I finally sat down this morning to transcribe the interview I had with Robert Kirkman of The Walking Dead nearly six months ago.  Within five minutes of listening to the recording I was inspired by something he said regarding ‘Coping’.
You see, it was just yesterday that I wrote “Hope versus High”.  In that post I said, “To me hope is like cope.  You’re not feeling the results of reward, you’re only trying to believe that you will get past their presence.  You can live with hope, but it really doesn’t feel all that good. You can cope with your situation, but it doesn’t feel like a place you want to be.”

Kirkman said something in the recording that caught my attention as being unique to The Walking Dead, and I believe there’s a kernel of wisdom in his perspective for all of us.  He said, “Interesting thing about the TWD…it’s a universe where, to a certain extent the people don’t have time to cope…they don’t really have the luxury to consider the horrible things that have happened to them…that’s a luxury we have in this world, but in the world of TWD that kind of thing can get you killed.”

“Yeah, they don’t”, I thought.  They don’t have the time to cope.  They don’t really have the luxury to consider the horrible things that have happened to them!  Think about that.  We spend so much time ruminating about the little incidents in our lives.  We lose sleep, have ulcers, express our anger, cry, chide others, and do one or many things to ourselves and others because something seemingly awful has happened to us.  And, by God we’re going to blame someone else, or we’re wailing because so and so did such and such to us.  We have the time to roll these ill-wills over and over again in our minds, and it hurts us and others in innumerable ways.  Some times it makes us sick.  Why do we do this?

In The Walking Dead world, “…people don’t have time to cope…”  They’re too busy trying to survive…trying to squeeze one more day out of life!  How do you think you would behave if you knew you could die at anytime?  What would you do if your days were numbered?  Do you think you would grovel in frustration and hate?  Probably not.  Do you think you would ruminate about what could be?  Doubt it.  Do you believe that you would have the wherewithal to make the most out of your situation?  I would hope so.  It’s so easy for me to see that if I only had one month to live, I would take all of the money I could get my hands on, and go out and do anything and everything I could possibly do that would make me happy!  Hell, why not?!

Kirkman said, “…they don’t really have the luxury to consider the horrible things that have happened to them…”   Wow, he’s right, they don’t have time!  Well guess what fans, we have the time.  We have until the day we die to work through our stuff and thangs.  We have more than a day to address our issues with other people and ourselves.  We have luxuries that allow us to use our God given, and hard earned skills, to come to resolutions on the inequities in our lives.  We are not living in an apocalypse, and we may never have our civilization taken away from us.  Take time, take your time, and work the process of your life with patience and understanding and everything is going to be okay.  We are not going to die.  Your not being attacked by zombies.  You have running water and electricity.  You have a place to live.  You most likely have a car with gas.  You don’t have people breaking down your doors to steal what little you have left.  And your loved ones are most likely not dying left and right.  You have time in your favor.  Use it for the betterment of your own health and the well being of others.  All good things come in time.  Just ease back and take small but deliberate steps…you’ll get there.

Interestingly, my girlfriend sent me this post this morning.  “You may find it nearly impossible to get others to understand your intentions unless you take the time to cover every detail step by step.  Fortunately, you can explain your position effectively as long as you don’t rush the process of telling your story.  There’s no reason to just stick to the facts; you can enthrall your audience if you weave in material from your imagination.  It’s not about misleading anyone; it’s only about enhancing your presentation.”  As Eleanor Roosevelt said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

I love this.  It sounds so creative and inspiring.  I love to dwell within the magnificence of my dreams.  The thought of using my imagination to inspire myself and others appeals to me so, so much.  I love affecting people in a positive way.  I love being original.  I love laughing.  I love telling stories.  And I really love conversing with people in a manner which makes them think, and feel good about themselves.  I hope you take the time to do great things for the people around you.

BTW, this paragraph my girlfriend sent me was my daily horoscope…Scorpio.