Pick Yourself Up, Dust Yourself Off

It is a tough battle to stay positive during a period of unemployment after your job is eliminated. I’ve been trying hard to find ways to overcome the isolation and loneliness. Sub-zero temperatures haven’t helped matters. High costs and price-gouging at the supermarket are troublesome. And dare I say that ageism in the hiring place is a real phenomenon. The rejections keep piling up and piling on.

“Will you remember the famous men
Who had to fall to rise again
They picked themselves up
Dust’d themselves off
And start’d all over again.“

Written by Dorothy Fields, Jerome Kern

I’m sure all of these things prey upon the subconscious mind as well, and without a significant other to nurture and encourage me through this rough spot, my subconscious has been doing some heavy lifting. Over the past few weeks, I’ve had obscure and lucid thoughts in dreams and as I awake. Last week, I woke with a song in my head that crystallized a short story idea. This morning, a few hours before my usual reveille, an old, old, old song played in my head. I’m not sure how I even know this song. Perhaps my mom used to sing it while doing chores, or maybe I just heard one of the many wonderful renditions years ago and it just bubbled to the surface.

But I offer this to others who might be suffering a degree of paralysis due to depression or worry. My favorite verse in boldfaced.

Pick Yourself Up

Pick yourself up…
Take a deep breath…
Dust yourself off
And start all over again.

Nothing’s impossible, I have found
For when my chin is on the ground.
I pick myself up,
Dust myself off
And start all over again.

Don’t lose your confidence
If you slip
Be grateful for a pleasant trip
And pick yourself up,
Dust yourself off
And start all over again.

Work like a soul inspired
Until the battle of the day is won.
You may be sick and tired,
But you’ll be a man, my son.

Will you remember the famous men
Who had to fall to rise again
They picked themselves up
Dust’d themselves off
And start’d all over again.

[Interlude]

Work like a soul inspired
Till the battle of the day is won.
You may be sick and tired,
But you’ll be a man, my son.

Will you remember the famous men
Who had to fall to rise again?
So take a deep breath…
Pick yourself up…
Dust yourself off
And start all over again.