I love classic rock. I found classic rock when I was a teenager. First, I found the Beatles, and only the Beatles, until a good friend introduced me to Led Zeppelin and Tom Petty. Then the floodgates opened. I couldn’t get enough. Like many other teenage boys obsessed with rock, I started playing guitar. Unlike many of those boys, I still play guitar decades later. One of my favorite guitarists and songwriters is Joe Walsh, the famed guitarist of the classic band the Eagles. Joe Walsh also had a very successful solo career. One of my favorite songs from his solo career is Life’s Been Good.

Joe wrote Life’s Been Good for his album titled But Seriously Folks in 1978 while on a recording break with the Eagles. Joe discusses the song’s lyrics as a satire about the absurdities of the rock and roll lifestyle. When I started listening to this song and appreciating Joe’s lyrics, I focused on those elements of rock and roll excesses he detailed. He sang about fame and fortune, and the inability to manage either. I felt a connection to his lyrics, not because I was a rock star, but rather because I found success through many metrics that define success. Yet I didn’t feel like a success. I routinely focused on my failures, on the things that went wrong, and internalized them rather than exclusively using them as a learning opportunity. When Joe Walsh sings “My Maserati does 185, I lost my license, now I don’t drive,” I gravitate to the “losing my license” part of the lyric. Just another failure. That was me in active addiction.

Now that I have found recovery, I look at the song in a different light. Joe doesn’t just talk about the excesses of the rockstar life. He also concludes that “life’s been good to me so far.” Despite all the troubles he brought upon himself, he is still grateful for his life. Gratitude is vital to recovery. When living in active addiction, the gratitude I exhibited was clouded by the frustrations I felt about life, specifically:

·      The inability to have life unfold on my terms.

·      The inability to solve (i.e., control) everyone’s problems in my professional career and personal life.

·      The criticism I internalized, rather than looking at it objectively and using it as a learning tool for future situations.

Thankfully, I have been given a second chance at genuinely living with gratitude. Acceptance precedes gratitude. I can’t genuinely express gratitude without accepting that life doesn’t unfold on my terms. I must accept that many things in life are beyond my control. Once I truly accept my control limitations, I can genuinely express gratitude. Gratitude is part of my daily life. Every day in synagogue, I focus on the good things I have in life and thank God for them. When I do my daily check-ins through journaling or thought work before bed, I make sure to include gratitude as part of the process.

While Joe’s lyrics detailing rock and roll excess once spoke loudly to me, now, the title of his song reveals its true message. 

Kenneth Markowitz MD, IMAC