Survive ‘25 -- Seek a Fix in ‘26

Music to Live By, Moments to Live For, and Breaking Out of Our Bubbles

Hello, readers! What a year it has been. I feel your pain.

For many, 2025 was a year from hell, but it’s over. There were moments you didn’t know if you’d survive, but you did. Congratulations.

You’re stronger than you knew; we all are. Let’s all pat ourselves on the back.

In the worst of times, we dig deeper, come together, build stronger bonds, and fight back. It’s like the old Viking saying, “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

Here’s a song to prove it.

What About 2026?

Next year has to be better, right? It will be, if we all make it so. I want to talk about a secret weapon or two you can turn to in 2026 when life is just too much.

Secret Weapons!

For me, the first secret weapon is music. Ever since I was a confused, awkward teenager, flooded with hormones and wracked with powerful, unfamiliar emotions, music provided me with a sense of comfort and understanding in difficult times.

Music is magical. To each generation of people, young and old, it gives shape and meaning to feelings that still rattle around inside us, confusing and unresolved.

Despite what you might think, we’re still like teenagers, emotionally. We‘re older, but confused and lost. We often need music to help us understand what’s going on.

Here are some other inspirational, uplifting songs from each decade since the 1960s.

Melanie – “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)

• Communal strength, light in darkness, collective courage.

Simon & Garfunkel – “Bridge Over Troubled Water”

• Compassion and emotional rescue.

The Rascals – “People Got to Be Free”

• Freedom as joyful destiny, not protest fury.

Bonnie Tyler - Looking for a Hero

• Searching for someone to help us survive

Bette Midler, Wind Beneath My Wings

• Overcoming tragedy with help from others

Andra Day, Rise Up

• a powerful anthem from 2003

Rachel Platten, Fight Song

• An anthem for fighting back

Please give music a try when you feel down. Here’s my suggestion.

When you are feel depressed or defeated by the events of the day, go somewhere quiet, sit down, and play one of these songs, or choose one of your favorites. Don’t just space out. Really listen to the music.

Sing along. Belt it out. It is almost guaranteed to make you feel better. (Even if it drives others crazy!)

When a favorite song comes on, I crank up the volume and belt out the tune. No one hears me, besides my dog. Who cares if I’m off-key? (Except for my poor little dog.)

That leads to my second secret weapon, creating special moments, a minute at a time. You might think life is one endless stream of time, but it consists of many moments.

New Year’s Day, my old friend Mark was playing Celtic mandolin in a local Irish bar.

The start of 2026 had left me and others there, feeling apprehensive. On edge. Afraid. While I tapped my toes with the music, my dog, Mr. Bones, scanned the room for lonely, sad people. He fixed his brown puppy eyes on them, dog-smiled, and wagged his tail. One by one, people slid up to us softly in the dark barroom. “Your dog is so cute! Is he friendly? May I pet him, please?” “OK,” I say. “But let him sniff your hand.”

They extend their hands; he sniffs. He leans against their leg, looks up in their eyes, and licks their hand gently. “Aww!” If they bend over, he stands up to give them a doggy kiss. On their faces, I see relief. Happiness. Joy. They asked little but got more than expected. I got the satisfaction of bringing a little joy to a world in need of more.

Our life on the road is a tapestry of moments of happiness provided to sad, lonely strangers by my amazing wonder dog. We give and take life a moment at a time.

Minute by minute.

It’s the only way you can live; you can’t live two moments at once.

Let’s say you had a bad day: shit happened, and the news sucked. Terrible people did terrible things to our cities, towns, and vast swathes of the American countryside.

There’s an old saying, “Don’t let the bastards get you down.” Whichever side of the political divide you happen to be on, what if the other side had their little moment again, today? Why let that ruin the rest of your day?

You can have any kind of moment you want, if you know how to create them:

A happy moment, an inspiration, a swelling of pride, a sudden sense of optimism that we will overcome, finally. And we will, because as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”

***

Music may help, but so will a good book, a great movie, talking to a friend, or greeting your neighbor. Own your moments. Don’t let anyone or anything bring you down.

We Shall Overcome

Sometimes things suck, but if we persist, we will overcome in the end.

As the saying goes, “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” If things look bleak to you now, don’t stick your head in the sand or try to ignore what’s happening.

Stay calm if you can. If need be, get mad. Open the window and shout, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.” Make a plan to do something about it.

But don’t let anger consume you. Use it as motivation. Anger wakes up a sleeping giant — but compassion and decency can also keep us moving in the right direction.

SIMPLIFY LIFE

Simplify matters as best you can. It’s too confusing and complicated to figure out everything all at once. We can’t fix all of the world’s problems in a split second

Try to boil reality down to a handful of things. Here’s my attempt.

1. Survive.

You and I are born to survive; one way or another. It’s not easy. It’s messy. Some days, it may be hard to get out of bed. But somehow we find a path to follow.

2. Connect.

We are not alone. In good times, we drift apart, hole up in our own little worlds, disconnect. Tough times bring us back together, so we can help each other fight back.

3. Create.

We’re born to create. A small creation — cooking a meal, cracking a joke—makes us feel alive. We create romance, children, and families. We create art, music, and beauty.

