How did you feel when you woke up on 1/1/11?
One thing is for sure, I didn’t wake up at my usual time that morning or for any of the last two weeks of the year that I took off from work.
All right … all right … I completed a few things for work, but my mood soared from the satisfaction of crossing them off my list in 2010.
By that afternoon, the mood did a 180. The brain decided to think about fourth quarter taxes, end of year tax prep, three birthdays in my family in January plus one in February and other stuff. Not exactly a party. I love January for birthdays, but after four of us having them all in under a month — I appreciated my youngest coming along late April. Had the guy arrived in February, he might’ve missed out on some fabulous times with us suffering party burnout.
While dealing with the beat down, my mind fast forwarded to a special family event in which preparation should start within a couple of months. My thoughts roamed around the whole “I’m so busy today. How can I have time to deal with that?” thing putting a damper on 1/1/11.
Stop that!
I share this with you because I know I’m not the only one who panics when I think about a bunch of stuff in one shot. I will get through it all. Just think one step, one day, one hour. You and everyone you know that goes through this will get through it, too.
I reminded myself to count my blessings instead of sheep. (Yes, I watched White Christmas along with It’s a Wonderful Life and Sound of Music.) Too many continue to suffer from the recession, famine or worst. It’s a Wonderful Life also reminds us that every single one of us has a positive impact on other people’s lives — whether we believe it or not.
Kyle Maynard, author of No Excuses, appeared in an article in Success Magazine. If you’re not familiar with him, the wrestling champion was born without arms or legs below his elbows and knees. One day while on tour, he held a little pity party at the airport because he was just a 19-year-old who missed home, his friends and a stress-free life.
Two men recognized him. They had severe burns from being wounded while serving as military police in Iraq. Their injuries landed them in a rehab hospital for intensive therapy for over a year. The two heroes caught one of Maynard’s TV specials that inspired them to fight for their lives. The meeting humbled Maynard knowing his own story helped two people who faced greater adversity than he had.
Incredible. I should re-read this paragraph when my mind decides to make trouble that prevents moving forward.
It’s OK for life to wear us down a little as long as it doesn’t go on for too long and affect our progress.
How do you handle it when life gets you down?
For me, when I have those depressing days, I either have an ‘alone time’. Just passing the day in a quiet place, most likely the beach or in a mountain resort (where, thankfully is just near my house). Then I just do a lot of thinking, a bit of day dreaming and talking to god. Before the day ends, I usually formulate plans on how to tackle the problem that got me depressed and after that I usually end up thinking that the problem is not that huge after all…
Vision Board Guy, I bet that’s quite a beautiful sight to see in that mountain resort. We’re human, so it’s easy for things to bring us down though they’re not so important once we regain perspective. Thank you for stopping by and sharing.
I call those “moments” because that’s how long they’re allowed to last. We all have our moments. But the test of our character is whether we follow the rabbit down the depression hole or if we choose something else.
P.S., I love your use of “moments.” Beautifully put. Thanks for reading and sharing your valuable insight.