Band-Aids Over Bullet Holes

Differentiating between visible symptoms and root causes

I was texting back and forth with a friend who has been dealing with leg pain recently. After going to the chiropractor (I think), he discovered that he had a bulging disc in his back. The weird part, we concluded, is that he wasn’t experiencing any pain in his back. Only his leg. So, while the symptom of the injury was leg pain, he couldn’t do anything about that pain by fixing his legs. Only by dealing with the root cause in his back.

It is easy to see the symptoms of a problem without being willing to fix the problem itself. As someone who has been chronically under slept at various points (like most people), I soothe the tiredness by guzzling one of my favorite energy drinks, containing anywhere from 200-400mg of caffeine. If this isn’t enough, I’ll hit a coffee or a shot of espresso (or 2) later in the day to continue to operate at the level necessary to complete the tasks of the day. I’m treating the symptom of tiredness by metaphorically putting a band aid over a bullet hole. I know that I am tired because I’m not getting enough sleep in these situations, but it’s far easier to simply take 2 minutes and shock myself back into existence with the sweet carbonation of a Blue Slush Alani than it is lay my head on the pillow 15 minutes earlier.

Once I go about a week of being under slept, other symptoms occur: I am no longer just tired in the afternoon, but it bleeds into the mid-morning. Dark, penetrating bags form underneath my increasingly pale blue eyes. I notice myself become irritable more easily, as well as developing cravings for salty items like Chex Mix, pretzels, or a sweet and salty mix of Muddy Buddies. Now we have a real problem. Once this happens, it’s a blinding red light: it’s time to get some sleep. After one night of better sleep, I notice nearly all of these symptoms begin to subside. If I had simply taken closer note of the flashing orange light that my caffeine cravings indicated earlier, I likely could have taken care of the root cause of this issue much earlier. (I’m also writing this down so that I actually do get more sleep next time I notice these signs)

Zooming out a little bit further, I’ve noticed this theme has developed during some of the bigger events in my life, too. Typically, the action that gets me in hot water is the product of me not dealing with other things in my life during that time. Instead of stomping out certain emotions, issues, and other seemingly small things when I noticed them arising, I previously pretended like those things didn’t exist. By doing this, the problems got larger and larger until they ultimately manifested themselves in negative ways that got me in a lot more trouble than they would have if I just dealt with them when I noticed the symptoms coming on.

Maybe this resonates with you, or maybe not! But I thought it was an interesting parallel between a couple of ideas that I had bouncing around in my head. Also, Bandaid on a Bullet Hole by Morgan Wallen is quite the banger, and he comes out with a new album soon. As I’ve stated to my close friend, Micah, this album is make or break for me. If Wallen performs anywhere close to his album, Dangerous, he may retain my fandom moving forward. If he continues on the path that his recent albums have indicated, I’m afraid I have no choice but to hand in my fan card. I’m sure he’ll be devastated

(also, if you’re really hard up for listening content, you can give this podcast a listen. I’d love to have any of you as a guest too, if you’re up for it :))