The email I received: Just wrote a message but not sure if it sent. Here goes again You are facing a lot of challenges but you keep a positive attitude. That is an inspiration to me. I suffer from bipolar disorder type 2 aggravated by a brain injury from my wreck. I battle depression daily, though the meds do help. I am sole caregiver for my 87 year old mother with mild dementia and arthritis. I don't get to get out much so my computer is my social life. Friends like you mean so much to me.
Here is my response: Thank you so much...I hope you will read my blog, I use my own life and circumstances to show people that there is so much to be happy for and content with in life. I don't get out very much either. I was in a 12 year relationship in Atlanta that ended badly. I moved to Florida and left everyone and everything I knew behind. Life throws us challenges, and how we respond to them and overcome them is what actually matters. See I look at life as a journey, and though we all set goals and dreams, these are but destinations on that journey. We may never ever get to where we want to go, but we always get to where we are supposed to go. It is the adventures and the situations that we find ourselves in that mold us and shape us into the people we are.
I have 6 terminal illnesses, they say I am not long for this world. I laugh at that because I have been hearing the same nonsense since I was 24 years old, and guess what I am still here 20 years later, plugging along. I hope that by using my experiences and what I have learned upon this road will help others. People are what is important. Trust me money isn't neither are material things. I have had it all, and lost it all and keep on rebuilding and reshaping myself, because money comes and goes, friends come and go, and all we have is ourselves. A friend of mine once said, we all have many friends, yet we stand alone. Only I can make myself happy or feel a certain way about myself. If someone else makes me feel unhappy or bad about myself then I have given them way too much power over my life. I need to take it back.
Life is about constantly changing our views and perspectives to see the road clearly. Always try to remember this. Our sight is limited, we can't see what is ahead, we don't know what the next minute is going to bring us. We only have the present where we are at, it is what we know. However, we can see clearly the path that has brought us here, because we walked it. We need to use our past as a guide to our future. Hence the saying that hindsight is 20/20.
Nothing holds me down for long because I have learned that just over the hill, through the storm awaits a reward for being diligent. With the bad comes a measure of good and we have to take both in order to survive. Happiness is not something that can be found from without side of you, it can only be found within. You must be content with what you have, who you are and where you are at, at every phase of your life to really be happy. Not to mention being gracious and thankful for what you have.
Every day is a brand new day, with infinite possibilities, adventures, trials, roadblocks, friends, acquaintances, and wonder. It is also a clean slate with no mistakes in it..which is wonderful because we get to go out there and mess it up all over again, and have fun doing it. Life is messy and complicated and we are complex beings with tons of feelings and emotions, so it suits us very well that is it is messy, because we can get all dirty and filthy and laugh and play, and do it over and over again.
I have known a lot of people who have bi-polar disorder and I know how you have to struggle with it every day, and how depression can creep in when you least expect it. So what I do is I try and think of all the blessings I have received, and the things I have accomplished in the week, and how many people I have talked too, how well my advice was received and that gives me my Positive Mental Attitude for the day.
As I was stating, just being ourselves might make all the difference in the world. Extend the hand of friendship and see where it leads you. You might be surprised at how a casual email or conversation can really touch another person's life. Nor where those conversations might lead you.
I never thought that just by complaining about how my day was going, and what I was going through was going to impact another persons life like this. I too understand about using the computer and current technology as a social life and a window into the world. Though I do miss social interactions and dealings with people on a daily basis. Hence my decision to go back to school and try a new career.
As always my hopes and dreams are with you,
Uncle B
No comments:
Post a Comment