The Anxiety of Small Things

‘…it’s the continuing series of small tragedies

that send a man to the

madhouse . . .

not the death of his love

but a shoelace that snaps

with no time left . . .’

Charles Bukowski.

I think Bukowski has a point; it’s the shoelace that snaps with no time left that will be our ultimate downfall. Bukowski was more than aware of the cumulative effect of those unpleasant, irritating encounters we face each day. It isn’t necessarily the major life changing events that break us, but, rather, the daily setbacks or just plain bad luck; the flat tyre when we’re late for work, the coffee spilt on a new white shirt moments before an important meeting, the competing deadlines, the minor failures and the tasks we’ve been putting off for too long. This is not to suggest that the big things are’t important or don’t matter because they most certainly do. Losing Vanessa, my long-term partner and mother to our young son, was the single most devastating thing to have happened to me, but our capacity to bounce back from such events is hardwired into our evolutionary history and each and every one of us has the capacity to overcome, even though there are many bumps in the road.