go
You never dreamed you'd go down on one knee, but now
Who could have seen, you'd be so hard to please somehow
You feel like a poor boy, a long way from home
You're just a poor boy, a long way from home
And it's wake up time
Time to open up your eyes
And rise and shine
You spend your life dreaming, running 'round in a trance
You hang out forever and still miss the dance
And if you get lucky, you might find someone
To help you get over the pain that will come
Yeah, you were so cool back in high school, what happened?
You were so sure not to have your spirits dampened
But you're just a poor boy alone in this world
You're just a poor boy alone in this world
And it's wake up time
Time to open up your eyes
And rise and shine
Well, if he gets lucky, a boy finds a girl
To help him to shoulder the pain in this world
And if you follow your feelings
You follow your dreams
You might find the forest there in the trees
Yeah, you'll be alright, it's just gonna take time, but now
Who could have seen you'd be so hard to please somehow
You're just a poor boy, a long way from home
You're just a poor boy, a long way from home
And it's wake up time
Time to open up your eyes
And rise and shine
'Cause it's wake up time
Time to open up your eyes
And rise and shine
30th Anniversary
Our Story - Shannon's Perspective
Our Story - Larry's Perspective
Ghost of a Chance (Rush) and why?
Ghost of a Chance 