Tag: Living

Journey of Personal Mental Health

FeaturedJourney of Personal Mental Health

Journey of Personal Mental Health striving to gain upward momentum out of my stall that my Anxiety and Depression have distracted. Mental Health is so filled with dips that the highs seem so few and far between and not worth the effort of patching life’s current or past potholes. Restoring to me is seeing a mental health professional, personal physician, adjusting individual behavior or habits that have worked, or the present buzz word ‘self-care. Currently, my mental health pit seems insurmountable. Unsure of just a shift or an accumulation of goals that did not come to fruition on schedule, dietary need, or my depression is flaring up for no specific reason. Probably a combination of all.  

Daily life seems so overwhelming between listening and being part of the world as a whole by listening to the news during this time of political transition and change from pandemic lockdown to limited free choice. We are all going through this at different levels and perceptions. For me, life is going to be a continued minimal viewing of the media. In a big world, perspective is how to live well when our media and politicians seem to squabble like children about decisions that either will impact us or only a tiny portion of society. I have mentioned that I often struggle with finding a balance between being aware of the world and not becoming overwhelmed. I am still happy just sticking with reading the Morning Brew and periodically checking headlines on Bing. I am still trying to remember to work through my interaction with the media. The low aspect of my mental health and continuing my personal choice to go simple on my life intersect with the larger country and world picture. I am adjusting to figure out what triggered my digging or exacerbate the downward movement that my mental health keeps digging with no end in sight.

For May, any time off is spent sleeping, which is not like me. From April to Present, I went from working 70 hours a week to 60 hours a week. With that thought, I should not be sleeping. I have more time in my day. In looking back, though, I had to accept that I had many changes take place in the last three months. March 2020 began the confrontational discussion in a society of how the Covid pandemic should happen. Personally, since July of 2020, I have been working two jobs, one home health with two clients and one job as a supermarket cashier and stock person. At the end of 2020, one of the clients I had passed away, which left me caring for one person and still working as a cashier and then training to be a key holder to a team lead, then department manager with the goal of store manager. Since the beginning of 2021, my body has progressively increased in problems. At random times, fifty percent of the day, fingers numb/pins and needles (feel like they are asleep) and arms from the shoulders down; before, panic did check my heart.

With that increase in health and back pain, I had to give up pursuing store management in the retail industry due to the physical nature of retail, the sector that a store manager is required to do as much physical work as those they lead. That said, that saw me leaving the retail, service, and restaurant, industry that I have worked in the last twenty plus years of my life and my employment career goal. The intention is also to leave the home health industry due to the physical and emotional demands of the job. Like retail, this industry is challenging to find employees for, so I am still working full time, intending to move to a part-time or on-call for one client once more staff are found. Everyone deserves to know that they have people that will help when needed.  

Continuing this review of May is realizing that my daughter is struggling with graduating high school and her journey of depression. With this, I found my pride had come into play and felt that I had failed her. Spending time striving to accept and supporting her journey through life with depression is more important than saying I had a child who graduated from high school the ‘normal’ way. Choosing to be happy, she will live well with what brings her joy; there are other ways to achieve that supposed necessary high school diploma. All are weighing my anxiety and depression, reinforcing that I fail because I left retail and was an unsuccessful mom. Still plan to replace the customer service work with travel agent work that has not happened yet; due to my need to be there for my client, as a home health aide is not feasible.  Feasability to do a fantastic job in both industries that need I high level of attention to detail. All these components have triggered my depression to the extent that the feeling of failure has made it difficult to bring myself out. However, I am starting to make progress. The below video from Adam Savage Tested assisted me in striving to think about moving forward and making changes to patch the pothole that I have found myself in. Need to adjust meds and strive to continue to accommodate food, vitamins, and goals.

Adam Savage’s Tested – “Ask Adam Savage: Coping With (and Learning From) Failure May 16, 2021

I know that it is not about depression but since I feel like a failure exacerbated by my depression. Adam’s video helped me acknowledge that feeling and having loss is a part of life. Mistakes made; success is accepting and learning from that. Mental health makes failure feel worse, but success is in acknowledging what happened and how to make changes to strive not to repeat and change habits or behaviors to learn from the ‘failure.’ Acknowledging the failure and realizing that the success is moving forward. Even if you revisit the loss, success is to keep getting up and returning to life’s journey.

I am looking forward to returning to the path of food search. I enjoyed the previous video (UC Davis Health – Brain Foods for Brain Health – Boost Brain Health with Good Eats) about food and health but a little bit more in-depth than my current place to work with since I have bottomed out. I will consider another information source since I am currently at a point of apathy and minimal concentration. That is, reviewing that deep dive will probably keep me stuck instead of moving up; it brings forth the thought of the new buzzword in mainstream media, “self-care .”

Self-care brings images of selfishness and narcissism nevermind I do not have the time for hours of meditation and exercise, never mind the desire to. So I did some research to find out what self-care is from a health and psychology level. One-piece I found on verywellmind.com had 5 Self-Care Practices for Every Area of Your Life by Elizabeth Scott, MS, from 2020. Another was from Psychology Today titled Self Care 101 by Marie Baratta Ph.D., L.C.S.W. written in 2018. Another place I went to, which is always my first go when I search out simple answers to start my journey of self-improvement, is Mayo Clinic. Unfortunately, I did not find anything explicitly titled Self Care unless it was attached to other illnesses.

Finding self-care instructions geared toward specific illnesses got me shifting my idea of self-care as a level of selfishness started transitioning toward self-care, which I have always strived to do but stop short. After all, I am always putting others first because I think it is selfish to think of myself when others are hurting. Looking over my past and what I have currently read, I cannot care for others, bringing me joy. Therefore, I do not take care of myself. Unsure of why I never connected that I have strived for self-care in all my years of adulthood. 

Great I have acknowledged self-care is okay, but how do I keep implementing when I am currently wallowing in a pit of self-perceived failure—going to start with the list of 5 from Ms. Scott since thinking straight is difficult. The definition of Self-Care in this article is, Self-care describes a conscious act one takes to promote their physical, mental, and emotional health. There are many forms self-care may take. For example, it could be ensuring you get enough sleep every night or stepping outside for a few minutes for some fresh air.

 Another piece of the article that struck me was that I was on the right track now that I understood the building-resilience when faced with aspects of life you cannot change but still thrive. Ms. Scott’s five areas that create or maximize the best self-care are looking at Physical, Social, Mental, Spiritual, and Emotional.

She had the four questions (see article for the total question) condensed to adequate sleep, diet, awareness of health, exercise.   

