This past week couldn’t have been worse if Satan handcrafted the week himself. Let’s just take stock of the things that happened, you know, for the heck of it.
- Uncle passed away.
- Brother broke into my house and stole my debit card.
- Brother depleted said account to the whopping balance of $.68.
- Can’t access the money in my bank account until I get a new debit card via my bank which is going to be like a million days.
- Had to press charges on my brother.
- Fell up the front steps to my house (again). Might have sprained ankle.
- Tooth pain is excruciating at times. Had to push my oral
sexsurgery back to August 5th. - Got my tax bill in the mail from the IRS. $1400 MORE than what I already paid.
- Godmother passed away.
- Got 0% of the jobs that I applied for.
- No word back from another opportunity I was banking on.
Now that all of that is taken care of, can I just say that I had one of the best weeks of my life? Are you asking yourself what kind of crack I’m smoking? I know, me too.
Despite all of the difficult, nearly impossible hands that I was dealt this past week, I played my cards in the best way that I was able to, and I came out on top. How optimistic of the clinically pessimistic girl. I even whipped out some pink this week and wore it. (It wasn’t on Wednesday though, sorry girls.)
Maybe it’s the final week of my @stratejoy guest blogging internship emotions, or my weekly trips to therapy, or my newfound love for dreaming of my future, but the little things that I typically do as coping mechanisms are actually becoming habit.
One of the things that I have found helpful to whip out in a stressful situation is the Positive Self Talk or as I like to call it, “The Corny Grateful Walk“. The “Corny” part is mostly because I was told to do this in the morning, and it was very difficult to do at first. So, I called it many things. Corny was the most suitable for the internets.
It was a technique introduced to my by my therapist and the whole idea is that whenever you’re feeling down and out, to start naming things that you’re thankful for. My mornings have always tended to be my rough times. I was starting not to roll out of bed until noon. Instead, I started setting my alarm for 10, and when I want to hit the snooze, I force myself up and start naming things that I am grateful for. Sometimes it’s “I’m grateful that I don’t have any pressing health issues”, or “I’m grateful for my friends”, or even “I’m grateful that Dunkin’ Donuts is only a short walk away.” As long as it’s something positive to challenge that Negative Nellie in my head.
As cheesy, corny, and down right difficult it was to tell Negative Nellie to shut up (in the awesome words of Molly Hoyne @ Stratejoy), I did it. And eventually, Negative Nellie shut up on her own without my having to challenge her as often.
Not only have my coping mechanisms become healthy habits, but even the little goals that I set for myself are coming into play. I’ve cracked down on school, and I’ll be graduating in early September (provided my books ship soon). I’ve naturally phased out toxic relationships. I’m staying organized. I’m budgeting. I’m not just setting goals, I’m creating a proactive action plan to achieve them. What’s a goal without a plan? It’s like steak without sour cream. And that’s bad.
Did I mention that I cut alcohol and red meat out of my diet? No? HUGE step with the red meat. If you know me, you know that I thrive on steak. It’s been since Memorial Day weekend that I’ve had red meat and I don’t intend on going back.
Talk about a complete life makeover.
The puzzle that is life isn’t solved for me yet. I don’t know that I ever want it to be solved…where would I go from there? But for intents and purposes, I have the framework built; a plan in place. Now I just have to fill the middle with all of the good stuff.
Holy crap, how optimistic was this freakin’ post? WHO AM I? Is my blog sparkling like Edward Cullen yet? If it does, slap my ass and call me Susan. Actually can you do that anyway?
Wait, what?
Some habits never die.
[Photo: dotbenjamin]
