amen, Momma !!

Blondi, developing coping skills is a lifetime job, an ART, and a fine thing to pursue.

trying to find the lighter side of things... or mocking the symptoms (ie: I had a "p*ssy" day on Sunday, had to wash my clothes in the sink, wah wah! )

joking about it helps... singing songs helps (Foreigner's Double Vision, or Joni Mitchell's Help Me, I'm Falling, or I forget-who-it's by... I'm So Dizzy, or Paul Simon's Slip Sliding Away, you get the picture...)

my favorite thing to do is enshrined in the Moody Blues song, Nights in White Satin, where he sings about Letters I've written, never meaning to send... that's what I do, I write it all out, and GET it all out of my system, so I don't take it out on those I love accidentally.

I practice an attitude of gratitude, like Kitty, where I focus on what's POSITIVE, and what things I CAN do, instead of what I've lost...

and sometimes I just whine about things, (like not being able to play the piano anymore, or backpack in the wilderness, or go skiing, or whatever...), and everybody gives me a hug, and I feel all warm and fuzzy...

but, oddly enough, the thing that helps me MOST is reaching out to others when THEY feel down, or are hurting, or have some cluster-mess brewing.

just taking the focus OFF myself, and helping others... works miracles.

this afternoon, a neighbor came over to buy three chickens for a Christmas family feast, and while helping to catch them, I slipped and FELL in the mud, and had to be hosed OFF...

and instead of crying, I started LAUGHING... because whaddaya gonna DO ???