When you're having one of those heinous weeks, and think things couldn't possibly make you feel worse, you should always remember that they have the potential to turn completely around. I've seen this phenomenon many times in my life. I'm not sure if the universe is doing me a solid by helping scoot me along and throwing me some good when I feel like garbage, but I'll certainly take it.
I wrote my last post before I was paid fair value for some really fun illo work, had just found an old letter from my father, and discovered life with a new job that I may already be in love with.
Every time I get super low, I try to remember the U-Turn Phenomenon [or, UTP]. When I'm bumming, I never seem to recall that in every other bad and uncomfy time, I've seen it all turn around. The same wonderful phenom likely rears it's head when you're least expecting it, too. Feeling down, well, it sucks. And when you're in a depressed mood, the last thing you want to hear is some idiot on a rant about how 'it'll be okay'. But shut up, alright? I'm about to drop some insight.
I have friends who are still sick with Crohn's. It never goes away, but when we're in remission is when we totally forget everything that we had just powered through. And who could blame us? I don't want to dwell on how embarrassing it was to be an adult and experience regular accidents, or recall painful and [again] embarrassing procedures. Here's the thing though- when those embarrassing things happened, who do you think was the first person to laugh? ME. If you beat everybody else to the punch by giggling about some crap [ha] that you can't help anyway, you'll be surprised at how much you can actually change the situation. You avoid looking bad by shedding light on the poop in a way that says, 'Hey, I'm sick. And here's how I'm going to handle it', rather than, 'Hey, I'm sick. Feel bad for me, because I'm too wrapped up in how sad I've become to look at this with any sort of positive thinking'.
Here's my point, and you don't have to know illness to understand it. When your life shits it's pants, shimmy out of those pants and put on some sweats. It's an excuse to wear sweats, and NO ONE will judge you for putting on something comfy after dealing with what was just super unpleasant. You might actually get a few pats on the back. The only thing you've got to promise me is that you'll take a look at the mess at your feet, and choose to skip over it after making a joke -without crying- and wait for the UTP.
Don't cry over poop-filled pants.
