Have you ever gone through a really rough patch? It isn't easy. Period. It is hard to put on a "happy" show, when we ourselves just want to throw in the towel. Hard. Difficult. Immensely Overwhelming. Engulfing. I am great at putting my feelings aside, for the outside world. Heck, who wants to admit to anyone, especially acquaintances that our life is not "peachy keen". I don't like burdening people with my troubles, it is easier to just say "everything is fine", or "everything is great", to the age old question; "How have you been?", or "How are you doing?". I don't think most people, if we are being completely honest, actually want a truthful answer. Those questions are more of a common courtesy. I have made a few really good friends, who I know, actually mean what they are asking. They would be totally, understanding, if I wanted to tell them anything. I hope they feel the same way. I am really asking, I don't expect your life to be fine, or great. Life is messy. Mine right now just happens to feel like it is the messiest it has ever been. We will get through this, and be stronger for it. The purpose of this whole post, is on some ways to help combat the bad mood infection, that can result from these times.
Here it goes. Learn and try these if you want. Sometimes we are just in a grumpy mood, and need to stay there for awhile. That is ok. As long, as you can be grumpy and keep your mouth shut. Words can never be taken back. Ever.
Here it goes. Learn and try these if you want. Sometimes we are just in a grumpy mood, and need to stay there for awhile. That is ok. As long, as you can be grumpy and keep your mouth shut. Words can never be taken back. Ever.
Cure 1: Pray, pray, pray! You can not pray enough. Prayer is powerful, it has really helped me overcome my roller coaster emotions these last couple of months.
Cure 2: Music. I read an article, that I was led to from Pinterest. It was all about playing music, anything that makes you feel happy. Today, our homeschool was doing well. Then life happened.
First, I decided to let the boys play outside in the fresh, new two inches of snow. We haven't had much snow this winter, slim to none. I thought what a better way to start their day, and let my 14-yr-old daughter do her math in peace. Don't get me wrong. I love my boys. Saying that, they are boys 7 and 10 years old. They like to make varying amounts of noise, from one just being loud and talking in an opera like voice sometimes, to the other one running around like a ninja making comic book sound effects. I love all this about them, but it can be hard to concentrate with it all going on. Anyway. They were playing outside about 20 minutes. I hear crying, sobbing, the kind of crying when someone gets hurt. Boys. Gotta love em. Well my 10 year old, had the frozen head of the snowman (that had partially melted a few days ago), he was trying to get onto the deck, tripped and Olaf's head went flying into my 7 year old's eye. Needless to say, it now looks like he was in a MMA fight. This took quite some time to comfort and calm him down. Ouch. It hurt. It hurt me looking at it.
Later, I had my daughter start a video on YouTube for her Saxon math lesson. She is full of attitude, she won't tell me why. She said she didn't know. Okay. I'm thinking maybe it is hormones. I think after the accident with Olaf, the whole day kind of snowballed. I was frazzled by this time, and obviously wasn't doing as good of a job putting on the "everything is great" face, as I thought I was. Enter --> Lightbulb. Epiphany, whatever you want to call it. I recalled the article I had read about happy music. I dropped everything, turned on Pandora (through our Roku) and typed in: "Don't Worry, Be Happy". Best happy station ever on Pandora! My daughters mood improved almost instantly, so did both my sons. My sons and I started dancing around the house, my daughter is laughing, threatening to take a video. Instant attitude adjustment. Just by playing music. Incredible.
First, I decided to let the boys play outside in the fresh, new two inches of snow. We haven't had much snow this winter, slim to none. I thought what a better way to start their day, and let my 14-yr-old daughter do her math in peace. Don't get me wrong. I love my boys. Saying that, they are boys 7 and 10 years old. They like to make varying amounts of noise, from one just being loud and talking in an opera like voice sometimes, to the other one running around like a ninja making comic book sound effects. I love all this about them, but it can be hard to concentrate with it all going on. Anyway. They were playing outside about 20 minutes. I hear crying, sobbing, the kind of crying when someone gets hurt. Boys. Gotta love em. Well my 10 year old, had the frozen head of the snowman (that had partially melted a few days ago), he was trying to get onto the deck, tripped and Olaf's head went flying into my 7 year old's eye. Needless to say, it now looks like he was in a MMA fight. This took quite some time to comfort and calm him down. Ouch. It hurt. It hurt me looking at it.
Later, I had my daughter start a video on YouTube for her Saxon math lesson. She is full of attitude, she won't tell me why. She said she didn't know. Okay. I'm thinking maybe it is hormones. I think after the accident with Olaf, the whole day kind of snowballed. I was frazzled by this time, and obviously wasn't doing as good of a job putting on the "everything is great" face, as I thought I was. Enter --> Lightbulb. Epiphany, whatever you want to call it. I recalled the article I had read about happy music. I dropped everything, turned on Pandora (through our Roku) and typed in: "Don't Worry, Be Happy". Best happy station ever on Pandora! My daughters mood improved almost instantly, so did both my sons. My sons and I started dancing around the house, my daughter is laughing, threatening to take a video. Instant attitude adjustment. Just by playing music. Incredible.
Prayer and music are the two things that I have successfully tried and worked. They have worked in what is currently one of the roughest patches I have experienced in awhile. They have worked miraculously. I know life isn't a Monet or a Van Gogh painting, no matter how much we want it to be. Life is messy, that doesn't mean it is bad, it just means we are growing. In every mess, there is a treasure just waiting for us to find it. It's up to us to stop, slow down, and pray God gives us the wisdom to see it.