{"id":2725,"date":"2013-04-12T10:41:32","date_gmt":"2013-04-12T15:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ramblindan.org\/?p=2725"},"modified":"2014-07-26T17:29:24","modified_gmt":"2014-07-26T23:29:24","slug":"purple-funks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/?p=2725","title":{"rendered":"Purple Funks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"purple-paradise-lovely-view\"<\/a>Look up the various meanings of FUNK<\/a>. It\u2019s kind of a fun word. Purple is the color of the smog that surrounds funk allowing being \u201cin\u201d a purple funk in a visible sense, although in most cases it is simply a state of mind (depression). One cartoonist drew the condition as a brand of automobile so that the possessor could drive around in their purple funk.<\/p>\n

So I am not considering it a dire clinical condition. Let me call it a state of being slightly lost combined with a fear of not knowing where you are headed and feeling a bit depressed that you can\u2019t quite see a clear path. Oh, and being in that condition really stinks\u2026 like being lost in the Mahoning Valley smog in my birth town, Youngstown, Ohio when the steel mills and coke plants were in full production. (Only people my age can relate to living downwind in an active steel town.)<\/p>\n

So I know about actual purple funks. You don\u2019t want to stay in them for very long, unless that is how and where you make a living.<\/p>\n

My last p-funk was mental but certainly not debilitating. Actually it was sort of fun. I was exploring everything around me kind of getting a feeling about my surroundings. I was looking at myself again for my true identity. It\u2019s like a mid life crisis but 20 years later.<\/p>\n

I am convinced these funks occur in 20 year cycles. Maybe like comets.<\/p>\n

My first one was age 20. Vietnam War on, college, patriotism, who am I, what am I going to be?<\/p>\n

Age 40 at mid life, married, twins, depressed ex steel town, life changing decision, what MORE can I be?<\/p>\n

Age 60 (66), what\u2019s that smell? Oh, not me! Just the funk. There\u2019s a sign ahead – Rt. 66, retirement, what have I accomplished, did I plan for this, can I change, should I change, travel a different road\u2026 ?<\/p>\n

No, I am not giving the answers. It isn\u2019t the point. Life is a camping trip, climbing mountains, enjoying the view and descending into the valley beyond, just to climb the next mountain if we choose that path. At the peaks you can see there is another mountain in the future. We just have to cross the river down there in the haze. On the other side the direction is up.<\/p>\n

So in about twenty more years as I look out from that next peak ahead do I set up my tent or build a cabin where the air is clear. Duh, I hope I can still breathe 20 years from now\u2026 \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Look up the various meanings of FUNK. It\u2019s kind of a fun word. Purple is the color of the smog that surrounds funk allowing being \u201cin\u201d a purple funk in a visible sense, although in most cases it is simply a state of mind (depression). One cartoonist drew the condition as a brand of automobile so that the possessor could drive around in their purple funk. So I am not considering it a dire clinical...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[45],"class_list":["post-2725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musing","tag-lake"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2725\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ramblindan.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}