Let’s review the personal breakdown: sleep is not an aspect I can fix until the client (quadriplegic and I have 80% of the care needs) gets more help. For those who care, my day starts at 5:30 am and ends at midnight; work from Monday to Thursday is 8 am to 4 pm and goes back at 7 pm, and finishes at 11 pm. For the most part, Friday is a day off to catch up on sleep and house chores. Saturday is 8 am to 1 pm; Sunday is two hours at lunch and then back at 7 pm to 11 pm. For those who say change your hours, I cannot; as an individual, if I do not go over six sometimes seven days a week, this individual does have the physical ability to handle day-to-day physical care needs. The individual has an amazing mind. But getting up to get a drink just cause the individual wants to is not possible unless set up to do so. Emotionally, it would be worse knowing the selfish choice I was responsible to make, caused an individual not getting up and living their day to the best. We all deserve to live to the maxim of our capabilities and be supported to do so.  

Next in the question’s diet is something I can work on, which is a constant struggle due to no appetite. Over the years, but mainly in the last six months, I have gotten a routine that seems to help. It is just sticking to it. I have found that I am not hungry in the mornings, so I mix either a chocolate flavor or unflavored protein or meal supplement with my coffee. Lunch is something I pack. Dinner is whatever I cook for the family. I carry beef jerky, nuts, hydration water additives, and protein powder with me in my work bag for when I am hungry, and it is snack time. Additionally, I strive to drink 4 – 24 oz bottles of water, next on the hit parade of self-care.

Taking charge of health was initially a little confusing. Is that not what you are doing with sleep and diet? Then I thought this probably means my mental health or any physical medical needs, hypertension, thyroid, etc., which prompted me to use my Fit Bit app more and purchase a glucose and blood pressure machine. The glucose machine is that periodically I have tested slightly high during blood work, but also both parents were juvenile diabetics, so that is a constant fear of mine. Okay, for me, the next is my kryptonite.

Exercise ick to be immature. Employment has always been physically demanding, so I never thought I needed to. I was getting 10,000 to 15,000 steps in a work shift. So why did I need to exercise? Asthma made it difficult to find exercise appealing. I am fat, and my husband married me fat, so why bother ‘killing’ myself doing something I find painful or boring? Knowing none of those were good reasons and making better choices never really clicked. After all, my whole body is having problems because I did not exercise my body as a whole, just my legs and arms. That came from a visit with my chiropractor, where I mentioned the workpiece. What was said clicked for me? Yes, I exercise while working, but I am only exercising certain areas of the body. What I need to do is exercise the other aspects of my body. For some reason, that clicked when other times I never got the importance. So okay, I need to, but how do I fit this in. Starting small but also how. How is locating something online that makes sense and is an easy start? Below is what I found, and I plan to start July 11, 2021, and see if following this for a month was doable with my current life schedule and how and if it helped. If it does not it is on me not the presenter one must follow though to succeed, just watching.  He also presents in another video the math of the exercise routine if that interests you.

Mark Wildman – 3 Best Exercises for Overweight People 

From there, I intend to have it in my calendar to look at Number 2 on the self-care life by Ms. Scott. 

So there you have it the delay in my writing was from living in the bottom of a pothole of mental health goo of defeat and self-hatred. Honestly felt that I was stuck forever and living in my own La Brea Tar Pits. So it is nice to see the top edge of my pothole and again slowly fill in and re-root my life back to functioning and creative goals and enjoyment of life. As is the theme of my life, a blog life is a journey, and there are many potholes and paths our life can take. It is how we live with mental and physical health that defines our journey and interaction with those around us. So keeping journeying forward and patching in the potholes of self-discovery, it is worth finding the failures and successes. There is no actual failure, just a revamp toward a better success. 

Faith Journey

Below is a sermon by Tony Evans about not giving up that has also helped me realize that we all hit bottom but we have support and direction we just need to change our perception of the world around us and the interaction which is ever moving there will be lows and highs.  Goal is to move forward even during the lows.

When You Feel Like Giving Up – Sermon by Tony Evans uploaded November 13, 2016

Works Cited

5 Self-Care Practices for Every Area of Your Life, By Elizabeth Scott, MS  Medically reviewed by Steven Gans, MD Updated on August 03, 2020, https://www.verywellmind.com/self-care-strategies-overall-stress-reduction-3144729, 7/10/2021

Journey of Mother’s Day

FeaturedJourney of Mother’s Day

Over the years of writing my journey through Mother’s Day, I strive to be uplifting, but on a personal note, I just feel apathetic. Unsure if this apathy comes from my mental health or just where I am in my journey as a mom. Even though I am a mom it is not something that is celebrated in our home. The daughter is eighteen and has no place for me in her life unless she needs something. And my husband comes from the mindset that ‘you are not my mom’. Where am I on this journey?

Current journey on the subject of motherhood and Mother’s Day is that I will still keep striving to be a mom to my daughter even though I may never hear the words I love you or thank you. I feel pain and childishness even complaining because there are people in the world that do not have children and want them, have lost children, and so many more scenarios. With that and the decision to just live life caring for who I have around me and just not overthinking this apathy, I feel on this day of “celebration”. I leave you with these two videos of wishful thinking and acceptance that life is a journey that does not look the same as everyone else’s. The joy is finding peace on the side road that is Mother’s Day. Tomorrow is another day to live and move forward.

CBS Sunday Morning – Making Mom a Star 5-9-2021

Below is a video from 2015 but is what made me realize that all of our mom’s life journey is different. Celebrate where you are even if it may not look like another’s.

Home Free – Mom – (Mother’s Day) Home Free Cover – 4/29/2015

May this day find everyone well. 

Thank you to those who read and sorry for the delay it has been a long month. Mental Health is an ebb and flow of good days balanced with the bad.

Thoughts on Perception

FeaturedThoughts on Perception

I was thinking over personal Perception and Public Perception. As I have found, both aspects are from the contemplative mood when writing about my life Journey with Family and Employment—trying to find a good way around my work journey. Saw myself stating aloud, ‘I Hate my Brain,’ which moved me to think about all of the canceled culture’s arguments and how destructive. Why do I even consider the views? It is not an aspect of culture that impacts my life. On a trim level, due to the nature of the store I work in, we are set in an area of low-income individuals and families with different levels of substance abuse, physical health, and mental health that impact their interaction with others. Many co-workers perceive everyone as ‘druggies,’ ‘thieves, or ‘stupid.’ I strive to look at as individuals we all are in situations that were either by our own choices or placed in positions, not by our options. They are trying to live in this world the best they can. Each person has a story and struggles the best they can with the mental or physical health journey and their Perception of life journey.  

