Your mother sounds like an amazing woman. I’m sorry to hear everything she (and you and your siblings) had to go through. It takes incredible resolve to survive all that.
As someone who’s had poor health their entire life, I can absolutely agree that the ‘tender moments’ really make life what it is.
Thanks for sharing.
I’ve noticed over the last few decades that every time I start worrying about WW3, climate change, solar flares, super volcanos, giant meteors etc. that there’s something going on in my personal life that’s causing me stress. Something I feel like I have no control over.
I guess my brain doesn’t want to admit/deal with my own issues, so I focus on something else, something that feels just as overwhelming.
Working on taming the anxiety itself is quite useful, especially if you can’t help the situation you’re currently in.
The things that have helped me the most are: meditating (chakra and mindfulness) which has been great at helping me calm down; finding activities that feel meaningful to me; spending time with the people I care about (making the time); and finding beauty and/or amusement in everyday life.
All of these things take practice and time, which might seem useless if you think that the world will end tomorrow. But even if all you can do is one meaningful/fulfilling thing today, then it will improve your day and help make your last day on earth a little better.
Of course chances are good you’ll wake up tomorrow, and the next day etc., which means you have even more time to live an even happier life.
Good luck my dude.
Mashed, with butter and garlic scapes.
I don’t know why, but the sticker still being on the axe is the best part to me.
“Some is better than none.” -My motto throughout college.
Usually I was stressed by the number of chapters I had to read, or pages I had to write. Instead of shutting down and not doing anything, I would tell myself to just read a single page or write a paragraph because any amount of work done is better than nothing.
Now I apply it to work and chores.