It was the summer of 1981 and my first serious… real…. job! A hard company to get an interview with and even harder to get hired. I did it! I got the job and was on top of the world. That was… until I met my direct supervisor. A mean and nasty perfectionist that found fault in everything, I mean everything I did. One day he even criticized me for the way I smiled. Every day, all day it was one criticism after another. I lasted two weeks and during that time I was a real mess. I didn’t sleep at night, I stopped eating, I found myself visiting the bathroom often to get sick,
Finding Balance and Peace in Daily Living “We must make the choices that enable us to fulfill the deepest capacities of our real selves.” – Thomas Merton
Should I wear a mask? Should I take the summer trip out of state? Should I send my children to school in the fall? Should I take my child to daycare? What about going out to dinner….is it safe? My spouse and I disagree about so many issues right now… I am frustrated most days. My friends are at odds on what to believe, and I’m not sure either. The news media releases new information daily as science and the medical industry wavers back and forth.
“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.”
-Serenity Prayer
Held hostage by one of those days, weeks, or seasons in your life?
You know the kind where issue after issue challenge after challenge keeps flowing into your life like a huge waterfall and the old cliché “When it rains it pours” makes more sense than you would like it to?
For the last two weeks I have had one technical challenge after another in my daily work life.
“Encourage one another & build each other up” 1 Thessalonians 5:11 Ahh the summer heat! The rising numbers of Covid-19 cases and uncertainties of feeling unprotected from contracting “the virus.” The day to day reporting of violence and hate taking place in our own country. Job loss/changes. Social distancing. Wearing a mask. What do all these ingredients have in common? If you guessed an effect on relationships, you are absolutely right!
Hopefully you have been coping pretty well over the last several months but what about the times when you’ve had a difficult day and you find yourself using words that hurt or make loved ones feel less than?
“Give yourself permission to be happy. It doesn’t matter what’s going on around you, what matters is what’s going on inside of you.” –Hal Elrod
The other day the rain started early in the morning and continued hour after hour. Most of the day Sophie, one of my Golden Retrievers, laid patiently looking out the window waiting for the rain to let up so she could dash out quickly and take care of her essential needs 😉. What a long rainy day it was.
Finally, after dinner the sky began to clear, and the rain appeared to have stopped. Sophie had waited all day for this moment. She ran to the hook where her harness and leash hung and gave her harness a nudge with her nose until it jingled.
