Life is a series of ups and downs, mountains and valleys, good and bad. We cling to the good and try our best to muddle through the bad. 

When I’m in the middle of great things happening, I often forget to stop and smell the roses. It’s not until everything crashes that I wish I’d appreciated it more. But sure enough, as soon as life takes off again, I forget.

This month has been a time of great stress for me. Nothing happened as I’d planned. Life does this a lot. We have a set idea of how it’s going to go, and then suddenly, some outside force seems determined to force our path in a different direction. An unpleasant direction. And no matter how much we want to turn around and change our path, sometimes the only way is to push straight ahead.

This is exactly how June went for me. Life did not stick to the plan, and I used every trick in my bag to cope. When I sat down to blog, all I could think about is the crazy month I’ve had. So, of course, that’s what I want to talk about.

CANCER SUCKS!

First, can we all just take a moment to agree on that? Many of you know my brother is a brain cancer survivor. Almost thirty years of MRI’s giving him a clear reading. Then BOOM. Out of the blue, stroke-like symptoms lead to an entirely different MRI. 

In days, my brother went from living at home getting spoiled daily by Mom to lying in a nursing home where two people can visit him for 30 minutes by appointment. 

Second, to take the stress a step further, we determined my mom shouldn’t go through this living alone. So my husband and I sold our home and moved within a three-week time frame. Trust me. If you had told me a month ago, I would sell my house and move, I would have laughed at you. Yet, here I am typing from my new desk in my new home.

Life completely shifted sideways, without my permission.

Anxiety and stress shot through the roof, and it was hard to cope. I had to switch into survival mode. But, now that the move is behind me, I can breathe a little easier. 

I was supposed to spend the month working on book three. Instead, I had a house to pack up, bills to pay, and family to worry about. Like I said earlier, I was in survival mode, so writing had to take a back burner. I had to pull out my tried-and-true methods for when things became too overwhelming.

• I read. I couldn’t write my story, but I could easily fall into someone else’s. It’s a great way to check out for a little while. Just be careful about using this technique too much. You could lose entire days reading instead of making progress. Use it as a reward for finishing a task or maybe only to destress before bed.
• Do something relaxing. This could be something simple, like a hobby, a bubble bath, a walk, or even playing mind-numbing games on your phone. If you can afford a massage, facial, manicure, or pedicure, then, by all means, treat yo’ self.
• Whatever you do, stop looking at the whole mountain of problems. I had to stop focusing on everything I had to do. When moving, I couldn’t think about having to pack up my entire house. So I would think, “I have to pack up my desk.” That’s it. Then I can read a couple of chapters or take a walk. After that, I would think about another small task. At the end of the day, I made progress. I moved forward, which is the goal. 
• Lean on your support. This is the time to lean on your friends and ask for help. When times are good, you can return the favor. Reach out and let them help you in their own ways. Maybe that’s in the form of helping you move boxes, cook you a meal, or just sit and let you unload your problems on them. If you don’t have support, then that’s a problem for another blog post, but if you do, now is the time to call it in.

Those are just some things I do when life throws me a curveball. I’m still not over the hump, but it’s getting easier, and I’m feeling the urge to write again. The next few weeks will have some progress and development with book two. I will unveil the blurb and cover soon! 

Good times will come again.

They always do. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and forget. If you are in the middle of good days, stop and appreciate it. Give thanks. If times are really hard, I’m so sorry. Try some of the above tricks and keep reminding yourself that it will not last. Just focus on the next step, and before you know it, you will make it through. I hope this next month is full of great things for you all!