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What do I do? Or what should I do?

Is this a trick question? Cause I’m feeling pretty boxed in right about now.

Because really, should my children be giving me a “look” when we all know they are probably the cause of…whatever it is?

All joking aside, my favorite analogy for when I’m feeling a huge pinch in my life is to relate it to labor pains—how can I cooperate with my body so this will be OVER? Or, in non labor terms, how can I cooperate with God to learn whatever lessons I need so I don’t have to repeat this.

Unfortunately, I seem to be a very slow learner…

Oh how I can relate to this post!! Of course, part of coping is figuring out what is causing the day to spiral that direction and once I try and pinpoint that I start to pray. Lord, I know you did not design me to be short-tempered or irritated with the world. Help me to put that down, Help me to focus on You and all that I have to celebrate. That being said…I have to pray it over and over (and over and over and over) some days…and yes it sounds funny with a mini snickers in your mouth.

Today is one of those days for me…or at least it turned into one of those days. I had some great prayer time, devotion time and quiet time with the Lord. And then just one thing happened to make us run late, and there I went! I feel like I need to go face-down, yet again today. I loved your statement that sometimes you can’t even pinpoint why. Right now just talking with a friend helped me to see it’s time to STOP IT! So, I will figuratively go face-down and know that my God can absolutely change my day!

I wanted to thank you for this post (and the scripture). I will come back when I have more time to properly comment.

Agape~ Cathy

Oh can I totally relate to this post. Thank you for your honesty. What do I do… usually simmer in my frustration until I feel so guilty that I can’t take anymore and then I usually find something chocolate to eat and then I try to find a quiet place and ask the Lord to forgive me, then I go and ask all the others that I wrapped up into my bad day to forgive me. That just sometimes takes me to the next day, the whole asking for forgiveness part. I have to keep in mind that God doesn’t want me to be angry, frustrated and annoyed and not to feel guilty about it but to change my attitude by asking His help.

Oh Sophie,

I can totally relate to the spiral thing. I think of it as a downward slope—a super slippery slope! And once I start sliding down, the best way to stop is to go to bed and wake up on a new day!

But that’s not possible when it’s only 8:37 a.m.!

Music is a huge thing for me. Praising my way out of it even when I don’t feel like tends to change my feelings! It’s that old “act your way into feeling” thing. It may take a while—hours, even—but it DOES work for me.

Sorry you had a yucky day and hope it’s better today!

Joanne

Joanne -

I had to laugh when I read your comment, because music usually does wonders for me. But yesterday my iPod crashed, and OH, you want to talk about something that added to my woe-is-me pity party? You’ve never heard such sighs of frustration in your life. But it’s fixed now - and so is my mood. Hopefully. :-)

Yesterday was one of those days for me. Completely unproductive and frustrating.

From my husband eating part of my dad’s Christmas present that had just come in, to not getting any laundry done, to getting on the scale and it moo’ed at me (I really thought I heard it moo in my mind!), to not being able to find my licensure papers, to my daughter leaving her coat at school (had to turn around and go back to get it so it wouldn’t ‘get lost’ overnight), to someone parking in my driveway and blocking me out with 5 animated children in the backseat (carpool day), to having to alter Thanksgiving plans because of my husband’s manipulative ex…. I just told my man on the way to dinner, “I’m sorry. I’m just in a bad mood.” and you know what?
I felt better. I’m sure he did too.

(Retail Therapy aside — because THIS is most helpful too on a bad day) I don’t always apologize like I should, but whenever I can tell I’m being short or impatient or just plain gloomy, I try to apologize for it. and it always seems to immediately help things feel better when I do. and it takes the burden off the other people around me wondering what did they do? Listening to praise and worship music (we have a great Christian radio station here in Atlanta) helps tremendously with my ‘outlook’ on life on a bad day. Singing along wtih it! But I also find that ACTION (actually apologizing) takes a big stride toward immediate relief and also taking the pressure off my husband or kids wondering what they did.
Granted, I don’t get like that often — I’m pretty optimistic and upbeat most of the time — but you know, the occasional gloomies, they come as a package deal with the ovaries. :)

I tell myself over and over (and over) that I am a sunflower and because sunflowers are happy flowers that I must be in a happy mood. Then I pray that God is merciful and keeps everybody/everything out of my way. And I might eat some ice cream. (and too often I spend time apologizing the next day. I am a work in progress.)

Great post, Boo.

I have those days more often than not, and I’ve learned to do two things. Well, I know there are two thing to do, and whether or not I choose to actually care at the time is well, up for debate.

When it starts getting too bad, I go in the bedroom and c lose the door. We have a rule here that you know before going in a closed room.

So, when knocking occurs I can say “Go away” and they have to.

THen after a while of pouting or whatever, John forces his way and talks to me. And th first annoying thing he says (annoying due to it’s truthfulness) is “You know you hcae a choice. You can sit here in misery (or insert appropriate attitude at the moment) or you can choose to get over yourself and come be a part of the family again.And then he leaves.

And I throw things at him behind closed doors.

Oh, you think I kid….

I Make choice and I have to live with it. We tell the kids the same thing, and usually it ends with the family back in stride.

