Feeling whiney?

[BlondGirl]

Even though I had the flu for the longest time and now have a cold (I was better for almost a week) and am again sleeping with the joys of codeinne and hacking up my lungs in the most unattractive-horse-death-sound imaginable, I am still trying to keep a positive attitude.

I keep reminding myself that as shitty as I feel and as depressed as I get, I am still not a refugee from Afganistan or the AIDS infected wife and mother of a family where every person has HIV and living in a poor slum in South Africa. I try to be thankful that my own problems are mine since I find them so managable.

Yesterday, I had a special patient. I will call her Suzy. Suzy came in for some pain she was having. While there with me in my office, she talked a bit about her kids and past. She talked about how the OB told her while she was in labor with her youngest that time was money and she was wasting both and he was going to section her. She left the hospital after that when her baby was 3 months old. The doctor made house calls to her to help her with her IV's and such. He goofed and cut into her intestines and she got that oh-so-lovely infection. Of course, when she was able to know what was going on, she learned that she was the lucky recipient of a colon resection. (Meaning she will have problems shitting for the rest of her life. She now centers her life aound it and will never be able to work outside her home.)
Suzy has two older children. Both of them have cancer.
And now she has a problem with a completely separate section of her body.
She told me that every time someone whines about their problems in front of her, that she simply states the facts of hers. I am impressed. She uses her sufferring to enlighten others.

I wanted so much to give her a hug, but figured that she would not want my germs. I am considering sending her an anonymous card telling her what an impact she has on others and thanking her for exhibiting the grace that she does.

Of course, her soft-spoken descriptions made me all the more grateful that this bug is all I really have to worry about when it comes to my current comfort level.

I am curious about the thoughts that my other fellow Literoticans use to keep their attitudes in proper perspective. Anybody care to share?

 

[Chuckus]

I think about some of the friends and family members that I have lost in my life and remember that life is just too short. When someone you know is with you one day, then dead the next........perspective becomes a non problem.

I guess I just remember that no matter how bad it may seem, it could always be worse. If I feel like "I can't do this" or "I can't do that" it sometimes helps when I remember one of my childhood friends who died never had the chance. Not a chance. His life was ripped away from him. I also think about my friends who died for our country. Their families will never have their brother, son, husband or dad around.

It could always be worse and I am thankful for everything I have and have the ability to do and feel and touch and hear.

 

[TigerClaw]

I am afraid I did not handle my difficult times as well.

I do have to Thank GOD for my life now. I am enjoying life. I have a good full time job with real potential for the future. I have a part time job that also has real potential for the future. I have a hobby that also has some great potential for the future. On top of all that I have met a woman who I love deeply and also has a great potential for the future. lol.

But it was not always so.

It seemed like life was against me from the start. I had many an accounting job with good potential. But never seemed to get anywhere. Give us a hundred and twenty percent for a 2 percent raise. Raises were always poor. The excuses, it was a bad year, the investors are looking for a good return on their money, it is the end of year no money is left in the budget, etc. I hunted for companies that had good benefits for them to slash the benefits by the time I became elligible. Finally I wised up and smelled the coffee. There was no rewards for doing a good job.

I changed careers. Nearly went bankrupt. Worked 3 jobs to just barely pay the bills. Knowing I was better then this yet not making it was very difficult. Luckily, I met a man who gave me a chance at a decent paying job. He got me back up on my feet. He was like a Father to me, backing me in my profession and schooling. He never asked or expected anything in return.

I went to the best school for computer programming and graduated with High grades. If it were not for his help I dont know where I would be today. Those were the worst 10 years of my life that I have no desire to relive. But recently I have heard people tell me of events that they have lived through and coped better then I.

Although, I would never want to relive those years I learned alot. If by chance I would have to relive them I would handle it better then I did then. Hopefully with the grace you expressed and the grace some others have expressed about there lives.

 

[alexandraaah]

I think you should send the card...and sign it. Nothing to uplift someone like the admiration of an obviously admirable person.
Thanks for giving me perspective when I was just grumbling about homework and a toothache. (talk about petty!)

 

[BlondGirl]

I think you should send the card...and sign it. Nothing to uplift someone like the admiration of an obviously admirable person.

Thanks. I think I will send the card. But I won't sign it. I never let others know when I am being "good". It takes some of the joy out of it for me. Calling attention to myself when I am trying to help others is counterproductive (speaking for me only here.)

Thanks for giving me perspective when I was just grumbling about homework and a toothache. (talk about petty!)

Wasn't it Shakespeare who stated that it is very difficult to be a philosopher when one has a toothache? Go do your homework with the knowledge that it will make goofing off that much sweeter when you are living the "good life" after school is long past.

 

[BlondGirl]

an obviously admirable person.

Oh yeah--and thank you mucho for stroking my ego.
iMuchas gracias amiga!

 

[alexandraaah]

Wasn't it Shakespeare who stated that it is very difficult to be a philosopher when one has a toothache? Go do your homework with the knowledge that it will make goofing off that much sweeter when you are living the "good life" after school is long past.

Ah yes, BlondGirl, how right you are...I should really start a thread titled, "Please someone, shut off my computer and force me to do my homework!" But then, I'd spend too much time reading the responses...anyhow, keep this thread afloat, it's a good one.

 

[BlondGirl]

Alex,
Did you ever get any studying done?
~~~~~~
Tiger and Chuck,
Thanks for the contributions. I am always looking for things to help me keep my shit together.

 

[alexandraaah]

Alex,
Did you ever get any studying done?
~~~~~~
Tiger and Chuck,
Thanks for the contributions. I am always looking for things to help me keep my shit together.

ummm...uh huh, a bit. i'm actually at school right now in the lab. seems i did really well on the last test and got here early in fear i'd have to schmooze my professor. such is not the case and i've got time to bide. however, it's pretty safe to assume that, wherever i am, i should be studying. even now; complaisancy tends to lower my gpa. thanks for wondering.

 

[Chuckus]

Alex,
Did you ever get any studying done?
~~~~~~
Tiger and Chuck,
Thanks for the contributions. I am always looking for things to help me keep my shit together.

No problem BlondGirl...........it is really easy for me to put things in perspective. I just think back a wee little bit and then it comes rushing back how trivial and inconsequential my squabbles are. Things fall into perspective really easily.

Anytime I can shed my experience to help another, I am all for it.