For instance, our son had a brain tumor last year and had surgery to remove it, yep that’s pretty bad, but the good news is, he survived and one year later is almost back to 100% normal (what ever normal is)
This last February my wife was diagnosed with stage 4 (end stage) Lung Cancer, that’s really bad…. the good news is that it’s going on 8 months and she is still alive and doing remarkably well (the chemo has helped greatly)
After those 2 major life events you’d think anything and everything else would be irrelevant or just peanuts, normally I would agree and leave it at that. How ever life and time keeps marching on, problems arise in day to day living that present their own set of challenges.
For instance, Last month I obtained a 2006 chevy aveo that my wife dubbed “Ladybug” (I traded a big Butch van for this), I drove the new car for 2 weeks then the computer went wonky and the new car suddenly doesn’t run so well and has been getting repairs as time and finances allow over the last few weeks, The good news : my old car (a 91 cavalier) runs great and I have been able to stay on the road (good thing too cause we live 30 miles from the nearest city)
Yesterday I had to drive out to Dallas Valley (a kids camp) and pick up our son, no problem it’s only 200 kilometers round trip, now the grid road that leads to Dallas Valley from the highway was so rough and pot holed that it snapped my muffler right off the old car…good news, Today I bought a new muffler , bad news, it cost me $160.00 for the muffler, clamps and hangers, the good news…. my neighbor is going to help install the new muffler tomorrow free of charge .
Last week I did something stupid (read the Bone Head award post) , I lost my temper and destroyed my laptop , that was bad, my friend Cheryl came to the rescue and loaned me her old net book until I can scrape together the cash to buy another laptop, that is a good thing, at least I can Blog and get around the web slowly but hey it’s better than nothing, then today, my sister Bonnie phones me, she has a friend that owns a rent a center in the city, her friend can get me a refurbished laptop super cheap! so of course I jump on that, next Wednesday, I pick up my new laptop, and it only cost me $80 (yes you read that right)
It’s all a matter of perspective, no matter the adversity big or small, if you dwell on the negative aspects of said adversity then you will remain angry and unhappy and frustrated, I try to find the positive in every negative and always remind myself….it could be worse.
Yes there are days when I just want to say screw it, or to hell with life and all it’s miserable failings, but then I stop and think of all the crap and hardship that I have been through in my 47 years on earth (including my own Mother trying to kill me when I was just 2 years old) and I say to myself, I’ve made it this far, I can go further, lets wait and see what tomorrow brings.
I also stop and think, I live in North America , Canada to be specific, compared to the shit going down in the Middle East and over in the Ukraine , and the Ebola outbreak in Africa, I have it pretty easy over here, suddenly my problems don’t seem so huge and out of control.
Things happen beyond my control multiple times per day, month in and month out, instead of letting those things wear me down I look at them as adventures, life is an adventure, I can either roll with it, good or bad, or I can get stuck in a rut doomed to replay one bad thing after another and slowly let it drive me crazy.
Monty Python put out a song many many years ago called “Always look on the brighter side of life” I often hum it to myself just as a reminder that things are going to be okay, when I am really down I belt out the Monty Python’s “Lumber Jack” song at the top of my lungs, this serves 3 purposes, #1 it makes me feel better, #2 it makes my wife laugh hysterically, #3 it embarrasses the Hell out of our son “Hammy” because I can’t sing to save my life, I sounded like a wounded animal in heat when I sing !
I do suffer from Manic Depression, and yes I do take medication for it, Risperdone and Mirtazapine , but even when I am really down I just keep looking forward, I’ve tried to end my life a few times in the distant past, now I know my warning signs and I keep looking ahead , I keep a weathered eye on the horizon and look to see what tomorrow will bring, Do I have my depression under control, for the most part yes I do, I have learned that I can live and function with severe depression, I have learned to force myself to interact with people, especially when I am at my lowest, I have learned to tell others ( a close and trusted friend) when I am not doing so good, I have learned to tell myself, this is the depression talking, life truly isn’t that bad. I have learned to reach out and not just ask for help for myself but to try and help others in the process, I have learned not to let depression control my life. I have learned to blog and just put it out there as a form of therapy but perhaps it may help someone somewhere not feel so alone.
So I have learned to take the bad with the good, and to find the good in the bad, sometimes I have to really reach for the good, but it is in fact there just waiting to be found.
Guess that’s all for tonight folks, remember to express your love often,never take tomorrow for granted, and be kind to others.
Butch
easy wood projects to build
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