“You’re making it hard. Everything’s easier if you just relax and love what you’re doing.”
— My friend and musical mentor
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“That’s easy for you to say,” I laughed, my fingers knotted as I worked to learn a couple of new guitar chords for a sad old country song.
Let me just say right here. I am not a musician, far from it. I know a few chords and first felt like I was progressing when I grabbed the guitar and the dog didn’t leave the room like someone was running a can opener in the kitchen.
That said, music, whether I’m listening to it or attempting to create it, is my passionate escape.
Lately, it’s been rescuing me from the nightly news. A welcome break from the bitterness and tension broadcasting from around the world, and relief from another excruciating (and thankfully now over) election cycle. Where, again, billions of dollars have been spent on exhausting rhetoric fueling bitter disagreements equally between strangers and long-time friends. All because petty arguments sadly somehow seem more important than decades of good memories.
Also makes crying country crooners singing “He’s Choosin’ Texas” or “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind” sound like relief.
So why do we too often default to the complicated side of life looking for answers by getting drawn into bitter arguments with no reward for winning?
As a child, I remember Mom stepping into the middle of petty disputes, usually with one of my sisters, She’d calm us down while gently explaining both sides of whatever issue in which we had become embroiled. Then ask, “Now, see how simply that was solved when we use our minds and not our tempers?”
She was right, but not surprisingly. My parents actually lived that simple solution for 63 years. They married in 1944 while Dad was serving in the Army, a union that lasted until he passed away in 2007.
Was it a picture-perfect, storybook romance where they agreed on everything? Heavens, no!
Mom was a devout Bible reader and churchgoer; Dad, not so much. Mom loved family history, traveled hundreds of miles every year for reunions, and constantly researched the family tree; Dad was a solitude-seeking homebody. Mom voted Republican in every election; Dad was a lifelong “yellow dog” Democrat.
So, what was their secret? Love. That’s it. Love, and everything else was just details.
It sounds incredibly basic, doesn’t it? We live in a world of collaborative brilliance—we’ve conquered diseases, established empires, sent humans to the moon, and unleashed artificial intelligence. Yet, we ‘re struggling to harness enough everyday intelligence to learn how to love and respect ourselves, let alone each other.
Full disclosure: I learned that lesson firsthand. And I expect most of us who have learned it acquired it the same way—grasping the value of our own creation and learning to love life first. After all, how can we bring love, hope, and joy on the journey if our own love is running on an empty tank?
Unfortunately, there is always plenty in the world to be unhappy about, which is exactly why we need to focus on being a source of happiness ourselves. For me personally, that grounding joy comes unapologetically from my faith in the God we learn about in the Bible.
For you? Well, each of us has to find that spark for ourselves. But one thing is certain: we can’t be a source of happiness and joy until we focus first on what it does for us. May I say it again? We can’t give away something we don’t have.
It’s a concept so simple that it flies right over the heads of people who think life has to be profoundly complicated and bitterly debated to be meaningful.
So what if we started every day by asking ourselves a simple question: “What joy do I feel today that might bring happiness to someone else?” If just half of us took time to relax, love life, and share that perspective with everyone around us, the world would change in a heartbeat. Who knows, the evening news might become a little more uplifting.
And I might even start struggling with sweeter chords for happier country songs.
—Leon Aldridge
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Leon Aldridge is a veteran editor, publisher, and communications professional, currently enjoying semi-retirement while awaiting the next challenge. His columns appear in: The Center Light and Champion, The Mount Pleasant Tribune, the Rosenberg Fort Bend Herald, the Taylor Press, the Alpine Avalanche, the Fort Stockton Pioneer, the Elgin Courier, The Monitor in Naples, and Motor Sports Magazine.
© Leon Aldridge and A Story Worth Telling 2026. Feel free to use excerpts with full and clear credit given to Leon Aldridge and ‘A Story Worth Telling.’
