Friday, March 14, 2014

Focus on the Good!



Things I'm loving right now:

*Sleeping Beauty herbal tea (from a tea shop in NYC) and honey from Utah! (Both given as a gift from Tamara, our Wharton friend, when she came to visit us. Thank you, Tamara!!)

*Austenland, the movie. It always makes me laugh out loud!

*My Fitbit.

*Typing this while the cat sleeps in my lap and the 2 year old plays matching games next to me.

*Long, hot showers.

*Reading Pride and Prejudice again (it's been too long since I've read it).

*Gospel conversations with my daughters that rival ones I've had with adults.

*Having a printer! (It just took us three months before we hooked one up...)

*Playing the piano again. I've been trying to play something every day, and recently I'm enjoying Schumann, Brahms, Chopin, and Schubert. Obviously, I've got a thing for the Romantic period (no surprise there...)

*My meds! My asthma meds (which gives me the ability to exercise) and my brain meds (which gives me the ability to be happy and productive again).

*Watching my 2 year old do wonderfully smart things. Yesterday, as I was reading in the library, he was taking books off the shelf and then re-stacking them in various ways. He did this continuously for nearly 30 minutes.

*The new Facebook page Mormon Women Stand. Definition of those who choose to like this page: "LDS Women who, without hesitation, sustain the Lord's Prophet, the Family Proclamation as doctrine, and our divine role as covenant women for Christ."

*Clean fireplaces (I always feel like Cinderella when I clean them out.)

*Gratitude in my heart. I've been feeling very grateful, lately, and as I explained to my therapist last night, my life is good. Very good. I have an abundance of blessings that overwhelms me!
(And it's another validation that my depression is chemical and not due to circumstances. In fact, this reality --that my life is good, my brain is just broken --is actually very relieving to me. For a long time, I felt that somehow I was missing something or should have been doing something different, when the reality was that I just need to be on top of my brain chemistry.)
I was raised by wonderful parents and I have wonderful siblings. I have the gospel in my life! I have a college degree, a faithful and loving husband, many healthy children, a home (safety, warmth, luxuries of first-world living), the ability to be a SAHM due to my husband's hard work, talents that bring me joy, wonderful friends, and even though I may struggle with my asthma, depression, and weight, I'm actually really healthy (low blood pressure, good eyesight, good digestion, etc.). And now I have medication that lets me move through the cobwebs and out into the open where I can recognize all of this goodness. Where I can climb out of the darkness of the well, again.

I am blessed. I am grateful. I am overwhelmed with God's goodness towards me!


What are you grateful for? What is making you happy right now? What are you loving today? Please share them with me! 

3 comments:

Mother of the Wild Boys said...

I am so grateful that you are recognizing that your depression is chemical in nature. And honestly, I hope you'll stay on the meds this time. (sorry if that's too blunt)
I wouldn't want a person with diabetes to feel guilty for taking insulin, so it drives me crazy when people suggest that using medication for depression is somehow shameful. We all have our (health) crosses to bear. I'm just so grateful that I live in a time where help is available for this VERY REAL illness.
Love you. <3

Cheryl said...

MOTWB, I love your bluntness. And you. :) <3

Amanda D said...

So, how do we become friends on Fitbit? I tried to figure it out and it's more complicated than me... I love my Fitbit and am trying to use it to my advantage.