“There are only two things in that life are sure: death and taxes”

A stream of thought:

You know when you reach that point in life where you understand what Marvin Gaye (1972) meant when he said, “There’s only three things that’s for sho’: taxes, death and trouble.” Perhaps, the stage of life we call “adulthood.”

Life is unpredictable; but bills must be paid on time, on the same day, every month.

“Reality” does this really cute thing, it hits you and everything in life that was once sure, now requires a little revaluation here and there. What constitutes as the “foreseeable future” becomes redefined, you experience this “shift in perspective.” The years start to go by faster and the value of time increases with every year.

So, “adulthood” is a rocky experience. Sometimes you stumble upon a large slab and feel like you’ve finally found your footing. You feel a sense of triumph when you finally find the stepping stone you needed in order to advance. You finally get a chance to take in your surroundings and look back at how far you’ve come.

And then the slab cracks; you panic.

OHSHIT!GOTTOMOVEGOTTOMOVEGOTOMOVE!NOTIMETORESTNOTIMETOREST!GOTOMOVEGOTTOMOVE!BUTWHEREDOIGONOW!WHEREAMIGOING!

Then overtime you learn that losing your footing is an opportunity to pull back and re-align, to move on. It reminds you of your humanity; it’s okay to stumble, it is expected.

When we were children, loosing our footing or falling over and scraping our knees were minor deterrents. They were challenges then, at which point do they become setbacks? Life is an adventure.

In all of this, the only things that are for certain are the journey and the fact that you will stumble, and you will be held accountable (trouble and taxes). The journey is the destination and the journey will eventually come to an end (death; whether you believe in an afterlife is down to you).

So then, life is about enjoying the journey, despite how unpredictable the road you face will be.

“There’s only three things that’s for sho’: taxes, death and trouble.”

When I listen to Marvin Gaye sing these lyrics, I notice he sings about the darkness beside a window looking out into the light. He sings about the heavy weights with a coolness that says “I ain’t gonna let it sweat me, I’m gonna keep movin’.” He sings with an acceptance of harsh reality and chooses joy regardless. Like two steppin’ over hot rocks on your bare feet, instead of standing still and firm to the pain.

When times are hard an attitude like this (I find) is exactly what you need; it’s neither pessimism or optimism, it is a healthy balance of both. It is understanding that focusing on the negative can lead to your burdens weighing you down, even paralysing you. On the other hand, the negative has the ability to put things in to perspective, where optimism can be like blissful ignorance.

But maintaining that balance and keeping on, requires strength. As humans, we aren’t always strong, sometimes we get overwhelmed and the prospect of “keeping on” is entirely draining. We aren’t perfect, we make mistakes and we do fall.

This is where Daniel Caesar’s reference to Trouble Man’s “death and taxes” (2015) becomes the one I lean towards.

“Surely we’ll live to see the day, when all of our problems, they fade away.”

Surely? Finding and maintaining a balance is great, it is progressive, but sometimes, I don’t want to have to rush to the next hurdle, sometimes we need the break that life’s fast pace doesn’t always afford us, because bills must be paid on time, on the same day, every month.

Usually, right before I re-centre myself, I have these periods of melancholy that sound like Jordan Evans & Matthew Burnett’s production on ‘Death & Taxes’. The instrumentation, Caesar’s fragile and encapsulating vocals, River Tiber’s backing vocals.

Sometimes I exude courage like Odysseus, and sometimes I sing the mariners’ choric song. The two aren’t always mutually exclusive, they are sometimes simultaneous.

Follow us on twitter for more of FWRD !