Being Positive, Not Always Easy

Hello friend, your little ray of sunshine here! Just a joke. It’s me. Pete.

I try to be positive. I try to make people happy or have a laugh. There was even a subtitle on my book, “I’m Not Done Yet: Turning disabilities into possibilities.”

Full disclosure… I just wasn’t feeling it the past couple of days. I read some positive thoughts and tried some affirmations but I still felt like that cartoon character that walks around with a cloud over his head.

Nothing bad really happened I think it was just the chronic pain. Did anyone else feel like their pain was ramped up a bit? It could have been, and most likely was, related to the weather this week. We did have some ”bombogenesis” happen when we lost power. It’s basically a rapid drop in pressure.

I’m sure I’m not the only one that, at times, just gets sick of everything hurting. Man! Enough, right? I know, ”Why me?” is not a healthy attitude to have but, try as I might, it still creeps into the thought pattern. Yes, I have ways of dealing with it.

• Listen to music.
• Pray
• Look at Pictures of my grandson if I can’t actually be with him.
• Talk to a trusted friend
• Hug your wife
• Count your blessings
• Snuggle with the puppy
• Go for a walk
• Get some sunshine (Which is difficult when it rains.)

To be honest, I really wasn’t in the mood. Sound familiar?

In the end I just had to do what I’ve mentioned a time or two before: Look at yourself in the mirror and just say, “Enough! You gotta pull yourself out of it. Sometimes you just have to do it yourself. Get moving and accomplish something today.”

That did it! It didn’t solve all of my problems, they’re still there, but I did notice the pain subsided a bit when I got moving. That’s always been a bit of a conundrum (I love that word) for anyone who has arthritis. The best thing you can do for your arthritis is to move. However, it hurts to move because you have arthritis. Hmmm.

The other part of my treatment was to accomplish something. Anything really. I was able to finish some research for a project I’m working on and I got the laundry washed, dried and folded while I was doing it. Nice.

So while I may not be jumping with joy (I really haven’t jumped since the 80s), I did find a way out of my blues and I thought I would share it and some of the other tricks I use. (See above.)

If you’re dealing with the blues, know that you’re not alone. However, if you’ve been feeling that way for a long period of time… please reach out for some help. Talk to your doctor or priest, minister or rabbi. Go for a walk with a trusted friend. I guess we all have those days. Just make sure they don’t takeover your life.

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