I think, like most people, I have the drive to control. To understand. To have something certain to hold onto when it’s tough.
But life seems to be so fluid and full of surprise. For better or worse, who really know’s what’s around the corner? We can try and calculate and predict, but we can’t fully control anything.
Some days it feels like I’ve got this. Sometimes I just want to run away.
I hadn’t thought it through properly really. I suppose you just muddle through the routine of the day like a rock in an ocean current. Except for times like when my wife said to me recently –
“You never sing in the shower any more”
We’ve all got our own problems. But on top of that there’s Trump, Brexit, The Syrian crisis, War in Yemen and everything else.
And then our brothers and sisters who don’t have the luxury of reading this blog on their phone iPad or laptop device – Who’s ever nagging thought is how they will feed their family.
A couple months ago we put the call out inviting anyone to share what Chaos means to them. The following week we had a 3 day stint in a cabin booked to write and record a new song and all we had was the song title:
Meet Me In The Chaos
You truly met with us in that and we had pages and pages of honest, open, gritty stories, poems, imagery, artwork, photos.
It was heavy and real.
But it was beautiful witnessing the courageous vulnerability in the sharing of people’s darkest times.
There’s something in it. Maybe a spark of movement. A tiny jolt of life. A brooding growth that slowly binds us together as we become more and more aware of our brother and sisterhood.
Take away the labels that divide us. The homeless guy on the corner on the way to work. The refugee trying to get into the country. The colleague who always gossips. The stranger sitting next to us on the train.
Take away those preconceptions and judgments we use to put people in boxes, and what we are left with is the same story of Joy, suffering and chaos as in our own lives.
It’s no secret Mental Health is a huge problem in the West.
Chaos isn’t far. You’ll likely find it raging, hidden somewhere under a tired smile.
Meet Me In The Chaos – Out Nov 16th. Be notified by joining the Inner Circle.
Meet Me In The Chaos Tour Dates:
- Birmingham, 18th November
- London, 19th November
- Bristol, 23rd November
- Salford, 25th November
Massive thanks to Wildflower Design for allowing us to use this drawing. (Prints are available on request)
Comments
You are without a shadow of a doubt my favourite band and my daughters too ! So much talent and so gifted ! You are truly blessed and in turn pass those blessings onto thos e you meet and share your stories and songs with ! Just keep doing what you do soooo well and using the brilliant ideas you have like meet me in the chaos really inspired . I cope with the chaos in my life by being in a amateur dramatics group in Somerset where we live and I get to be a whole new character every year for rehearsals for 4 months and then perform for 5 nights 5 shows and just forget about all the STUFF for a short while ? I guess it’s hiding in a way from reality responsibility a massive high then back to normality whatever that is ? Started it the year my dad died as a coping mechanism I guess and it really worked !