When Life Sucks

Throwing a spanner in the works of the downward spiral

Photo by Julieann Ragojo on Unsplash

You sleep through the alarm

There is no coffee

The last teabag looks forlorn in a dirty sink 

The milk carton in the fridge is empty

Or worse still the fridge is empty

You miss your bus

Yes you miss....those early morning dashes for the bus

Or the car breaks down

Your boss is unreasonable

Or unavailable

The internet is unstable

The dog has chewed up the phone charger

The cat has got sick down the back of the sofa

On your mobile phone

There is no one to share the load

To put on the laundry and hang it on the line

The loneliness of working from home

The chaos and demands of the kids

The litany of COVID regulations

Coronavirus headlines over and over

Living with masks

Surviving on a low hug diet

The craziness of working from home

The lack of privacy for home working

The isolation of doing business on Zoom

On days like this all I want to do is go back to bed. Wishing, hoping that tomorrow is different. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn't and sometimes life really sucks when the Groundhog Day roller coaster gets traction for days or weeks at a time.

One bad day can lead to a plethora of angry, frustrated, despairing feelings, bucket loads of unhelpful thoughts, ideas and judgements of myself others and this terrible world I am living in.

How to throw a spanner in the works of THAT downward spiral?

One of the most freeing premises I have taken on is that my thoughts and feelings are not a true reflection of reality. They are in fact a reflection of my past experience, my beliefs about myself and my perception.

My thoughts and feelings are in effect not real.

THIS has given me the capacity to intercept the fall.

It allows me detach from what I am thinking and feeling about what is happening.

What is happening doesn't mean anything about me. It doesn't mean I am a bad person, a failure, destined to live a life of penury, overwhelm, chaos.

By detaching the meaning I can see what is going on for what is. It means I am having a bad day. Maybe more than one.

I can see I am tired, overwhelmed, doing too much, not asking for help, putting up with bad behaviour from my boss, my kids, the dog, I am prioritising the wind down glass of wine over an early night, I am still working at midnight instead of cuddling up with my partner or the cat.

Awareness allows me to reclaim agency. I can decide to stop, breathe, cancel the meeting, order a take away, fill the bath and have a long soak and read a rubbish novel.  

I am the decision maker of what happens to me. And once I engage my agency the spaciousness opens for the joy to come back in.

#perception #awarenessmatters # #workingfromhome #bethechange