I think you took the words right out of my mouth when you said…”I feel guilty about my mood, which makes me feel selfish, which makes my mood even worse, which makes me feel worse, and before you know it I’m rummaging through the Halloween candy and pulling out the mini Snickers like a madwoman.” Do you think it could be cause I’m from Mississippi that I react to stress the same way that you do??? :) Thanks for letting us know that we are not alone in our “moods”.
I plan to start the Esther Bible study in January with friends but did go to the “free” lesson thing and printed that out so I can get a headstart!

God bless you Sista!

Marilyn

Can I offer a tiny “excuse” for us ladies about this and help lessen our guilt a little??? (It certainly makes me feel better!) Added to the mix of busy-ness, exhaustion, and “keeping the plates spinning”, we have the “gift” of changing hormones that affect everything!

I know this doesn’t excuse my wrong actions, but I think it has definitely affected my re-actions lately. I even went to my OB/GYN about these downward spirals, and he assured me that I was “normal” (so glad to know that!)

He encouraged me to keep consistant with my morning Quiet Times AND told me I need to exercise - sweat at least 3 times a week - yuck! He promised me that if I exercised enough to sweat, it would relieve some of the unexplainable tension.

Just a thought. :-)

Amen and amen, sister!

I usually have to make time for myself to just GET AWAY from all the PEOPLE!! If it’s a particular problem that has pushed me over the edge - sometimes it helps to talk to a good friend but mostly I just need some space and quiet. Then - life looks a lot better

Hi Sophie!

It is funny you just asked this question…. because I feel like it has been something, just in the past few days, that God has really been trying to show me… how He cares about all the details of our lives… attitudes, frustrations, yuck feelings…

Goodness I always feel like I am overwhelmed and can’t get it together… which in turn causes guilt… frustration of why am I so lazy over this… or why do I procrastinate about that… it is always the more mundane things that get to me… the days when it feels like Groundhog Day… here we go again making coffee (why in the world would I dread something so little!)… dirty dishes… you name it… on and on…

I felt like God spoke to my heart a few days ago to really pray over these times when I am overwhelmed… or just blah… I felt like he said, “Emmy when you are weak I AM strong”… so when that overwhelming sensation comes across I just drop to my knees or go face down (of course I go face down in my heart at Kroger… but you never know!) and say, “Lord your strength is made perfect in my weakness and I am really struggling with blank… I need you Lord!”

Well I have only been really doing it for the past few days so I’ll let you know!

God Bless- sorry this was so long… hope it made sense…

Emmy : )

I try a lot of stuff, like music and praying and such, but generally, I surrender to the ornery…and everyone is then either hiding from me or treating me like the sargeant major I’ve become. That’s just the messy truth of it.

And worse? Sometimes I take it out on unsuspecting telemarketers. :( Mwha ha ha ha ha!

I definitely pray through it. Pray hard. And a lot of times cry, because HELLO, I’m a girl. And run for the mini Snickers. Or a King-Sized one. ALLEGEDLY.

ICE CREAM!!! that is my solution for all that ails me! Of course, it doesn’t really help in the long run….it causes me some issues in the bathroom that I usually pay for for a couple of days, but at least I get a momentary boost. And of course, a good ol’ mom’s night out helps tremendously!! and reading a good fluff book makes me forget all my troubles for a little bit!

Of course, I know that these are only “fleshly” helps but I’m not very good at dealing with my troubles “spiritually”.

Oh goodness… you just described the last few days of my life. I’ve been stretched thin to the point of snapping… oh, who am I kidding - the snapping has happened. And that cabin idea - sounds ideal!

I have to say, these kinds of days been MUCH harder to get through now that we can’t have peanuts in our home (my daughter was diagnosed with a severe peanut allergy)… I no longer have snickers OR peanut butter cups to turn to… sigh.

Anyway… to answer your questions, I kind of do all of the above. And it depends on how much the “hormones” are contributing. I usually will turn OFF the TV, and find a good CD. I also try to call a good friend, or at least email if I can’t get anyone on the phone. I have a friend who will pray with me and for me, and that ALWAYS helps.

A good backrub by hubby helps… OR an early bedtime (for MAMA) helps too.

And… blogging… reading blogs… that ALWAYS helps. Because I find out every time… every time… that I am NOT alone.

Hugs to you, Sophie. Hope your day is better tomorrow!!

The last two weeks have been like that for me (I know - two weeks? time to get out of that hole right?) but a two month old baby and a way-busy husband, combined with two dogs, just brought me to my breaking point. Honestly, until I read your post, I hadn’t done much about it - just kind of kept wading through, hoping things would get better. But right now I feel like God wants us to live abundantly right? so maybe I should start seeking Him and then things will start looking up … in fact, I think I’ll try it right now - Thanks for the encouragement!

Isn’t great that you can be “real” with people and all they are going to do is love you that much more? Sophie, thank you for sharing a side of a woman’s life that most won’t share. (I sort of blogged about the sharing side today at my little bloggy.)

I’m in a very difficult season right now. The only thing that has been successful has been crying out Jesus and keeping my eyes on Him. I’ve gotten downright mean spirited with some of the things my husband has said and I’ve had to beg the Lord for forgiveness (not to mention James). When Satan helps me along with my negative self-talk, I’ve countered him with promises from Lord. The verse you shared with this post was perfect for me and I don’t know if I can express to you how much I appreciated it.

What I do know is that God is good, all the time, and I have to keep my eyes focused on that promise and knowledge. Otherwise, I would be going nuts right now!

I had a week like that when my hubby was in Africa on a mission trip..I blogged about it titled the week in review. :)