Just as in the following piece from CBS Sunday Morning, there is a reminder of the different histories and reactions to various artists’ cancel culture. Found this very contemplative in choosing to interact with those around me what I watch or see in a public place as an individual. Loretta Loss speaks of the two-edge sword of accountability and criticism, whereas Aruna DeSuza feels this level of responsibility is positive. Richard Kenya came with the Perception that knowing the creator’s background also gave context to their creative work. The piece came as a beautiful range of how all individuals look at life. So it is up to me how I take the context of the individual or situations around me in determining my Perception of interacting with life around me. All I can do is interact as best I can with the direct one-on-one and more comprehensive picture of life’s journey.

CBS Sunday Morning – Cancelled Culture: Reconsidering the art of controversial artists 3/28/2021

Perception of the larger picture of the world is aware and determines if it impacts your life; it does not, then do not worry about it, not a context you can fix. Does still leaves me on an interconnected level, to ‘Hating my Brain’ that comes from a deep level of physical and emotional pain during this current life journey. Employment acceptance outside the Perception of retail work is for stupid people took me a long time to accept that I enjoy retail and that instant quick gratification of helping an individual’s need. But between the retail and the home health, I physically, in the last two weeks, reached a point of not being able to do the work due to shift in the spine, pulled muscle, and pinched nerves. How do you move forward when you have a job you love that you had figured out how to transition to something similar but had a financial plan to work the new opportunity and retail for a little bit? After trying to leave the Home Health field, except only one other individual is caring for an individual who needs twenty-four-hour care. None of this seems to be working as planned. Which starts that downward spiral, thinking of I am ‘stupid’ and ‘worthless’ that my mental health is quick to pursue with abandonment. Conclusion perception as individuals, we are responsible for how we see our life and the lives of those around us based on our culture and position in the fiscal society. 

The health and wellness of others is the aspect that I struggle with the most how does an individual with high empathy move and work through life. Strive to accept what can and cannot be accomplished in the here, now, or future. Below is a son’s story and how he has chosen to help his mom live and fight bladder cancer. So the Perception I took from this is as an individual is we can help where we can. The son can go that extra step to love and give to his mom in all ways. The people around him helped in small ways, which leaves me with the positive aspect of still moving forward with my plan but reshaped.

CBS Sunday Morning – Serving up love for Mom 3/28/2021

Reshaping of the Perception of living well. Home Health is continuing to assist the individual where I physically can and accept when I cannot do the work that I once was able to and leave once more care which the individual keeps searching. Retail is going as soon as my replacement is hired, which is earlier than financially planned. Move forward faster with the replacement work. Reshaping and reworking the situation around the mental health or physical health aspect put forth is OK; keep working and moving forward. All things are doable; we sometimes need to stay still for a moment to accept that plans change, whether through circumstances out of our control or just a realization that we change as we journey forward during this life we live. I came across the following from Jim Gaffigan that reinforced that as humans, our Perception of what we once knew can change as we look at it differently. His life perception change was hiking. What will your change in Perception be that will help your journey move forward, backward, or step off the path for a moment and collect yourself in a place of serenity?

 CBS Sunday Morning – Jim Gaffigan: Take a hike! 3/28/2021

Living life is all about the Perception of how we see and interact with those around us. Mental Health can discolor with the excellent and lousy lens of negativity. What is essential is to keep moving forward. There are days or hours that there will be tears that no one understands why but you. Let’s keep moving from the bad days and see the good even when it is just a celebration that you made it out of bed and to work or care for whatever responsibilities you have. Wrap-up of Perception is a perspective from Chris Rock.

CBS Sunday Morning – Chris Rock: Truth, therapy, and punchlines – 1/3/2021

Chris Rock mentions the truth of self. We can keep fighting if we keep working on awareness of ourselves and how and where we are comfortable moving forward.

For a quick update from previous pieces I have mentioned the light therapy for healthy sunlight when non is available outside I am upto 45 to 60 minutes first thing in the morning also if I am in mid day between jobs I sit in front of it while I have a quick lunch for 15 to 20 minutes and my sleep has improved. The 15 to 20 minutes mid day I personally have found got me through the evening without relying on coffee which helps immensely. Additional sleep component is Chill from Four Sigmatic. Between my morning routine of the light and my evening routine of a cup of Chill has allowed me to sleep a solid 5 to 6 hours which is a vast improvement from my 3 to 5 hours.

Faith view of Perception and moving forward on this journey of self and personal journey of mental health. With self-improvement or acceptance that I am comfortable in myself and intersecting with others.

Hope Church, Brunswick, OH – March 28 Service – 9 am – Message starts at 33.15 with Bob Hershey, one of our Elders here at church. I almost did not listen because running is not something I can do right now, maybe never. May consider starting doing Run for God to work through where I think I am failing in learning and following Christ. I May not start running but use it in my daily walk with mental health. My mental health is a constant struggle that keeps moving forward just as you do in the running.

Thank you to all that read. As I move forward in this journey of life, I live thank you. For now, this journey will be reshaping this website to merge my interests of blogging about living my life with mental health, wife, mother, trying to be a Christ-follower, and new business of being a travel agent.  

Still not comfortable reading comments, which is hilarious because I will need to read comments on my Facebook page of travel.

Journey of Self, Home, and Employment

FeaturedJourney of Self, Home, and Employment

Journey of Self, Home, and Employment and my effort to keep moving forward in life even when I want to hide and stall out instead of finding who I am.

As life moves forward, backward, or stalled, our lives can be a cornucopia of family, drama, culture, social, economic, employment, career, physical health, mental health, and any other variety that is living. Striving to live or move forward in this ever-changing abundance can seem to be smooth or a struggle during this personal journey. For me, employment has always been around what fits my family’s needs. So much of what I do only has the goal to please others. Whether I am looking for the verbal response or my own personal view of pleasing, this seems to be what drives me is pleasing others, not myself. Unsure this is due to my mental health needs or upbringing, which bothers me when I take the time to look back or forward. Why do I need to please others at the cost of my physical and mental well-being? This is a question off and on this journey of life, and I still have no answers except I feel worthless most days. Most people do not see it; all they see is I always say yes.

Pleasing others, not myself, when looking back is what always seems to drive my life. What seems, though, is against what society says is please yourself. Lately, I have been pondering what that means, and mentally can I make that work. Currently, my desire to please others has me working sixty hours a week with no days off. Looking back on my life journey, I have always had two jobs, work and school, work and family, or best of all, work, school, family. Which got me thinking, do I work outside of the home to run from home? The only time I only had one job outside of the home was when my daughter was little. Is this push to please others because there is no response from those within my home; all I am is the housekeeper with no verbal reward. In the outside work, I get a thank you. I have to do something. I have reached a wall of exhaustion. How do I balance what drives me with is just what my mind tells me I am responsible for.  

