MAY THE COMING YEAR BE A GOOD YEAR FOR YOU.

The year 2016 has been a year filled with many positive and negative events. I know 2016 has been difficult for me to plow through. I have had to work through depression and anxiety, come to some kind of acceptance of the chronic illness I now have, and throw out a malfunctioning microwave that made weird sounds and whose rotating plate turned by itself without electricity. I had to call the firemen because smoke was coming out of my house. The firemen were initially hesitant to go in because they wondered whether radiation was present. When I offered to take them on a tour of my house, they told me to stay put and they entered. They agreed it was moving on its own without electricity and took it outside.

In the following six weeks, I fell four times, severe falls, which is highly unusual. The fourth fall was the worst. I tripped over my dog and crashed head first into the dog crate. It took my leg three months to heal, and knocked my brains out for a while. The cat scan revealed I didn’t have a concussion, but I did have a big bump on top of my head. My leg swelled and turned gray and black.

Then a freak windstorm came down and split my big maple tree down the middle in my front yard. It landed on my house. It also took down a big red bud tree in my back yard. I had to call a tree service to remove the debris and a roofer to check my house. The other trees in the neighborhood weren’t touched.

In November, I was in a car accident in which a dodge ram truck ended up on the hood of my small car and totaled it. Somehow, I walked away with just some muscle spasms and sore muscles. I had to buy another car while living on a limited income from social security.

The positive things that happened this year are as follows:

1. I survived the above. I am still living. God must want me alive for some reason.
2. I learned I am tougher than I thought.
3. I started to pray again and became closer to God after the lamentations and the gnashing of my teeth ended.
4. I learned that it is okay to ask for help at times, and needing help does not mean you are weak. Sometimes, it proves you are smart.
5. I found out meditation and grounding techniques are helpful when you become stressed.
6. I started seeing a connection between poor self-care and stress. I’m eating and sleeping better now.
7. I found value in using Dialectical Behavioral Therapy techniques in learning how to regulate my emotions and thoughts while dealing with all the stress.
8. I learned how to accept my illness more and ways to deal with all the side effects.
9. I found out I could love people without losing my identity and self-esteem, to say no more often, and to overcome some of my fears.
10. I learned that nothing in life is permanent, so take each moment and love as much as you can, do good as much as you can, and work to create some happiness in your life, regardless of life’s circumstances.
11. I have accepted that I am a good person, an honest person, a forgiving person, and I work hard on improving myself on an ongoing basis.
12. I learned  good people in the world will help you if you give them a chance.

Despite what life throws at us, good or bad, we can influence whether the year is a positive one. It is not easy when tough things occur. What counts is what we focus on and the techniques we use to deal with stress.

Yu/stan/kema