Things Suck

Please excuse the rude language, but sometimes things just suck. Think about the idea implied. You feel drained when things are just not right. You feel life sucked out of yourself. Then again, why is that the case? Why is your energy low? Can you maintain it or not?

Do you get to choose how much energy gets drained out of you? I often ponder why I feel down. Why is my energy lower than an hour ago? A day ago? A week ago? How long can I go without feeling lower?

Choice vs. Circumstance

When something happens that starts to drag me down, I don’t always have a choice in the immediate effect. There are times when my energy drops because I might be ill or I hear some sad news. That does cause a drop in energy, but how I react to that drop makes a difference.

This week, I had opportunities to deal with illness and with circumstances that were dragging me down. I chose to keep my chin up and my mind focused on things I want to accomplish. I won’t say that it has been a fantastically productive week as I have needed to rest and heal, but I also have not allowed my thoughts to spiral into negative conversation about how bad things have been. Reviewing the week, I have sought out what I could do, not what I could not do.

I wanted more done in the garden, but I was not up to doing the work myself, so I worked at enrolling my kids to help, and they have helped. Is everything done? No. But, I did more than if I had a pity party. That is progress my friends. It is better than the alternatives based on the circumstances. Could I have done things differently? Yes. I am looking for the lessons that I can learn from what caused those circumstances. No blame. No regret. I just want the lessons and the chance to improve.

See – Regretting Being a Stubborn Ass, Caution

Search for Answers

Answers are not always easy to come by in life. The key is to be actively looking for them. It is awfully hard to see what you are not looking for when it comes time to find it.

We have a couple of kids who are notorious for not finding things when asked to get things in the house. Even when they are told exactly where it is located, they come back saying they cannot find it. I could choose to never ask either one of them to find things for me, but I persist because I want them to practice looking. The best part of this is that there is improvement. I love it when I hear, “I can’t find it. Let me go look again. Oh, I found it this time.” It is the change in attitude from chore to desire that is helping them to see better.

See – Learning to See

The more you work at finding the answers you want in life, the more you are going to find. I will warn you that it tends to cause you to accomplish more as well, but I know you are up to the challenge. Choose joy and happiness in life. It is so much better than having life suck.