Express yourself

I think alot of my stress related problems stem from the fact that I feel like my opinion doesn't count and/or matter. I think THAT belief is rooted in the fact that I a first born, a pleaser by nature.

When Joe broke his foot, we had to spend a few weeks at his parents house. They have digital cable and we watched alot of TV. We discovered the show "Jon & Kate Plus 8", about parents who have twins and then septuplets. Yes, Kate can be kind of harsh at times, but one thing I learned from her is that she speaks her mind. Like she will shoo all the kids out of the kitchen, saying "It's too crowded in here, I need space!"

A light bulb went off for me. I would never say that, I would just be stressed about it.As simple as that seems, I realized I needed to speak up more. It wasn't doing anyone any good that I was just going along because, sure I was going along, but my attitude wasn't good, and no one was having fun anyway. And I didn't even realize I was doing this!!!

I have developed some bad habits to cope w/ all the stress. Like emotional eating or running out and buying a snack or a fountain drink. I realized that I was doing these things for enjoyment, comfort, stress relief because I wasn't getting it in my daily life. and these responses don't help anything, mostly just make things worse.

So I have been determined to actively deal with things instead of compensating w/ snacks or drinks or whatever.

It's good that I am working on this because God seems to also be having me work on not quitting.Even when things get hard. Or even unbearable.

A verse that jumped off the page yesterday"Surely His mercy and goodness shall follow me all the days of my life". I felt like it was just for me. And I have repeated it to myself several times. I think I am beginning to understand how you can have hope in the midst of trials...