Hey Brad, good to see you here. I hope we can help keep that smile on your face.

Cathy

Stay out of that funk, Brad......remember..."Don't worry...be happy!"...Works most of the time!
Linda C

Thank you Cathy and Linda C!

It's personal what I'm going through and I'm having a hard time dealing with it right now. Let's just say I'm on that journey finding out who I really am. It should feel joyous but I don't at times. I'll just keep saying "don't worry..be happy!" to myself everyday :-). Anyways, thank you again!

Brad AKA Moonwolf

Hi Brad, at bad times in my life my mantra is what the sufi said as he plunged off a cliff, "Even this will pass". Also, "Five years from now I will be over this. All I have to do is outlast it" and the Nietzsche classic, "What does not kill me makes me stronger". Hang in there sweetie and stay positive.
Chicken fried steak...mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...........

A few grams of chemical can turn your day from sunshine to gloom, and vice versa.

Pay very careful attention to what you eat. We all have a different biological reaction/sensitivity to various foods.

Keep a detailed log of your moods, ups and downs, and what you have been eating. You may come up a list of your own "happy foods"

dcarch

And if your list of happy food includes excessive amounts of things like Pringles and Twinkies, we know which chemicals you used to turn your day around. ;-)

Good luck, Brad. Be glad you're living in an age that's more accepting of all sorts of human differences.

Hang in there. I am certainly glad we're living in such an age, and glad people are starting to realize that bringing their struggles out into the light of day leads to empathy more often than mockery. Some funks are nastier than others, I know, but sometimes shaking things up can help. Chase down the cuisine of a completely foreign culture, get involved in a charity that takes you completely outside your own life, whatever. It helps to break a goal down into small, manageable pieces (today I'm going to read two recipes from Morocco, or today I'm going to make a list of charities within an hour driving distance) and remember to pat yourself on the back when you do them. And be gentle with yourself. Even the most successful people in the world are fragile and illogical. We have primitive brains, we are subject to crippling self doubt, and we require love, reassurance, and affirmation.

Colleenoz, one of my very favorite quotes is the last one you said (or as I heard it in one of my favorite movies): "That which does not kill us makes us stronger."
Chicken fried steak is good and I could eat it twice a week if I could, but variety is the spice of life.

Dcarch, thank you for that idea! Now that you mention it, sometimes when I eat fast food (usually a burger and fries), I feel my mood plummet shortly afterwards. Which bothers me since I like my burgers lol. Seafood (especially crab legs), salads, fruits and veggies, nuts and yogurt are some types of food that actually make me feel good after I eat them.

Foodonastump, lol well I do eat junk food, but I'm cutting back on it. Yesterday I got hungry for a snack and grabbed a yogurt instead of chips and candy and soda. I felt really good about that. Most of the TV dinners I eat are either Lean Cuisine or Smart Ones. I have to watch my sodium and caffiene intake anyway because of my kidney stones. Once you get them, it's highly likely to get them again.

Mystique and pumpkin, I'd like to think of my gardening and cooking as one big fun lifelong project that's made up of smaller fun projects as they're both fairly new to me. They really help build my self-esteem (I've had self-esteem issues all my life and being bullied in school never helped that). They're both filled with successes and failures and you learn from them. So I'm learning along the way.

Brad AKA Moonwolf