The Big Chill

This morning there’s a big chill is in the Northeastern part of the country but here in the Deep South it's not too bad. But for a lifelong Southerner such as myself, anything under 450 f is cold. I suppose the good news is since Easter is early this year, warm weather shouldn’t be too far away.

At the moment I'm feeling pretty good. I’ve been pretty busy fixing sinks and doing errands around the house. For me one of the things that show up with my anxiety/panic disorder is a total lack of motivation. You know how it is you just want to hide under the covers and not face the day. One of the things I’ve learned is in order to overcome panic is to first find in yourself the willingness to want to get better. I suppose that’s easy enough a statement to make, but really it is true.

Lord knows, I am no poster child for overcoming panic; I still have my days when I just lay in bed and not leave the house. Sometimes it even gets to the point that my safe haven (my office) can actually overwhelm me. Still I believe one of my keys to the success has been my stubborn desire to get better. Now I'm sure everyone reading this would say the same thing, how can anyone get better from anything if they don’t want to?  

The key is every time you take a step backwards; you have to dust yourself off and take another step forward. Looks simple doesn't it? But believe me it isn’t.  I've stepped backwards way more than I have forwards. The key comes in your ability to get up and keep going. Another lesson I learned is, training your mind and heart to love yourself, despite yourself. Habits like self-hatred and self-loathing will never help you win, their desire to make sure you fail.


So in closing remember, no one has gone so far that they can't found their way home. Despite how you may feel at the moment you are somebody worthy of love, someone who is worthy of your own love. If you can’t learn to love the person within your own skin, how are you ever gonna learn to love someone else? Love and forgiveness are two keys to digging yourself out of the shadows and back into the light of life.

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