“Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.”

― Graham Greene, Ways of Escape

The troubled writer is more than a stereotype. Many writers, and other creatives, are vexed souls looking for solace in the art like King Saul longing for the music of David.

Cause and effect can be tough to figure out. We shouldn't assume a correlation between the degree of vexation and creativity. I rather think we're all vexed and we're all creative. Some of us lean more toward one than the other. The human situation is both universal and uniquely individual.

The Graham Greene quote is from a book entitled, Ways of Escape. It's a terrible book, but the quote seems worthwhile. Maybe Mr. Greene wonders how people who aren't creative can manage to escape the human condition, but I view it a bit differently - in spite of how I titled today's show. For me, it's more about managing (dealing with; coping) the human situation with whatever tools we have. For me, it's writing and podcasting. In that order. But let's go ahead and acknowledge the elephant in the room as a Christian. Firstly, it's about managing the human situation through faith, which includes reading scripture, prayer, worship and the other blessings found only in Jesus Christ. Those actions have eternal consequences so they matter most. Beyond that are other endeavors including leaning on a spouse, as I lean on Rhonda.

Then...there's writing and podcasting. But there's also listening to music and reading. This means, at least for me, there's the consumption of information (learning something worthwhile) and there's creativity (creating something worthwhile). I suppose I'm always doing both at the same time, but there are some seasons or moments where I'm more focused on one over the other. It's hard for me to do one without the other though.

Escaping versus managing.

Avoiding versus dealing with it.

Running and hiding versus standing and facing it.

While I understand escaping - in whatever form it takes (running, hiding, avoiding, procrastinating, etc.) - I know it's foolish to lean into it. Better to face it, sort it out as best we can, and put in the work to figure out what our best options may be.

I'm helping a person who is faced with some realities that he'd rather not face. I get it, but I also know it's not helpful to run. He's scheduled this time with me to talk. Hoping to give him more sense of control - after all, it is HIS life, I say, "You're in charge of the conversation. Take this wherever you'd like. I'm here for you." Silence. He shifts nervously in his chair for what seems like minutes. I say nothing, letting the silence just sit on top of us for a bit. It's clear he's struggling with this flight response - I'm hoping he'll resist it and do the work to face it. "You're in control of this. Do whatever you want," I say. More silence. More shifting in his chair. He works up the words, "I want to end this call." He decides to run and I let him. I simply say, "Okay" and then end the call. It happens. People frequently decide to run. The problem is, the thing we're running from almost always catches us and overtakes us. I've yet to encounter a situation in my life where standing and fighting wasn't the better alternative. Sometimes the fight is nothing at all. It's simply staring down the problem. Other times it's a vicious knife-like fight where you're left bloody and exhausted. But even those fights are worthwhile compared to the alternative of running. None of us enjoy agony, but I suppose all of us prefer an abbreviated version a prolonged version. Running prolongs everything bad!

Besides, I've lived long enough to know that the man I'm attempting to help may ...