Responsibilities are retail employment at a company that does not provide for its workers well, or the customer needs. The second is assisting an individual with 24-hour care, and the home health care system is not providing. Family and house care is my next what feels like employment, not family care. Church volunteers on weekends and weekdays, fortunately only three hours on a rotation. Blogging is another aspect of my life, but this brings me joy in writing, so is this a pleasing piece of myself? Another is starting my own business as an independent travel agent, a return to a dream I had in the eighties but unable to fill due to a lack of belief in myself. Reviewing this list brings consternation that my mind has placed me in another pothole or speed bump; that I am overthinking and struggling to leave this current dead end path and rebuild this path to a life that pleases others but also bring joy to myself that can balance out the negative my mental health daily has me living.  

What do I pare back on this rebuilding of my life journey when I feel exhausted and overwhelmed? Which physically may get worse due to my work schedule has caused my insurance to remove my CPAP machine due to the policy that if the machine is not in use for over four hours daily, they will not cover the cost and covering a monthly hundred dollar bill never mind the upfront four hundred the company is demanding. Okay, back to trimming my life to pursue what brings me joy. I cannot fix the insurance company, find an alternative health path around it.  

Thoughts on trimming or rebuilding my current life journey. Retail work searching for a company that cares for its employees and better work hours that I am home before midnight maybe eight. Home health is striving to limit my hours but still make sure the individual has care and keeps speaking to others that may be willing to fill the hours that I physically can not. Another option is to leave retail work that I have worked for twenty years completely and work at home healthcare since that is the greatest need. The problem, though, is through journaling, I have found the greatest part of self I have is retail/customer service. I can provide care in short spurts. These short spurts allow me to recoup the mental drain that develops in striving to be perfect for the individual needing care. I acknowledge that I am not a good fit for home healthcare; there is no hiding from the individual who sees you for four to nine hours a day. How do I find that enjoyment in providing care in short gaps? This is one reason I am considering returning to my childhood dream of being an independent travel agent.  

Yes, being a travel agent requires I interact, but it is not like the blog where I have people trying to change or tell me I am wrong for how I think or feel. With travel, I can research and prepare detailed and extensive options to provide amazing travel options. It is on that individual to make a choice based on budget or priority of goals. So yes, I have options, but how do I move forward when the travel takes time to develop to be profitable, and I need to trim back on one or both of my other jobs. That is the crossroads I am still on but gaining closer to a decision. This does leave me still with the struggle of family and the lack of interaction. 

The family is striving to restructure the hours that I am home earlier in the evening and try for a set day off if possible. Home is setting a better to-do schedule that gets the basics done well instead of just the half-butt way that is being done now. Additionally, accept that I will never hear the verbalization of a job well done. Which after twenty years of silence is still difficult but is just something I have to accept. Keeping my church volunteer schedule due to the sense of peace I feel when looking after the nursery-age children. When the retail job, fewer hours are worked, and I can implement the travel business’s training and start-up. I still struggle with home health because my heart wants to help, but as mentioned before, it is mentally draining for my personality. There is such a need for home healthcare workers for those that want to live at home. I do not feel right leaving an individual that needs me to be their hands and feet. My work-life journey is planned for a rebuild, but I still have not internally answered pleasing myself. In a way, though, in keeping with the blogging and travel are my enjoyment.

Unsure if this is helpful for anyone else but trying to find where and what brings joy in this life journey when exhausted from striving to live for others. This journey is stalled at the bridge or path that needs a rebuild. We will see where this journey moves forward. May this be helpful for those trying to move forward when everything seems stalled and overwhelming. Thank you to those who read. Still not in an emotional position to read comments but thank you to those that leave them. Have a great day.

Follow up, the Luxe light mentioned in the previous pieces has been working well. My sleep seems improved, and managing my anxiety and depression seems easier. Still struggling with a bit of paranoia which is normally only three to four days out a month. Unsure if that is due to the light or the current exhaustion and stress I am currently under.

Wrote the above on March 11, 2021, and it is now March 17, 2021. I came across the below March 14, 2021 Presentation from CBS Sunday Morning about Melissa & Doug toy company’s creators. I found amazing peace in knowing I am not alone in feeling and hiding my depression. Additionally, I found knowledge that it is okay to change paths in life and move forward. Personally, not positive yet about what all moving forward looks like but, this piece was refreshing. Also, the website LifeLines that they have started looks amazing.

CBS Sunday Morning – Melissa & Doug co-founder on confronting her depression March 14, 2021

Silly Note:

After the serious topic, I leave you with this funny look at winter from a southern state resident’s perspective. Living in Ohio, I can relate to the cold comments.

Home Free – Southerner in the Snow March 12, 2021

FAITH: when going over this review and considering rebuilding my life journey. The message below is what our Pastor preached on life responsibilities, and Faith in God’s got this life journey. I will have to listen again because of my exhaustion and where my depression and anxiety are. Additionally, thinking that my Thyroid numbers may be off, but it may also still be me adjusting to the Luxe light I have been working with that has been working great.  

I struggle to follow through and have Faith in Father Almighty’s message, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit have my life. It is not the lack of faith in God but in myself which does seem backward when thinking about Christianity, but that is where my depression puts me in Faith that gets me up in the morning and moves through life. Still, the anxiety and depression feed the doubt of my worthiness of the Gift we have in the Salvation through the sacrifice of Christ’s sacrifice.  

Currently, my life journey is in rebuilding and refining my place in the world and my faith as a Christ-follower.

Hope Church – February 28. 2021 Service 9 am

Random Observation in This Time of Change

FeaturedRandom Observation in This Time of Change

Struggling during this ebb and flow, Ohio winter sunny one day than grey another. My spike in my typical depression symptoms that I manage is still flaring. This feeling of overwhelm is where this post is coming from as I maintain a surface watch of the media’s presentation of our changing political landscape and how we have gone from words of hatred of the outgoing leadership and the great and glorious saving of the incoming administration. I struggle with the many euphoric expectations of the media. The incoming will fix the problems when this has been ongoing many presidential changes, continuing to worsen for the lower to the middle class. 