4. Care.

If you have enough money to get by, focus instead on caring for yourselves, your family, and friends. If we all do that, a community at a time, we can heal America.

5. Pass on.

We all die in the end, but we pass on other things, too: wisdom, love, compassion, and our own personal legacy, the best of ourselves, to the next generation.

A million self-help books and experts bombard us with ways to fix ourselves. My prescription is, pick one clear, simple approach that works for you and stick to it.

For me, it has meant becoming a nomad, roaming the country full-time. Gone is the anxiety that dogged me when I had acquired too much and worried about losing it all.

Instead, I gave it all away, and have never felt better.

***

Burst Your Bubble

The name of my blog is Like a Buffalo, Roam. Roaming is what I have done since June, 2022. But what does my roaming have to do with you? Or with seeking a fix in ’26?

Music and moments will help, but for you to feel better about life, and for our lives to change, we need to go out the front door, get in our cars, and go somewhere, now.

Go where? How far? Why?

During COVID, I realized that I, like most people, had begun living in my own little bubble. I had curated a select group of friends, news sources, local shops, restaurants, and cafes, so I would see and hear my own views reflected back and nothing else.

Something was wrong, but I didn’t know what. So, I went to look for America.

(By the way, this is one of the best videos ever for celebrating the diversity of America.)

Roaming to the lower 48, driving lonely secondary roads, stopping in small towns that time forgot, visiting isolated and desolate rural areas, I did something that, for me, was radical. I talked to strangers. We chatted about this or that in a friendly way.

Faces came out of the rain.

Suddenly, they were not them, they were us. Fellow Americans. We didn’t talk politics. God knows, you don’t get to know people by starting with politics. How to begin?

Here are a few safe questions to get you started on your own search for America.

• How are you doing today?

• What’s your name?

• Are you from here?

• Have you lived here long?

***

If you don’t know how to roam, here’s are a few suggestions for how to get started.

Day One, get in your car. Drive to a side of town you never visit. Perhaps people there do not look like you, or earn as much, or eat the same food. That was me, once. Afraid.

I grew up in the Midwest; there were parts of town I’d never gone to; no one ever told me what to avoid; I just knew. Then I broke out of the ordinary and lived and worked for years in Africa and other parts of the world, where I was often a minority of one.

Now, I’m the guy who goes everywhere and talks to everyone; I’m not afraid. In life, when we face our fears, we often overcome them.

Go across town. Don’t be embarrassed if you’re apprehensive. Admit it to yourself. How will you know it’s safe? Here’s a tip. It works everywhere I’ve ever been.

Look for the police.

Worst-case scenario: If the police are there when you arrive, sirens blaring, lights flashing, in hot pursuit of a suspect, go elsewhere. As if I needed to tell you that.

If there are no police, and it looks calm, then stay. It’s probably as safe as anywhere.

Best-case scenario: When you get to the restaurant, IF you see police cars in the parking lot, but the cops are inside, eating, it’s safe, and the food is good.

Trust me on this, people.

Next, take a day trip.

Head out to a nearby small town or rural area, say 50 miles away. Walk into a local diner or a café. Not a restaurant chain place. Be prepared for silent stares when you walk in. Local people may initially be puzzled about why you’re there.

As the young folks say, Awkward! But don’t fret. It will pass.

Greet the hostess or the server and ask if you can have a seat. Please. Smile. Ask what they like on the menu. Engage in a little small talk. How long have they worked there?

Then try taking weekend trips to remote places even further away. Imagine if 100 people did this every day. If 100 people did it, they’d call it a movement.

My dream is that 10,000 or 100,000 or 1,000,000 of us go there to meet them, and find out they are us. We are them. We’re all Americans; we can all still talk to each other.

***

Now, if we want to shake things up, let’s get millions of old, retired people to go out there and do this full-time, and share our experiences with the folks back home.

What a hoot it would be.

***

If we all keep doing the same things, going to the same places, talking to the same people, nothing will change. If we find the courage to get out there and face the unfamiliar, we might discover he or she or they is not so bad.

Or, we can stay home, retreating into screens, allowing discomfort and our fear of the unknown to limit who we are. And remain stuck with a vague dislike for the others.

Me, I’ve gone to look for America. Anyone want to go? There’s room for everybody.

Moving Along

I’d love to hear from you about the songs that sustain you in difficult times, and I encourage you to begin compiling your own playlists to see you through 2026.

I am building my list and sharing the link. A note about the playlist. It starts with three songs by Woody Guthrie, who was considered a radical American songwriter and singer in his time, the ‘20s, ‘30s, and ‘40s, but is best known today for ‘This Land is Your Land,” usually considered patriotic. It’s an old song, but a great place to start.

If, like most of us, you only learned the first four verses of This Land is Your Land, verses five and six might surprise you. Woody Guthrie spoke out for the poor.

As I was walkin’ - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tresspassin’
But on the other side ... it didn’t say nothin’
Now that side was made for you and me!

In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin’ and some are wonderin’
If this land’s still made for you and me.

Of course, you can skip Woody’s songs if you find it hard to listen to the old recordings. As for myself, I always like to start at the beginning.

Please suggest songs you know that might fit this playlist.

And listen to the music.