Difficult Days

Happy Wednesday:

Well, here I am again. It’s been a long moment since we’ve connected. Life got busy, life got complicated and after talking with my cousin Heather, I decided I needed to step out of writing in an effort to restore balance in my life. I feel like this long break has done wonders for my soul and I feel ready and rejuvenated to write again.

How are you all doing? How’s the summer heat in your area? It’s been a super hot one here. I think we’ve run the air nearly every day, all day. Ugh, not looking forward to the AC bill, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

I hope you can drop me a like and a comment. I’d love to hear from you all. Warms my heart to get updates and feedback from each of you. I do think of you all often. When I write my blog, I feel connected to you, my readers.

Today, I thought I’d talk about difficult days. Seeing I’ve had my fair share, I think I’m becoming quite accustomed to them. John’s always telling me to look at difficulties as lessons. What can be learned from the trials we face. One thing I know for absolute is, we all face challenges and most of us face them on a daily basis. I hope though, when we are faced with trials that we don’t allow ourselves to become so weighed down. Not easy, yet in some cases, it’s doable. I suppose to avoid becoming so immersed in daily challenges, or life challenges as a whole, we need to do our best to refocus our thinking and find the good in our lives.

“If today gets difficult, remember the smell of coffee, the way sunlight bounces off a window, the sound of your favorite person’s laugh, the feeling when a song you love comes on, the color of the sky at dusk, and that we are here to take care of each other.”-Nanea Hoffman.

When I face a difficult situation or when I’m feeling weighed down, I jump on my golf cart and crank up the music and drive. I redirect my focus to the lake and on occasion, I pull over and simply sit and enjoy the glistening of the sunlight as it bounces off the water. Sometimes I’ll go to one of the beaches or parks and watch families swimming or playing. Something about hearing a little one laughing and playing, I forget my difficulty in that moment. Oh, the issues are still there, but, I’m able to take a break, clear my head, then, come back with a better state of mind and meet my trial or challenge head on.

Life has a funny way of keeping us on our toes. Perhaps its because it teaches us to appreciate the little things in life. Whatever the reason, I do know one thing. With each and every challenge I face, I try and take something away from that lesson/challenge. For example, I just recently finished a task that was in the making for 6 years. I gave up and gave in. Yes, it hurt me, not physically, but emotionally and financially. I look back and think of the things that I could have done different, yet at the end of the day, I’m finally free. I’m free of the bondage that held this dark cloud over me. Sure, it’s going to be hard getting back to the place I once was, but you know what, I’ve got this. I can do it. While working isn’t an option for me right now, there’s still a few things that I can do. I have my podcast that will be up and running again next week. I have this blog and three others, and now, I have a YouTube channel. Oh, and let’s not forget, I have my book that I’m hoping will be ready to send off to publishers beginning on my birthday, August 12.

Yesterday, I faced a difficulty I’m was actually having panic attacks over. I wasn’t looking forward to it. It’s was simple procedure of steroid injections in my spine. I just hate needles and I fear the pain that I’ve experienced in the past from lumbar punctures. Maybe it’s just the size of the needle, I don’t know, but these procedures cause me so much panic. I was thankful though for the medical team and my doctor who helped keep me at ease and who walked me through each step of the process. I wasn’t able to zone out, instead, I had a doctor who reminded me through the whole procedure of what I could expect to feel and he and the x-ray technician would ask me from time to time how I was. I was thankful to have John’s mom and dad take me since John’s work schedule has been so busy lately. I am happy to say, I got through my fear along with my procedure and now I’m home resting.

How do you handle difficult days? Where do you find solace? How do you get passed the fear when presented with something you have to face, you know is good for you, yet you allow your mind to wonder to that dark place and put more anxiety on yourself then need be? Leave me a comment and let me know. I’d love to try something different and hear all about your coping skills.

Fear-False Evidence Appearing Real! I try to let this sink in, but there are more times than not when I allow fear to overtake me. I work myself up. I suppose with the procedure yesterday, I kept allowing my mind to go back to the many lumbar punctures I’ve endured and holy heck, those were horrible, but this procedure wasn’t as painful as I thought, I had an amazing medical team there comforting me the entire time, then I was blessed to come home to a loving man and his parents who made sure I was comfortable.

I was blessed to have my family and friends also checking in on me. I’m so grateful for that. I have some pretty amazing friends and family members.

Today is difficult with my headache, but being able to write to you all is helping refocus the pain. I am grateful for that. I’m hoping later today I will find time or should I say, have the strength to write out my life plan and put things in order of importance. I was listening to one of my books this morning and Lysa Terkeurst was talking about writing in a journal, or making a plan so we’re better focused on accomplishing things to get us to where the Universe is leading us. We can’t be so dogmatic and never deviate from the plan, after all, life throws us curve ball from time to time and that too may be God telling us we may be headed down the wrong path, therefore, paying attention to signs could yield good results.

Difficult days are a reality for all of us at one time or another. We just need to be open to finding ways to cope and deal. For me, reflecting on the little things tends to help. Not every day, but most days. I do enjoy the smell of coffee in the morning, I love the feel of the sun and how it looks when it reflects off the water. Sometimes, all I can do is, listen to music and know someday, I’ll be taking my guitar lessons. I allow myself to finally dream of having my book published. Oh, for as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to walk into Barnes and Nobel and see my book on the shelf. Dreams do come true and I’m holding onto my dream.

How do you deal with difficult days? However you cope, I pray that you find peace at the end of each day. I pray your difficulties lessen along the way and please remember, you are so worthy to have a blessed and happy life.

Well guys, I need to rest for a bit, but I promise to blog again, real soon. Who knows, maybe you’ll hear from me again tomorrow. Until next time though, don’t forget, Love Life++