As in the previous post, my childish perspective on life is why life and the world cannot be fair. The reality of life fairness does not exist unless it’s on an individual basis. I cannot expect the world to be honest. Still, corporate entities’ goal is to make a profit no matter the cost, politicians are out to present themselves in only a positive light, and all other large entities. Many are out to explain; they are doing a fantastic job even if they are not. I am one of the uneducated, low humans on the list of priorities and the ability to make changes to the larger picture. Still striving to live life well or give the image of reaching for the corporate lifestyle, but most of us don’t succeed. There is nothing wrong with not advancing goals in life are personal goals in life. Plans based on decisions made and the situation impact your success emotionally, personally, or physically. This thought came when I caught the brief news about the attack on Washington last week. Media, corporate, and political structure kept stressing this point the week before last and blamed only one individual for inciting the situation. What happened to make the people who choose to act responsibly for their actions. They made a conscious choice to be there; they consciously decided to work in an irresponsible, impractical manner. As an individual, you are responsible for seeing the right or wrong of the actions. As a country, we have shown better, more peaceful ways. Yes, they may come violently due to our society’s segment that sees this as the only solution. Words and actions are the responsibility of the individual. Don’t we all say words that we should process and then think over the repercussions before proceeding forward? The efforts of many contributed to the harmful and inappropriate method of communication two weeks ago. But as with the race riots in May, should we not be looking at the underlying trigger of the reason for the large portion of discontent. I AM NOT saying what happened was right, but in May, I told people were in pain, and that made it okay; my question whether right or wrong, why is last week not the same, just on a more extensive or consequential action? It is just a thought to ponder how our information is presented to us that we must strive to see and research the big picture and how we can, if at all, help.  

I see from one of the bottom rungs that people are tired of being ignored, and they choose a brutal way of showing that. Our politicians’ and corporations’ actions make large paychecks with a little benefit offered to those supposed to direct guidance. We have a large portion of our society that feels undervalued, and their way of life attacked. There are rules in place of stagnating creativity. There are rules in place that harm our disabled, and I still am terrified for Medicaid for all. Unless government and corporations rebuild the system, the CEOs and lobbyists step back from the design and implementation restructuring process. Both CEOs and Lobbyists make millions of dollars from the medical and insurance industry. Democrats and Republicans are just as accountable. I am unsure where specifically I was going with this, but as I watch briefly, Trump’s decisions to leave before the presidential election change and the fiscal waste of pushing to impeach again. Biden’s and Harris’s marketing presentations about past actions on the government floor as they are when neither of their actions speaks to what they’re promoting right now through the media, they are perfect. Trump was an uncouth braggart. Yes, he had no filter and created a hostile work environment, but many of us have to work in a hostile work environment and succeed. Why can’t our politicians have done the same? They make more money than the rest of us and have more vacation time to unwind and destress. That is in the past, and those of us impacted the most by future decisions made will need to step back to view how decisions are made and learn to live with the consequences of high power decisions that sound great, but implementation is lacking.

Sometimes I wish somebody that had paralysis or a family with a child with developmental disabilities would speak and be allowed to present the current limitations and red tape a large portion of our society has to live with the Medicaid system. The Medicaid system is not there physically to truly help those in need. On paper, it looks great that managers advocate for their clients, which is so far from the truth as what I see from working in the industry as a Home Health Aide and previously in the Nursing Home Industry.

Additionally, the other factor that nobody presents an accurate working plan for is a wage for the essential works that are not nurses and doctors that have stayed working since March at great danger of getting COVID. I came across the below article on the local news about hourly workers in the retail, restaurants, factory, housekeeping, and more; the low man on the totem pole has kept the country going. 

News 5 Cleveland – Thousands of Ohio frontline workers make minimum wage; advocates say it needs to increase 1/19/2021

Yes, I know the medical industry is keeping us safe, but you buy your food from someone that’s paid eight dollars an hour, they want to pay us 15. That’s all well and good, except for I have worked through the change from 525 an hour to eight dollars an hour minimum wage. I have watched customer service nosedive due to a decrease in the number of staff members allowed scheduled. I have watched being able to get a full-time job in retail and restaurants down to only get part-time with no insurance or insurance worth most of my paycheck. I have watched as a manager not being able to offer training hours to incoming staff. I have seen having 4 to 5 people on the team in one shift down to two, so what is the purpose of going from eight dollars an hour to 15? Do you want one person running a register unless something happens on how the whole pay scale is set up? I see no point in increasing pay from $8 an hour to $15 an hour unless there is planning for making drastic changes in the CEO salary. That is where the money is going; it sure as heck isn’t going for PPE and safety protocol except on paper. It is not going for the hours I’m sure we could have benefits that we could afford because your company can say they offer help. Still, when you genuinely look at what’s being provided how much we’re expected to pay, we’re losing our paycheck to pay for insurance. Words mean nothing unless there is an extensive plan. That is my pondering questions, but what’s the point since this has been going on since the eighties. I know part of my cynical outlook is personally my seasonal depression impacting. Some of it, though, I don’t see the point of words. I would appreciate action on the part of our lawmakers in our CEOs the people who paid the least are the ones expected to do the physical labor. Many of them have three to four jobs their families impacted because they’ve got to make ends meet. There’s got to be a decision: do I raise my family or do I pay the bills too? Do I work to pay the bills? So yeah, excellent $15 an hour, but what does that accomplish? I will be working with fewer people to cover that because it is not taken toward the CEOs. I mean, if they can afford to have multiple vacation homes and a fantastic yacht and I can’t go on vacation for 15 years if at all I can barely pay the mortgage, so what’s the point of working.  

Sorry, this is not a rah get out, and we can succeed, which it should be. We can keep fighting the system and help or find help for others or get out and help someone. Just on my retail job, all I see is a fractured opinion of us nevermind I almost got hit by two cars last week while getting carts. In my Home Health work, I help an individual with quadriplegic, which has a Hoyer that broke for the last month and is still not fixed. The individual has a ten-year-old wheelchair that causes severe pain and pressure sores that Medicaid denied the claim. Even though the back is broken, several aspects of it do not work. Individuals cannot get it repaired because Medicaid will not allow them to get a new one for another one year to five. So I am at a level of apathy that what is the point the government and corporate entities do not care about those in genuine need. I am sure of many more examples, which makes me scared for the proposed Medicaid for all. I also leave you with an example of a YouTuber that I respect and due to having surgery and shows the absolute mess our Medical system is.

The Outdoor Gear Review – The Upcoming Surgery – Random Lunch and Chat 1/19/2021

This piece does not mean I am throwing in the towel. I am just one small voice in a sea of many that feel the government is not heard or seen right now. I hold hope and pray that our world will change for the better. That our government truly means what they are saying. In the meantime, as individuals, we keep helping our fellow man personally when we can impact our government and corporate entities in voting.  

I leave you with several links.

One is the Poem by Amanda Gorman’s twenty-twenty-one inauguration poem, which fits the fight as the individual.    

CNN Politics – Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman’s inaugural Poem

I also perceive the dog and pony show of our Cabinet member Question and Answer and approval process by many of the upper echelons. Speaking as if they truly understand how this will be implemented on the ground floor, not the ivory tower they live in, or the reports received that did not question the worker but the CEO.

PBS NewsHour 1/21/2021 LIVE – Pete Buttigieg’s confirmation hearing for Secretary of Transportation 1/21/2021

I will also leave you with the beauty of what individuals can do when they change their life direction.

