Monday, March 16, 2015

Making A List & Checking It Twice


I sat down this weekend and made a list of all of the things on my mind. I had so much going on and was so stressed out I could hardly think let alone attempt to write anything substantial. Start simple, write it out item by item and then go through and find a way to fix each thing. Then every worry will be taken care of and there will be no other choice left except to live life. So, let's go.
1. Work - Investigation
There's nothing I can do now. I told the truth and that is that. I did the right thing. Besides, sitting around now and worrying about it won't help or change anything. So I just have to keep going, at work and at home, and not think about it. No matter how hard it may be. I have to. It's the only way to save my sanity.
2. Work - Licensing
Two days down and only one day left. That first day the woman got a little stern with me, raising her voice to tell me not to interrupt her and when I apologized saying it again even louder. Oh my god, I was horrified. I couldn't believe it. For days afterward I was still upset about it, afraid she would write something about it in her report or mention it to the director above us. It's been driving me crazy. But the second day she was much calmer and nicer. I answered all her questions to her satisfaction. Whether it was what she wanted to hear or not I do not know. All I can do is relax tomorrow and make sure everything is in order in the charts for Tuesday. I've done all the work the way I was supposed and when I was supposed to and it's all filed in the charts. I just have to breathe and relax and keep a cool head. I can do that. The more I stress out now and worry the more likely I am going to be to screw up. Relax, breathe, forget about it and focus on what I'm doing right now.
3. Two Car Accidents
Well, what can I even say about this? The first small one that caused hardly any damage is pending as the owner said he was going to get a quote to fix it himself so we could just get it done. I am waiting to see how much that is going to cost now, dreading it more like it. I seriously can't afford anything over maybe a couple hundred dollars. What am I going to do? I don't have enough to pay off my credit card bills. The second one is going through the insurance and the only thing I have to worry about there is phone calls wanting details, having to get a quote on my truck and paying the deductible if I want (which I won't) and just waiting for the inevitable rise in insurance rates again. Because I didn't get a ticket or anything I don't see how it could get anything on my license but I guess I will see. Again, what am I going to do now anyway?
4. Bills & Credit Cards & Debt & Savings
Bills will get paid on time even if things are tight, they always are on time with no troubles except my own worry. I have help if I get myself into a desperate enough situation to warrant it. Credit cards will just have to take payment after payment of the minimum and sometimes a little more. It feels like I am never getting ahead but all I am going to do is keep paying and not using it and see what I can accomplish. My debt is there whether I want it or not and just like the credit cards they will get paid in time. I have some in my savings now, if I want more then I just need to cut back on other things and instead place that money in my savings account. It's all up to me to just do it if I want it done.
5. Health & Healthcare
I have two diseases but I am doing well,  I take my meds and I cope with things. I take it day by day. Sometimes even making it to the lab at Kaiser enough time before my doctor's appointment to get my blood results back is too much for me to take on. My partner sees that and he really steps up and helps me when I feel lost and confused and anxious. I have him to lean on to help me with this burden, it is not just mine to deal with on my own. I do also have my family who love and support me.
6. Learning to be myself in my relationship, and making us both happy
Stop thinking, just do it. The more you think about it the more you are going to screw it up.
7. Learning to be joyful when the world turns to ash
Isn't that why I am doing this? Making myself focus on the joyful and positive in life. Today I have just taken it literally moment by moment with the help of my partner through text messages. Without him to help me pace myself I would have been too overwhelmed to make it through more than a few hours. I wasn't going to fall apart, I'm not going to. I used the help I had and will have. He is my guardian angel.
I could feel everything brooding and swirling in the back of my mind all day but I had to just ignore it. Acknowledge that it is there, there is no point in wasting energy pretending something isn't there when it is. Then just push it back, put a blanket over it and watch it out of the corner of your eye. I forced myself to focus on exactly what I was doing and look, I made it through. After work we went on another two-and-a-half mile hike at the Sepulveda Dam Basin & Wildlife Refuge. I absolutely love it there, it's beautiful and it feels like you have left Los Angeles and have been transported to a beautiful sprawling forested area with lakes and wild flowers and bushes of every kind, each teeming with life. Walking along the ridge of the dam I was trying to get myself to stop being so stressed and upset. All of a sudden it hit me so hard I felt like an idiot. Just like I've said, joy means accepting the bad in life and working to focus on and spreading the good. That was what I needed to do; I had the answer the whole time. I began to think about each thing I was worried about and in my head I literally turned the image around and tried to see how I had been reacting negatively and how to look at it in another light. It can be hard, it always will be. That's how life is and there is nothing we can do about it. Just keep those reminders to stay joyful, to look at the silver linings and not to get lost in all the clutter and static. Do it for yourself, you'll thank yourself later.
So take everything that's troubling you and write it down, make a list. Do it right now, it shouldn't take too long. When you are done go back through the list item by item and think about why these things are bothering you and how you are causing your own misery by giving yourself nothing but the negative to live with. Look at each worry on that list and think about the good that is there as well or how you can't change it but you can cause it to go better by choosing to respond with a positive attitude and a willingness to learn and grow. Make your list, check it twice; if you can't find a positive way to deal with anything on that list ask for some help, some ideas. We are all in this together. 

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