Choosing Joy

It is really rather wet here today. Strangely I am not really affected by it being winter. . Other than being cold.  

What I do find is that now -June - through to August I am tireder, more easily stressed, and find trying to get things done is slow and frustrating. So my thinking is do I just give up on this time of year? ( not really an option) or do I figure out how to work around it?
Some good ways I know to fight off the wintery greys is colour. . More art time for me I think. .. more time for creating joy.. a choice for this time of year.

What most people don't realize is that even with depression, dealing with stress, fatigue (the real deal not just the  random tired spell) and chronic pain, its a full time thing not ever gone. So that means that when things get worse, or just generally mundane it boils down to choice.




Choosing joy.. or choosing to do the things that might lead towards joy, and accepting that there really are bad days around is part of the process of living. This time of year you can't just pop outside and sit in the sunshine, you need to often invent your own sunshine.


So here is what I do, I walk around at the shopping center, i like browsing through stationary, and art supply shops (I'm a statioinary-o-holic!) These things make me smile and bring joy. I enjoy hanging out with my hubby, hes truly a  bit of sunshine.

On the days when neither works, I try to remind myself to not panic like the end of the world is here. I have depression, anxiety etc and there will be days I do not have control over these things. Its a fact of life for me.


One of the best things I have is the knowledge of God's presence. I remember being terrified at a conference once, because it was storming outside, raining buckets and lightning and thunder kind of things. Out in the rain, a tiny sparrow was chirping and dancing. It is a great reminder to me, that even in the midst of the storm God has it all under control. So no matter how long a day it is, how dark my storm (the one that brews inside my head at least) God hasn't left, and He hasn't left me to deal with it on my own.