Indian Mountain State Park, Jellico, Tennessee
Yesterday, we made the decision that today would be another “down day”. In other words, we wouldn’t leave home. So with that in mind, this morning I asked Blaine how he thought he’d spend today. He had nothing specific.
Guess what I was doing? Blogging, of course! Hopefully, outside some. So I suggested that he could fill a small portion of his day cleaning the shower.
But how to get out of cleaning the shower? Plead a case to wash the coach instead! He should have stuck with the shower. It was much easier and less time consuming. 😊 He ended up working very hard for about four hours.
It’s not as bad as it looks.
There’s a ladder attached to the coach.
But he IS struggling to get around the branches. : )
I, on the other hand, cleaned a shower and blogged all day. I think it takes me longer to prepare a post about a hike than it does to actually hike the trail . . .
At least I sat outside so I could watch him work. : )
At least until the sun obscured my screen.
I also spent some extra time on Bible study today. The passage I was meditating on reminded me of a close friend who suffers from anxiety. She’s on medication which helps tremendously, but as a Christian, the thing that helps the most is to remind herself of this passage from Philippians 4:8 – . . . whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.
There are any number of ways this can help, not only those with anxiety, but just negativity in general.
- Stay off Facebook, Twitter, etc. postings that offer negative, nasty remarks.
- Hold your tongue. Don’t allow yourself to be goaded into an argument – even if you know you’re right.
- Take deep, calming breaths. Just stop for a moment, close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths.
- Pick something from the list in Philippians and force your mind to think about it. Make a list if it helps focus you.
- Do your venting in private. I’ve found that I can sit and type out what I think/feel, then, once it’s out of my system, I can delete my nasty, negative thoughts with no harm done. And I feel better.
- It’s ok to vent this way too. God doesn’t mind. But if you pray for others, it will take your mind off yourself and whatever is making you anxious, angry, worried, sad, etc.
- Encourage yourself through it. There’s a timeless lesson to be learned from “The Little Engine That Could”. I think I can, I think I can . . . . until you do it! One step at a time! And once done, there’s the great euphoria of accomplishment!
There are probably countless other ways to cope or deal with a situation. These are some of the things that work for my friend, and for me.
Have a true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy day!
Going out to watch the sunset.
The geese always congregate around us this time of day.
