Be Drunk

Now that I have your attention... part of today's post is borrowed from French poet Charles Baudelaire. I uncovered this gem at the beginning of the year while I was cleaning out my old office in preparation for the move to my new one.

It was just the wake up call I needed at the time. Physically and emotionally exhausted from dealing with my parents health issues and my own, I had fallen into a rut. Where I used to wake up excitedly anticipating the day ahead, I found myself simply trying to endure each day. I had lost my joy and my peace, and was starting to lose my faith. This poem served as the catalyst for my journey to rediscover the divine fire within me and reawaken my passion for life.

Be Drunk

You have to be always drunk. That's all there is to it—it's the 
only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks 
your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually 
drunk.

But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be 
drunk.

And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of 
a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again, 
drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind, the wave, 
the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything 
that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is 
singing, everything that is speaking...ask what time it is and 
wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: "It is time to be 
drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be 
continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish."