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You know, I’ve been working 55 to 60 hours a week. My house has been torn up for a month. They broke off my tomato plants, trampled my lilies. I can’t open my bedroom window, or the window by the desk. The antique wall air conditioner has been taken out (with my blessing), so I don’t have air conditioning at the moment. Everytime you step in the house, you track stuff in from all the debris outside. I don’t feel like making myself something to eat when I get home – heck, I don’t even feel like eating when I get home. I can’t sit out on my patio for more than 10 minutes because by the time I get home its a mosquito feeding frenzy.
Wouldn’t you say I’m entitled to be a witch today? Wouldn’t everyone just understand that it’s been tough lately and I’m in a bad mood?
Course, the answer is no.
It doesn’t help anything to go off an take things out on people. It only makes matters worse. It doesn’t do you any good to slip into a funk and be so miserable that even you can’t live with you.
But I’ll tell you what – its a real exercise in self control. I have snapped and made a nasty comment or two. One lady, my comment wouldn’t have been construed as that bad, but you have to walk on egg shells around her, and I knew when I saw the look on her face that I had pissed her off. She hasn’t talked to me in 2 days. Sigh…
Believe me – my tongue is no where near as vicious as it was was I was younger. But I can still do better.
Every day is an opportunity to grow into a better person. It takes discipline. Most people find that idea repulsive, but the older I get, the more I find how freeing discipline is.
I make myself do a lot of things most every day, from making my whey protein shake in the morning, to making lunch, to planning dinner, to actually making and eating that dinner, to doing a little cleanup every day so it’s not all piled up for the weekend, to working on the ebook and websites.
No, I don’t feel like doing most of them – and I have a million excuses if I want to get out of doing any of them. But…
I enjoy writing the ebook and working on the websites. I’m always happier when I’ve eaten well. I feel better and I actually have more energy. I’m happier when my house is clean. Each thing that I make myself do actually makes my life better in some way.
But my mouth still gets me in trouble sometimes. Sometimes I feel like the road to sainthood is paved with sinkholes. Not that I’m trying to be a saint. I’m just trying to stay out of the mud.
Some people overeat. Some people spout off. Some people drink.
What’s your reaction to overwhelm? Have you found ways to control it?
Taking a long bubble bath, sitting in silence or actual meditation, taking a walk in nature, taking several deep cleansing breaths and saying affirmations, journaling, and reading a good book or magazine are a few of the things I do when I need to calm down. Telling myself that whatever it is that’s bothering me will soon pass also helps. I just have to view the situation in a clear manner, and not through the overwhelmed way I started out with. It’s really shifting who I am being by make that decision.
Every day is an opportunity to grow into a better person. It takes discipline. Most people find that idea repulsive, but the older I get, the more I find how freeing discipline is.
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Ok, this really stinks. It was already getting dark when I got home today. And I don’t have a choice – it is what it is for the next 2 months.
You’re right Beth, I need some ohmmmmm time!
Carole´s last blog post ..I’m entitled to be a witch today, aren’t I?
Sometimes we really feel that way, we think that we do the bad things in life and the next day we think we are good. Whenever I feel like that, I always find ways to change the bad attitude in me, though its so difficult but I’m trying. 🙂
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I feel where you’re coming from. When I feel overwhelmed and frustrated, I take a long bath. I think it probably helps that I eat a bunch of chocolate chip cookies while in the tub. 🙂
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Wait, you eat chocolate chips cookies while you’re in the tub?
Carole´s last blog post ..I’m entitled to be a witch today, aren’t I?
An older woman whom I worked with many years ago taught me how to control my frustration. It wasn’t easy, especially when you’re young and in a hurry, but she always made me stop and find something good about every situation. My pet peeve is being stuck in traffic, especially trying to get home when it is snowing. I’m grateful I have a car, a job to come home from and a home to go to with people who love me. When that doesn’t work, I just pop in my French language tape. No offense to any French speaking people, but it always makes me laugh to try to speak French.
I find it hard to control my temper as well. It worries me on how mean I can be when mad. I constantly remind myself to control my mood and calm down. I try to relax and calm myself but if these two fails then I hide and hope I don’t cause additional damage.
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I go through periods sometimes – when life is overwhelming. I’m getting shorter tempered now with working long hours for over 2 months, and the pres. of the company sends emails telling us we’re not doing enough. Am I going to be able to keep my mouth shut… or will I get fired?
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