2022 Throwing in the towel, or not!

It was near the end of 2022, I experienced a terrible low-point in my life and I was ready to throw in the towel.
But I had no idea about an efficient, or ideal protocol for “throwing in the towel.”
I was standing on a railway platform, and for a few seconds I contemplated the what-if-I-jumped-scenario. Yeah, we are often reluctant to admit we do think about the ultimate endgame. But we do it, regardless. Those thoughts do burrow into our minds. Well, I did, conjure up those thoughts, however briefly, on that day , And then chose to focus on the towel instead.
Does the colour matter?
So, let’s pander to literalism! Do you make a short speech, or stick with, “I’m done, I quit,” and then throw in the towel.
Or do you engage in retrieving the vilest curses you know, and hurling them into the heavens before you throw the towel?
Is it necessary to throw the towel further than a meter?
Are witnesses required?
Once done, do you leave the towel there?

The idiom of “throwing in the towel” originated in the boxing rings of the 20th century, signalling to the opponent, and well, I suppose to the spectators as well, that your guy would no longer fight. But that point, right there made me rethink the idea! Who the hell would throw in the towel on my behalf! That was actually ridiculous! What if I still decided that some fight was still left in me.
Right there, I gathered my towel, the proverbial one, and went home.
That December I wrote down a few hundred survival protocols.
There were no protocols for throwing in the towel, but I realized I knew some stuff.
That’s what the edge does to you. Or rather, that’s what the edge did to me.
I stared into the abyss but nothing stared back, I knew then that I had to provide my own reminders of the voice I had all but forgotten over the years.
Did I get too comfortable, or jaded? Maybe.
It was in 2022, I don’t remember all the specifics.

I’ll share the protocol as we go along. It’s not rocket-science, but it’s my rocket.
In time, some of the elements I listed changed from protocols for existing, and surviving into protocols for thriving!

Here’s to thriving!

Love
Matt
2025 01 20

Postscript: Sometimes these topics are damn tough to talk about. So, to loosen those cerebral muscles, let’s first talk about the songs on your 2025 playlist.
I wrote about this technique somewhere in the protocol. I’m sure!

Here goes…
I rediscovered “Seven Widows Weep” by Sirenia. The lyrics are … uhm, well… but when the female lead gets going it sends shivers down my spine.

SEVEN WIDOWS WEEP