WHERE ARE YOU? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 135

Do you ever have times when you wish you could just be somewhere else?  Anywhere else?  I think we all experience feelings like that at some point in our lives.  There can be any number of reasons why we may wish to be elsewhere.  Most of us don't act on that wish, but there are some who do.

I remember when I was growing up hearing my parents talk about the son of their friends.  He went out to get a newspaper and never came back.  For over 20 years they never knew what had happened to him or if he was still alive.  Then one day out of the blue he came back home.  I always wondered how they really felt when he appeared after so many years.  Were they thrilled to see him and have him back safe and sound? Were they angry for the worry and grief they felt all those years?

For people who are in abusive relationships or marriages, they have every right to leave and should get themselves out of harm's way.  For others who are safe but just bored or tired of responsibility they should find the solution to their problems and live up to their responsibilities.

My opinion is that strong people stay where they need to be, and weak people leave with no thought of the sorrow, anxiety, and never-ending sense of loss they cause people who love them.  When I hear children speak of fathers (or mothers) who abandoned them, it is heart-wrenching because some of these children think they were not loved.  Even sadder are the ones who believed they were loved and cannot understand how a parent could leave them without a word, not provide support for them, and never see them again.  I think that is reprehensible in every sense of the word.

No matter what the day brings, no matter what the problems you may face, tell yourself

I NEED TO BE HERE!

ARE YOU EASILY UPSET? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 127

When I was young having butterflies in my stomach was a common occurrence.  If something happy was going to be happening like a special holiday, a birthday, or a dance I had butterflies.  If I had a major test I had butterflies that day.  When I was grown up if I worked for a cranky boss I had butterflies, if my husband and I had a disagreement I had butterflies, if one of my children became ill I had butterflies, and the night before I had any of my many surgeries I had butterflies.  Of course, the butterflies were just another word for anxiety.

While all of us have anxiety at times, if it happens too often then it is not a healthy situation.  Anxiety can cause or exacerbate stress, and we already live in a world with enough stress for all of us.  I have a friend who became an alcoholic at a young age, but he has now been sober for 30 years.  He said one of the things that helped him get over the anxiety that propelled him into drinking too much was the Serenity Prayer which he learned while attending AA meetings.  If you are not familiar with it, the words are:

                               God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
                               the courage to change the things I can,
                               and the wisdom to know the difference.

Even if you are not a believer, the philosophy of those words can help relieve your anxiety and keep you from becoming easily upset.  If you think about what is causing you to be anxious or upset, ask yourself if there is anything you can do about it.  If there is, then do it.  If there is not, then let it go, and it will either resolve itself or it will not.   Remember to breathe (we all have a tendency to hold our breaths when we are struggling with problems), and take deep breaths which will help lower your level of anxiety.

The best thing you can do is:

STAY CALM

HOW FAST ARE YOU TRYING TO GO? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 79

Are you an impatient type?  When you were a child were you always anxiously awaiting the first day of school, the first day of summer vacation, your birthday, Halloween, Hanukkah, or Christmas?  I was like that when I was growing up and even after I had children of my own.  Then something happened in my life which caused me to be so anxious about what might happen in the future that I found I was making myself physically sick with anxiety.

Friends and even my family doctor gave me all sorts of advice and helpful quotes trying to lessen my anxiety about the future.  The two which I found most helpful were:

Don't worry about the morrow as today has enough trouble of its own.  Matthew 6:34

Life is going to come only one day at a time so learn to take it that way; remember that much if not most of what you worry about will never happen.

Today's message is:

DAY BY DAY

ARE YOU A CONTROLLING PERSON? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 43

A number of years ago I had to face the facts that not only was I a co-dependent person but also turning into a control freak.  I read somewhere that the more out of control our lives become the more we try to control everyone and everything around us.  Over time I learned that the only person you can change is yourself and that, in truth, there is very little one can control in life.  Life is going to happen to us and the people we love no matter what.

I have had a wonderful friend for 52+ years who has now been sober 28 years.  He finally had to decide to change himself for himself and not for anyone else, and he was very successful after a few false starts.  He taught me this prayer which they say in all meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

the courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference.

Even if you are not a believer , this is great advice filled with words to live by.  Thinking this way has helped me to go through many, many things and relieved me of so much stress and anxiety.  

So if there are things or relationships in your life that you want to change and you can, then go for it.  However, if there are things or relationships you cannot change then follow today's message which is:

LET IT BE!

When Do We The People Get To Give A Vote Of "No Confidence" In Our Leaders?

My on-line business is a shop selling handmade clothing and accessories for babies and toddlers.  My blog
originally began as a place where I intended to write about topics pertaining to children and parenting.
Although I still plan on writing those types of posts, today I am overwhelmed with feelings of anger, anxiety, and sorrow at the things that are happening in our country and our world.  Therefore, I feel compelled to list them if for no other reason than to vent my feelings.

Liars.............cheaters...................lawbreakers.................murderers.............thieves..............immoral slobs...........child abusers..............scam artists...............kidnappers...............thugs................gang members thinking they are true men..............lack of respect for anything or anyone...............loss of honor and pride..............sexual assaults in the military.................illegal aliens..................lack of border security ...........drug trafficking .....................war mongers..............dictators..............natural disasters.......... poverty.............terrible education system.......... terrible teachers ........... greed............ corruption...........lust for power at all costs.............Obamacare..............lack of clean water ............ starvation ............... genocide..............tax evasion........... excessive taxation............failed foreign policy........... Benghazi cover-up............IRS illegal tactics...........inarticulate, uneducated  society using only F bombs and other 4-letter words...............sociopaths...........narcissists...........sex offenders.............voter fraud...........entitlement fraud.........loss of pride.............teachers having sex with students......... discrimination.............anti-Christian attitudes............failure to acknowledge those that hate us and want to kill us............political correctness that has weakened us and ruined our once great country...............so-called journalists who have no compunction about lying and failing to write just the facts...............talking heads that just blather on and on when we really only want the facts and not their opinions which are many times based on untruths..................overspending... .increasing national debt.......inability for the government to solve ANYTHING.............government growing too big and too incompetent..............no one to believe anymore in government, media, society.............. unemployment staggering........families struggling............. fixed income elderly struggling............homeless population increasing...........hatred............ prejudice..... ........... students taught revised history...............ignorance among voters...........nanny state growing

Just listing all of these things in a blog post does not change any of them................but by listing all of these things and realizing there are many more which I have not listed, I know why I am overwhelmed by my feelings of anger, anxiety, and sorrow.  How can anyone read this list and think that things are going just great in America?

When will we finally give our government a vote of "No Confidence" and replace every one of the 542 people leading us down paths where we should not go and do not want to go?  No one is going to come and save us.  We must stand up and be counted and save ourselves, our children, our grandchildren, and our once great nation.  The only way we can do this is to NEVER again vote for any incumbent in any office whether city, county, state, or national.  We need to clean house or we are all going to regret it as things can and will continue to get worse and there will be a point of no return which is currently in our line of sight if we are truthful.