How to Be Happy (Or at Least Feel Better) Listen to These Lyrics! - Coldplay

One line can turn a song into a lesson. In this case it's

Maybe I'm in the gap between the two trapeze

"Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall." (1:28) Since all of Coldplay's band members are given credit for writing credit MetaLyrics will someone please ask Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, Chris Martin, Peter Allen or Adrienne Anderson which one of them came up with the trapeze thing? It's so good!

It's a feeling that will apply multiple times in a well-lived life. All those times when it's bye bye to the comfortable security of the present, but not yet hello to the mysterious opportunity of the future. We're not where we were, but we're not where we're going, either.

I shared Every Teardrop - focusing on the trapeze line - with my seniors who were about to leave high school but not yet in college. They'd be in that gap again after leaving college for grad school or work. Or between jobs. Or between relationships. Or between places to live.

It's where I am now - retired from public school teaching but not yet settled into whatever is next. I'm in that gap.

What do we do when we're there?

Take a breath. Rest. Chill. Read books. Watch movies. Listen to music. Write down possibilities. Be in the moment. Appraise the future. Think. Dream. Trust.

Gaps are frightening, sure. But they're exhilarating, too. Especially when we boldly reach for the next trapeze, confident that it will swing us higher.