CBS Sunday Morning – “Humans”: Connecting with the world one photo at a time. 12/13/2020

Let me leave you with a big picture of what I strive for daily, even with my negativity for the last two to three weeks, where I got stuck in thinking I could change the big picture. It is a presentation of the repaired Penn Station.

CBS This Morning – Inside NYC’s ornate new Penn Station train hall = 1/2/2021

Many of us still feel overwhelmed by either our health, situation, work, school, family, and anything else. As individuals, we have a responsibility to keep moving forward, change and improve what you can, and support those that are stuck and are still struggling to receive what they need to live well. Reach out if you need help or be there if someone needs help or just a friendly ear to vent to as they struggle to move forward. As individuals, we can succeed and thrive. It just looks different because we are all individuals, not machines. This time of change is like seasons. There is beauty, but there is also the muck and the mire. Keep moving forward. You’ve got this.

Perspective and Living Life in the New Year

FeaturedPerspective and Living Life in the New Year

As the year twenty-twenty-one inches closer or is already here, depending on when I finish writing and proofing this piece. Looking ahead to the new year and striving for improvement when my mental health points out all the mistakes and failures is always an ongoing journey of life, the potholes of struggles and joy of patching up and climbing out and continuing the journey of life. I came across the below piece by Texas Country Reporter that initially hit all the buttons. I am a failure; I cannot do what this woman does.  

Texas Country Reporter – 93-Year-Old Mechanic (8/12/2020)

Then I realized I need to re-adjust my lens of perception. She is living her life that brings meaning and her perception of living life well. She is not seeing the negative and just doing and not accepting the word no. Her life as presented shows that finding what you are good at and enjoy is what is essential, not what those around you say cannot be done. If a ninety-year-old woman can be a type of Mechanic with long nails, and own a small clothing store, work six days a week. Who are we to complain about the little things. Our ingenuity and success in life should not be based on the perception of others’ view of success but our own. It may be difficult to see when we are wallowing in an illogical pit of negativity or overdoing the worry. 

I am trying to communicate and live because when I sense my thought process is leaning to the illogical negative, it is time to physically or metaphorically step back, grab a cup of coffee or tea, and genuinely look at the actual situation. Perception balanced with remembering past examples of when my mind created a problem when there was none. There are days when this works, and there are days that will not, and it makes me feel more silly. Trite but true, tomorrow is another day to change lives perspective.  

Living life is all about perception based on personal perspective and our own goals. We see this many times in the media and complaints or arguments based on a photo taken at one angle or a comment. A witness from another angle may not see the discussion but an agreement. What one may consider a joke another may see as an insult. Let’s use the example of the movie Forrest Gump (1994). To this day, I cannot watch the full film due to some of the previews showing where people made fun of him. He lived his life in the purest form. Am I missing out on an award-winning movie? Yes, but for me, I struggle to see beyond where the humor is seeing someone make mistakes or live life with purity and simplicity. Even though from the storyline, he makes some fantastic improvements to the world around him. Is my perception illogical, but it is a component of my life based on my history. So when speaking or seeing others, we do not know their account if a misstep is made. No-one is perfect. We should strive not to expect excellently or respect for a life lived well within the struggles that we have had or will have. 

Another perception and perspective being different based on lifestyle, social, culture, religion, faith, and finances. CBS News for something to ponder is the positive and disparity of finances. Will this change? Hopefully, it will, but I doubt it. The money will always be perceived to have success, and those without money have learned to adapt and move one. Does it seem wrong? Yes, but those of low financial seem to have a better chance of thriving and succeed in times of change than those that have had money now live in difficult economic times even when overwhelmed. Perception of living and adapting is striving to find success even during difficult times. When watching, I ponder that each side sees that they are right, and the other is wrong. All is about the profit margin of one and the life destruction and moving on of another. Unfortunately, it is based around money, and having to accept money will always rule our world. Succeeding in life is accepting and adapting one’s lifestyle without destroying others’ lives.

CBS News – Rising Tide: Priced Out in Miami – Full Documentary

To wrap this up and round out the ebb and flow of perception developed by history. Let me leave you with a cooking video. The onset seems odd, but what I found interesting is that the recipe started as a plan to cook a Mexican ‘Pot Roast.’ Still, when looking in past cookbooks, the roast was found at one point was quite prevalent in North America in the mid-eighteen hundreds.  

Glen & Friends Cooking – Spiced Beef Pot Roast Recipe (12/30/2020)

So I fibbed here is a final documentary of how one can strive to change one’s personal choices; this is no different from what our own country and other developed countries had in the 1800’s clothing industry. What can we, as individuals, do to purchase second hand, fair trade, or when financially possible purchase made in America. For some, this may not be possible now but at least trying to make changes with an awareness of how our actions may impact the larger picture. Furthered my understanding that injustice will always be in the world at large; it just changes location. As an individual, I can treat those around me with respect, be aware of what I purchase when I can financially, and accept it when I cannot impact the world’s greed at large.

Plot 11 – The True Cost – Documentary – Clothing Industry – Fashion Market – Capitalism – Modern Slavery (7/11/2020)

Let me leave you with this idea for the new year that as individuals, our perception of twenty-twenty, past and present, will be different from others. What is the point of arguments over the perception of information given from various news sources? Let’s strive to agree to disagree depending on where you are in your journey of life. It does not mean I will stop giving my perception and opinion, just how I am trying to balance the chaos I see and how my mind interprets it.

Hope you enjoyed this look at life’s perspective. May the New Year find you well and safe. Remember it is okay to reach out for help when the world seems overwhelming. Call a friend, family, professional, or telehealth professional.

Continuing Thought on 2021

FeaturedContinuing Thought on 2021

CBS Sunday Morning presented their ideas about COVID and planning.  

CBS Sunday Morning – Going to Plan B: When COVID pulls the rug out from under you 12/27/2020

While watching got me thinking about my previous post about the New Year and Planning. After watching I found comfort in reinforcing my plan to have goals, accepting those goals may ebb and flow toward completion or postponement.  

Change is okay for people, which is hard to say, coming from a planner and does not like change. We must remember to accept that life is not ideal or cookie cutter. What will work for one individual may fully not work for another. Pieces and parts will work together. Cookie-cutter got me thinking about cookies. Think about all those cookie trays that you either received or saw at work. None of them looked the same unless they came from a factory. The homemade ones may have used the same recipe, but none looked the same; hopefully, all tasted good. At the factory, mass-produced ones were okay but not as great as the homemade ones. Reinforcing that we are not factory-made, our lifestyle, culture, health, and society make us be the individuals we are. As we go into twenty-twenty-one, let us make one of our goals to accept that nothing is set in stone.

