Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

If this song is going to be stuck in my head, I hope it will get stuck in yours too.

Since Saturday, the Monty Python song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" has been playing on a loop in my head. I have been bopping my head along to the tune like a Muppet in a chorus line. The song is new to me, despite being released in 1979. I heard it for the first time at a celebration of life on the weekend. 

The song was played in honour of a man who wanted to have nothing but joy at this occasion. His family and friends paid tribute with humourous anecdotes, photo slideshows, clips from family home movies and ones from his favourite comedy sketches. It was a true celebration.

As Ongina said "life is a celebration." Even when the bright side of life is a bit cloudy, which it has been for me lately, it's good to recognize those things worth celebrating. Even something that can be thought of as a negative has it's positive outlook.

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best

In a couple of weeks, I will be jobless. This will be the first time I do not have a plan for work in over 25 years. At first, it was a scary prospect. I was facing an ocean with no horizon. Like I was sent adrift from the island I was familiar with and heading into a vast expanse of water with no chartered course. I stand on the raft with no visibility. Even the front of my hand, just centimeters away from my face, could not be seen.

If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle, that's the thing

However, with as I drift, the moon has come out and shown some light on the choppy waters. The raft moves as I balance on it, trying to avoid falling into the water. With time, the sun rises and reveals calmer waters with a burgeoning horizon.

Rather than just step off my raft and sink to the bottom of the ocean, I choose to sail towards sunny shores. There is opportunity in every setback and I am going to work towards something with more prosperity.

Maybe this song playing on repeat in my head is taking the helm. If so, stay there and let me sit in the lounge chair on the lido deck. Sail me into the bright side of life, even if that means weather some storms. I would rather be celebrated for celebrating life than for just cruising by.

Always look on the bright side of life
Always look on the light side of life