I’m waking up a bit worse for wear this morning. My body literally hurts. My brain is cloudy. I’ve been on the craziest roller coaster this week and I do not like roller coasters. This was one of those weary, weary, “when is it going to end” kind of weeks. I had some great high points but the drudgery nearly did me in. I’ve been single parenting My 3 Reasons while my DH is out of the country. A dear friend has been packing up to leave this week for a move to Minnesota. Another relationship moved on. The truck broke down. The kitchen re-do is still going on. Alex broke his finger. I haven’t felt this lonely and isolated in a long time. And Sparrow hit some major white water this week. All the while the laundry is sky high, dishes are piling, garden is drying up, emails and phone calls are over flowing. I have a great desire to behave poorly with a full blown yelling screaming temper tantrum. I do picture a dramatic pitch of a vase against a mirror. You know, just for effect.
I feel just a little like one of those blow up Bozo punching bags. 
But for me there are still 3 good, positive lessons to be learned after a week like this.
1. Keep getting up
I can stay down, lick my wounds, walk around like a lovesick teenager or I can anty up and get back in the proverbial saddle. I may not take off on break neck speed but I’m up and ready for action. But I’m definitely not waiting around for the buzzards to start circling overhead. I’m going to make a bad situation worse by not getting back out there.
2. Seek out joy
It’s easy for me to look for little things to make me happy when I’m down. Chocolate, coffee, surly jokes have their place when I’m walking around gray. But they can only go so far. But when I’m really broken up inside I need the healing of true joy. I need things like music, art, scripture and time with real friends, things I view as lasting and not fleeting to pick my chin off my chest. I have to look at the world through the eyes of a child and see each new view as something new and unexpected rather than dwell in what happened in the recent past.
3. Don’t choose the “Woe Is Me” mode
I probably had good reason to lash out, yell and scream, throw things, cry, pout, whine, etc and to be honest there was a lot of that going on inside my head this week, and ok, I have to admit you may have caught me in public acting a Eyeore-ish. I can’t say I was the most fun to be around this week but I have come through the other side of this terrible, horrible, no good, very lonely, week with a little bit of character and integrity intact. If nothing else I knew the week would end at some point.
These are not crazy, innovative lessons but perhaps just a reminder in our perspectives when things just are not easy and are not going our way. In many ways it just comes down to “Just Do It.” The most over used phrase of my generation still has purpose. Even when life stinks, just keeping doing what you need to do. Even when obstacles are put in your path, just keeping finding a way around them. Even you want to run and hide and give up, just do what you need to move forward, pressing towards your goal. The point is to continue being the annoying punch bag Bozo and don’t let anything keep you down. Keep getting up and trying again.
Anything got you down today?
How was your week?
The Rabid Mime 