In taking information from the CBS Morning news piece, as individuals, we are all different. Still, we do need goals. The two professionals they interviewed had similar but dissimilar views also. In this time of the big picture, information is ever-changing and sounds so negative. Let’s make our goal to see the people in an equal light of struggling to live life well in this time of change and perceived chaos. Everyone has a story. Some may not be pretty, but choices made by them or others impact the goals of life. Everyone mourns the passing of people differently. Some may never stop. Is it frustrating, yes, but you may be in a similar spot yourself down the journey of life? Life is not fair people may not treat you equally as you strive to because they do not see the need.  

Our world’s big picture may look chaotic, and this chaos may impact your life. As an individual, take each situation that is affecting your life and strive to change it. Change can be the emotional component of looking for an example around Money being tight. Look at this as a means to eat portioned meals and set up a meal plan built around your food budget. Help you lose weight if that had been a previous goal or feel better by eating healthier foods. Maybe do pot luck meals with friends that are in the same boat. Look at moving somewhere within walking distance of a part-time job that may not fully impact your benefits or shop for food or carpool with friends that are also shopping.

There are many jobs out there that may not be ideal, but if getting up to go to work helps keep you focused, at least it is something. Home Health work is continually looking for people to care for those that are housebound. All that is needed is the ability and willingness to be the hands and feet for those in need. Extensive amount still have their mind just due to an accident or illness, need an extra set of hands to mop a floor, get them out of bed, cook for them in how they would like it, maybe help them with a shower, and so much more. There are so many needs and not enough caring people to help fill the need. Retail stores and factories need workers and a willingness to be trained, not your perception of the job but truly needed. Yes, it may be minimum wage, but at least it is Money coming in. Goals and looks many different ways just as we are individuals, so are the goals. Let’s strive to see the positive and understand the new year does not mean the chaos changes or ends. It is in our power and plans to change how we will live our lives and make changes that will impact our lives to the best we can. You are as trapped as you perceive you are. Really and truly, how often did you leave your house until someone said you could not? That does not mean I do not understand that concert, comic-con, wedding, and the list goes on canceled significant events. That industry has a difficult road ahead to reshape the promotion landscape, but there are those trying when possible to support them.  

Thank you, and may you find your spot in these life changing events and willingness to accept what cannot be changed and change the things that can. I have forgotten who’s quote this is; if I find it, I will add the info later.

Strive to change how you move through your day in the upcoming year.

I came across this video from Mercy Me that, for me, fit that drive to keep moving forward even when I feel suffocated by my mental health, choices, and physical pain. The desire to give up and forget about living in the here and now. Keep fighting to move through the day with a purpose to contribute no matter how small or large.

Mercy Me – Say I Won’t (Official Music Video) 12/4/20

New Year’s Resolution?

FeaturedNew Year’s Resolution?

Observing Christmas is two days away, and I have little excitement or joy toward the upcoming Holiday. Nevermind the super stressful ‘New Years Resolution’ drama that will be arriving from many in a week. Multiple components are why there is a lack of joy in my interaction with the world around me. Hmm, let’s review what those individual components are.
First off, on the hit parade of living with spiking mental health. Since mid-November, my depression and anxiety has skyrocketed, or at least to me. For example, one of the bloggers I read titled something about imposters. My initial reaction from just the title was that he talked about bloggers pretending to be depressed, and they are not, and I was one of those writers. Yes, irrational, but it took me three days to accept that and read the article, which was terrific as always and reinforced why I have chosen to blog myself. We are a world of diversity of mental health and individuals which we must take responsibility to help ourselves sometimes. Yes, there are educated via college and university professionals that we should speak to and have helped us. There is another level of professionals in the world. These individuals live and breathe mental health, trauma, or any other illness minute by minute and day by day. We are non-university professionals but from a living university of experience, not Harvard or Yale. I am moving forward to another individual component of depression.
The second aspect of my depression that a psychologist noted to me many years ago, but I forget from time to time for a month into winter, is seasonal depression. Which exacerbates my depression I am already trying to work through. For me, this comes into play as an overly distracted thought. Have a challenging time managing my schedule even with calendar prompts. I have all my bills on AutoPay. After all, I would have late payments because I would forget even with a checklist. You have to remember to look at your calendar or list to have them work. I have such a difficult time remembering. I’m not too fond of this time of year for that reason alone. I daily struggle with I am useless. Stupid, and those around me hate me. From November for the next four months, those feelings expand to managers behind closed doors, which means they are planning to fire me, my husband is leaving me, or my daughter’s depression will lead her to suicide. Frustrating all from the distracting thoughts is that constant feeling of I have forgotten something, and I waste so much time trying to figure it out, and it was nothing, but I am late for work because I wasted so much time. Count my life as a success because the time I waste has decreased because I can finally see and understand what is happening to push through faster to accept and keep moving forward—moving on to my next topic on the hit parade.
The third being in Retail/Customer Service is why should I feel joy when I see so many people spending money on presents when last week I watched them choose between getting a package of lunch meat or peanut butter based on cost. Also, they stand there and tell me that they really should not be buying the items. PLEASE stop asking if we are ready for Christmas. Many of us hate Christmas, and reminded us that we have no joy for the Holiday coming up makes us question ourselves. Then there are the screaming children or the kids or adolescents who get candy to keep them quiet or sit on the floor in the aisle blocking traffic and giving attitude when we ask them to move. Let not forget the people who steal but take the time to leave the wrapper to something but take the item. How about the multiple cell phone conversations of arguing about presents or too much money spent. Due to this overspending, people stop shopping in stores from January to March, and my hours get cut in half. I am already struggling over the shopping carts haphazardly put in the cart corrals, but an increase of people leave them in the parking spot beside them or the handicap ramp area. People, the carts do not need to be socially distancing; people do. Let’s not even discuss the attitude and lack of patience or listening skills of customers who accuse you of doing something when their credit card does not go through even though they put it in the machine before you even finished ringing the order. A new one is a tap and pay, and Apple pay does not work at the store, and this is my fault, and the bank or credit card company has told them that this is the safest way to pay and will work at all companies. Nevermind, the touch screens are starting to go because of all the cleaning, and the individual has to use the pen, and the cashier informed how unsanitary that is and how dare I make them touch it. Hello. You have touched cans, packages, and other items that other people have touched, nevermind the touch screen and the number pad. If you work in the customer service industry, please do not come in your work shirt and treat me like I am dirt and stupid because the computer is not working right. There are days I feel like a stereotypical bartender hearing all the problems that I cannot fix even though some of them have been caused by life choices by themselves or others. Okay, so I have reasons for not liking the holidays, moving forward when I see no light at the end of the tunnel except the oncoming train that is going to run me over.
That is where I am at hating the Holiday, at least the commercialized. The Faith-based aspect of the Holiday is a blessing and a curse for me also. Due to my numbing mind, distracting thoughts, and continuously overwhelmed with depression and anxiety. The anxiety of not helping people; some religious traditions get forgotten or started and not completed. So my already helpless feelings multiply because I hear all these people talking about their personal or family Christmas day traditions of reading the story of Jesus’s birth or daily for December following the advent calendar. Nevermind, some religious leaders or okay, meaning friends, tell you or give the impressions that you are less of a person because you are not taking extended periods for the Bible. Bible study and meditation time are essential and helpful, but this is a personal journey of finding the balance between what fits into the demands of life and when and how to decrease the demands on one’s time to spend time in the Bible and prayer. So comparing myself to Jones makes it worse. That does not mean I still keep trying to do something but not make it something that proves my worth. Where does this leave me as we move toward a twenty twenty-one that looks to be a repeat of twenty-twenty? Media and people are struggling with the perceived promise of a vaccine and returning to ‘normal’ also the New Year’s Resolution phase of the beginning of the year.
Honestly, I will not even try to plan New Year’s Resolutions until April or May. I will spend the next three to four months just listing the things in my home and myself that is important and want to change and brainstorm how to accomplish a realistic look at my ebb and flowing mental health needs. In April or May, try implementing life changes two weeks at a time instead of in one set clump created from that research and planning. Feeding the hype makes my life harder, so let’s step back and remove myself from the unrest.
Thank you for taking the time to read. Feel free to comment below to understand others may read the comments, but I probably will not. Anxiety goes through the rough, just considering it still.
May whatever your December and January look like, remember you can do this, and it may not look like another’s journey, but that is the beauty of living. We are all individuals, and our travels look different except the core, keeping fighting and learning. There are good days and bad days. Celebrate the good and learn from the bad.
LOL
Remember, the carts are not social distancing during this pandemic; the people using them are.
Cashiers can not fix your financial mistakes. All we can do is tell you what you overspent.
Reminder
Please shop from January to March. We would like more than ten to twenty hours a week to live on, and we cannot get unemployment because we are employed. Remember, we are paid eight to nine dollars an hour, so that is not a lot to budget and cover expenses.

