Be Ready for August

Sometimes you just need a month to be OVER. While July as a whole, wasn’t a horrible month, the last couple of weeks were a lot….on a lot of levels.

I’m trying my hardest to see life in shades of gray and not completely fall into a whining pattern when things get challenging day after day after day. One skill we try to teach some of our clients in my practice is that a way to help them handle their distress (which at times can feel unmanageable), is to encourage them to find some sort of meaning in their pain….this isn’t a “turn lemons into lemonade” type of therapy, it’s more of an exercise in helping clients see that everything isn’t always black and white. And obviously I need to be reminded of this at times too (ok, lots of times).

The last couple of weeks of July brought the following:

-saying “see you soon/not really goodbye” to some dear friends traveling abroad for months :(

-my colonoscopy bill from April (saves my life every time, but…...$$$)

-my car insurance company saying they weren’t letting me renew my insurance past the end of August due to a car accident I had in 2012 (nice, eh?)

-a letter from my condo association insisting I weed my yard and get my deck stained and painted (yeah it probably needs to be done…..but grr…..$$$)

-an unexpected air conditioning repair (major $$$)

-a painful dog bite (WTF? Ouch!) with prescription for antibiotics (thankfully no rabies vaccine needed)

-poison ivy rash w/visit to Urgent Care for much needed steroids ($)

-a visit from a national accreditation agency at work for 3 days (not a huge deal but made EVERYONE turn anxious for most of the month)

So needless to say I was ready for July to be done…..financially….et al.  But if you remember from an earlier blog post, I’ve been writing at least 3 things daily that I'm grateful for since the end of May, at our triathlon team’s annual Just Tri camp. This never stopped, even in those last challenging weeks of July, when I felt like I was bleeding money and hurting emotionally.

So a few gratitude tidbits from the last few weeks of July:

-grateful for technology and FaceTime (allows me to talk to my pals who are far away and I miss deeply)

-grateful friends who support and love me through a particularly challenging day in July (one Iron-sister told me to reframe my challenging day and make it something new….so I got a pedicure with sparkly polish!)

-grateful for Franklin County Animal Control who helped me file my complaint with the owners whose dog bit me

-grateful for my doctor who called in an antibiotic for me when I was bit without fail

-grateful for my superiors at work who affirmed my work with the accreditation agency

-grateful for wine :)

-grateful for actually feeling like I have a summer (my IM training will get intense here soon, but for now having a later IM has been nice….I get to hang out with peeps, attend socials, etc)

-grateful for a friend who let me house-sit while she was away for a while in July to earn extra $$$

-grateful for a realtor friend who set me up with a guy to stain my deck for a reasonable price

-grateful for urgent care clinics and health insurance...and for medical procedures that are a pain in the butt to do every 2 years (haha, pun intended), but actually do save my life every time

-grateful for an office colleague who kept me laughing during those 3 days of accreditation review at work….sometimes a laugh can make you feel less alone

-grateful for my roommate who was willing to pay rent in advance if I needed it for the unforeseen expenses

-grateful for a running buddy who did some landscaping for me in exchange for a race entry (gotta love bartering with runners!)

So obviously the blessings still outweigh the challenges...which is probably true for much of the time, even when it’s hard to see it through the pain.  I’m sure August will have it’s own challenges (in fact I KNOW it will), but even still there is much to be grateful about….and some days this is easier to see than others. Some days are just sarcasm and wine days.

Be Ready for August. Be Brave.