You take the bad, you take the good
Is mental therapy good for you? I mean personal mental therapy, activities you do to steer you away from negative thoughts. For instance, in the time of this pandemic, a lot of negativism has been floating around. I’ve had trouble with it. I’d rather be positive, but the news is full of all manner of negative things. With millions getting sick and thousands dying here in the U.S., it’s difficult to find good happenings. Watching people talk about how their loved ones have suffered and died, sobbing their sorrow, is just heart wrenching to me, so I’ve decided to make a couple of lists as a self-therapeutic means of having a better mental attitude. Things that annoy me: ♦ Trump…and that’s all I’m mentioning about him. He’ll be out of the picture soon.
♦ People not wearing masks. What does it take to get people to wear masks? It has been proven over and over that masks are the number one activity people can do to help stem the spread of this virus. It’s not difficult.
♦ People who complain about having to wear a mask. Come on, y’all! I have a friend who has been battling cancer for some time. Her lung capacity is half what it was. She’s still working and she wears a mask every single day. I haven’t heard her complain. Maybe those of you who want to say you just can’t breathe wearing a mask should get over yourselves. You’re stronger than that.
♦ People who believe this pandemic is a hoax. Really??? Tell that to the families who have lost loved ones. So far, 281,000 people as of Dec. 6, 2020 have died of COVID-19 in the United States. In Georgia there have been 481,000 cases with 9,506 deaths so far. In Gordon County, there have been 3,704 cases with 60 deaths. I daresay, by the time you read this, these numbers will have gone up. Come on people, keep up with what’s happening.
♦ People who have latched on to QAnon and other conspiracy theories. Good gracious, surely you are smarter than that. It’s just plain ridiculous to believe this totally unbelievable stuff. I’ve mentioned this before. These particular theories are not based on truth, just conjecture.
Things that make me happy:
♦ Seeing my family, whether it’s in person (not much during this pandemic), on Facetime, Zoom or some other means.
♦ Looking at photographs from days gone by. This is such good therapy for me. I love to look at old pictures from years ago when I was a kid. Some of my favorites are at Christmas. It gives me a good laugh. On Christmas morning, I always had stringy uncombed hair and the look of sleep still in my eyes, but I’m so excited! And our kids and then grandkids have that same look. We did not dress up and look all perfect on Christmas morning before we opened gifts. No, we did not tear into gifts before our parents joined us either, nor did our kids. Daddy, and later Bill with our kids, handed out the gifts and we took turns opening them. One of my favorite pictures at Christmas is when Hayden was around 11 or 12 and he has his hands clasped in the air as he’s grinning big time and saying, “Yes!” I’m not sure what he got, but he was really happy about it!
♦ Taking a drive on a pretty day just to get out of the house for a while. I do the driving these days and Bill is pretty comfortable until I notice something off to the left or right and start absent mindedly driving toward it. He gets a wee bit concerned about me doing that.
♦ Getting up and putting on my favorite jeans, a plain old comfortable shirt, comfortable shoes, no make-up and going about my business of feeding our furry family members, taking little Tippy (Doodle) out for her morning constitutional, and then fixing breakfast. Whoever gets up first makes the coffee, usually Bill. Breakfast is nothing elaborate, usually an English muffin for Bill and oatmeal for me. Sometimes I get fancy and put a couple of Eggo Waffles in the toaster and microwave some bacon. If I’m really industrious, I will whip up some from scratch biscuits, maybe some grits, sausage and gravy, and me an egg. Bill would rather eat anything other than an egg.
♦ Writing and reading give me happiness. Usually every morning, I write my “Random Thoughts” on Facebook. I’ve been reading “Clanlands” by Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish. I sing, dance, laugh and love like mean it. In other words, I prefer to stay with the happy!