Author: Rebecca

I had a serious crash-and-burn depressive episode this past week, like I haven’t had in some years, and in the aftermath I’ve been taking stock, trying to figure out what caused it and, therefore, how to avoid its like in future.

And I realized that this is a large part, maybe the largest part, of the problem: I have been doing the same thing I did for most of my working life: taking on more and more of what I know I’m good at in order to make enough money to do what I really want to do ~ because there’s a paycheck attached to the first one. Continue reading “Second Verse, Same As the First . . . uh, no”

I suddenly realized the other day why my mama always used to say “pray and ask the Lord to give you peace about it” or “you should be in church.” They weren’t just pat answers, given just because she was a Christian and regularly went to church. That was her advice, which I didn’t, at the time, have the patience for even though I tried because she asked me to. Those were her answers ~ because those things worked for her.

I find myself doing the same thing with my kids in times of distress or trouble. I tell them “choose the outcome that you want from this situation, believe in the reality of that outcome, do everything that you can possibly do to ensure that outcome, but then be patient and believe.” I advise them to continue believing and to return to that belief every time the fear and worry thoughts that we’re all subject to come up. Reiterate that the outcome you’ve chosen is what will come about. Continue reading “Sing Unto the Lord a New Song”

Some days it’s really hard to keep going, to not give in to the sadness or unfairness of life. Even for someone like me who really believes that people aren’t generally bad or doing what they do to deliberately hurt others. It’s especially hard to see people you love hurt when there’s nothing you can do about it. When they’ve been treated unfairly and you don’t know how to help them. When it’s someone you love, it hurts more than if it had happened to you.

The only thing I know to do in these situations is to batten down and weather, to wait twenty-four hours, to just breathe, even when it hurts just to breathe. That’s what I’m doing today ~ and then I remembered this note-to-self list I wrote a while back, under similar circumstances. Continue reading “9 Things to do when you don’t know what to do”