Quote of the Day:
“You can win, you can lose, or it can rain.” –Casey Stengel
You ever had one? TB has damn sure known a losin’ streak or two. I had one that lasted over a decade. It took a lot of beer to weather that storm.
Typically though, a losin’ streak in life involves the smaller things and they wear a body down, a soul too. Mine usually start with something like a lost wallet, then there is an unexpected setback at the office, maybe a sprained ankle or a long cold or a vicious paper cut gets mixed in somewhere. A few extra pounds will inevitably appear on the scales. All too often there’s a fender-bender in the mix.
I always know by the second act when I’m in a streak. “Bad things come in threes,” is the cliché, but when you get on a streak, that thought, it pops up after number two every time, is just a woebegone grasp for a non-existent straw.
These kinds of life losin’ streaks, I am convinced, are a result of biological and cosmic forces we cannot hope to understand. Karma? Nah. There’s something to that, but losin’ streaks aren’t related. If anything, the losin’ streaks I’m describing are more prone to strike the righteous. It’s an ironic aspect of the tumult that simply piles confusion atop pain. Not only that, but the sort of streaks I am attempting to describe are never so drastic as to allow a socially acceptable outward show of self-pity, and of too little consequence to attract commiseration from outside observers. Hey, it could be worse, right? It’s not cancer, or starving children, or being a Tulane fan for cryin’ out loud!
There’s only one way to beat these little life losin’ streaks–you gotta ride ’em out. Sleep. Drink. Go about your business, with a bit more care than usual. Outlast. That’s all there is. Eventually those neurons will start firin’ back on the right trajectory. Karma won’t let this nonsense get out of hand.
Bonus QOTD
“Count your blessings name them one by one.” —Baptist Hymnal, number 231
Travellinbaen 
“You’re just going to have to love your way through the darkness.” Dr. Cornel West relaying his grandparents’ advice in dealing with rank injustice. I haven’t tried this advice in a losing streak yet, but perhaps it works.
Up to a few days ago, before I listened to Dr. West speak (and make that quote), I simply resorted to kicking the dog. That doesn’t really work. Not for me and surely not for the dog.
That’s a joke; I don’t kick my dog. I kick the cat. Kidding, I don’t have a cat.
On numerous occasions over the years, I have ventured out to cut grass (my side gig) and had something bad happen right out of the gate. Be it a flat tire or something breaking early, it puts me on high alert. When the second thing goes wrong, I wrap everything up and take it back to the house. Because I have learned that fighting such days is a waste of time and energy.
I try to look for the lesson I am supposed to be learning. If cannot figure that out I just do what any true Southern Belle would do: I take to the bed with benadryl and/or tylenol pm, if necessary, until it passes. Although I haven’t had a panic attack in many years, I find I cannot do that if I am asleep.
Mostly nowadays I just blank stare. But at some point in every streak there is a throwing of an inanimate object against a wall, the ground, etc. This results in an agonizing piercing pain shooting up through my shoulder followed by three days of extreme soreness. Family life is great, but being able to binge and sleep through a bad streak is something I’ve only reluctantly given up.
The bonus of the family life in a bad streak is the ability of someone else to make you laugh or give you some kind of encouragement. There was a truly bleak period where IR was my saving grace in so many ways. A good guy friend has always been a bonus and I’ve had one of those as well.
Mississippi has been on a number of losing streaks……poverty, baby’s mommas, infant mortality, ACT scores. But I was reading my AAA Southern Traveler magazine and we apparently are the first state to use self-serve license renewal kiosks. No more DMV baby. Although it sounds ripe for some shenanigans, we’re still #1!