Christmas in this time of Change

FeaturedChristmas in this time of Change

Life has changed in 2020, individually, society, culture, and religion. Currently, striving to remember that change is inevitable. Change triggered by life choices, community growth or decrease, medical, culture, and social change as events and individuals age and change their view on life and how they impact society’s culture and society. Contemplating the United States community, I see from behind a register and on the floor helping people find things. People used always to thank and wish the employee a Merry Christmas. Now, very little is said, even for my part personally. Christmas is a time of incredible joy from a faith perspective. We are celebrating the Birth of Jesus Christ.  

No, this is not; it would be best to say Merry Christmas, or I feel attacked religiously. I felt joy when someone wished me a Merry Christmas when mental health-wise struggled with my depression. It was just a reminder of seeing children get gifts, celebrating family and friends, calling or sending cards to people in the address book that brought up memories of why they were in that book. Sometimes calling them because you realized you had not talked to them in six months. I feel on edge now in saying Merry Christmas. I ran across the below articles when I searched for why it has become a stressor and taboo to say Merry Christmas. Even Happy Holidays can set people off.  

Had gone in search of why the increase in past years and even worse this year there is no joy but hesitancy in wishing someone Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays.

One was from Politico Magazine, who presented the article written by Daniel Denvir, who works at the Philadelphia City Paper written on December 16, 2013,   A Short History of the War on Christmas.  Found it fascinating that as many things impacting our culture, it began from a small Society or Association that wanted to change their culture. Does reinforce a small group of individuals changes whether that is good or bad; we shall see as the years move forward. The information presented was excellent in that it showed the polarizing extremes of liberal versus conservative sides. My takeaway is that Christmas is not to listen to the extremist and celebrate Christmas based on a family tradition, not a small society segment.  

Christmas meant to generate hope and goodwill for all, not anguish unless there was a loss personally. If there are no traditions, make some of your own. It could revolve around helping an individual or groups all of next year or getting together with friends in the same situation. Get out there, be creative, make your tradition, meditate on your faith, or begin contemplating what worked and what did not, and how to make changes starting in the new year. Moving away from the minefield of Christmas, I tried to find a positive spin toward Christmas.

I came across an article in Country Living by Rebekah Lowin written December 9, 2020, reviewing how Merry Christmas came around. Here’s the Origin of ‘Merry Christmas’ and Why We Say It Today short article but was packed with information that Merry Christmas may have begun in the fifteen hundreds. Found it fascinating that the phrases in many forms have been around for centuries. My takeaway is that using Merry Christmas is not an insult; it is a tradition. Let’s bring joy back by returning to a practice that was an aspect of culture, not an attack on religious freedom. Ground roots action, let’s say Merry Christmas.  

For some prayerfully many, the words are the reminder that Christ Our Saviour was born. For others, it is a celebration of family traditions. Merry Christmas is a cultural phrase of joy, peace, and sentiment. Many need this more than ever to figure out how they will make the money stretch to handle the basics. Others need the reminder of joy in the world, not the negative.

For me, Merry Christmas brings back memories of being at my grandparents baking cookies, helping decorate, and helping cook the Christmas meal. Remember listening to Christmas Music on records from John Denver, Frank Sinatra, and many more, and the Snoopy Christmas Album and love the below song. Sitting writing this up cannot even tell you why, but I feel joy just listening to it again.  

Snoopy vs. Red Baron “Christmas Bells” uploaded by sabrinaxify song written by The Royal Guardsmen 

Since I went from two ends of the spectrum of information, let me wrap this up with two videos from Matthew West presenting first the season’s sentimentality and faith this year. The other is the nitty-gritty of this year. WARNING the second video shows a negative view of Santa for little ears and eyes (children) and does finish with a fantastic reminder of ‘the reason for the season.’  

Matthew West – The Hope of Christmas (Official Music Video) November 6, 2020

Matthew West – Santa Claus COVID Confessionals (from The Hope of Christmas Live) – December 18, 2020

Thank you, Matthew West, for your exceptional talent and ability to put this all together.

Get out and start your traditions and memories of Christmas. Ignore the stores putting up Valentine’s stuff. Let’s strive to go into 2021 with hope and peace for a future year of more change and adapting to a new way of life.

MERRY CHRISTMAS. For those from different religious traditions, may you find joy and happiness? Maybe even start the practice of using your religious connotations. Merry Christmas and _______________! Let’s strive to bring joy to those around us. Let’s not feed conflict from both sides of the aisle. Merry Christmas in whatever form you find yourself celebrating. Life is change, and that is okay.