Yesterday, in a therapy group, somebody talked about waking up thinking “I can’t” and turning that into “I can.”
Because I can, I suggested that people make a list of “I can’t” and “I can.”
I can show you my lists now.
I can’t be perfect, but I can correct mistakes. On my “I can’t” list, the 9th entry should read “be anybody else but myself” and on my “I can” list, the 13th entry should be “show up.”
Over two years ago, when I was in the hospital dealing with pneumonia and heart failure, I wrote a blog post titled “Masks“.
Yesterday, in a therapy group, people talked about the relationships between the masks they wear on the outside and how they feel inside. I keep the identify of my group members masked because of confidentiality; therefore I only show what I create in group, including this mask:
Do you see masks in my other photos from yesterday?
POLITICS noun, plural in form but singular or plural in construction
pol·i·tics | \ ˈpä-lə-ˌtiks \
Definition of politics
1a : the art or science of government
b : the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy
c : the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government
2 : political actions, practices, or policies
3a : political affairs or business
especially : competition between competing interest groups or individuals for power and leadership (as in a government)
b : political life especially as a principal activity or profession
c : political activities characterized by artful and often dishonest practices
4 : the political opinions or sympathies of a person
5a : the total complex of relations between people living in society
b : relations or conduct in a particular area of experience especially as seen or dealt with from a political point of view
Yesterday, I wrote and read “DUH!” in a therapy group.
Would it help for me to share why and how I did that? Duh.
Things that are right side up are, duh, easier to read.
What does “Self Care” mean to you? It means taking care of my self. DUH!
Self Care also means balancing my needs with other people’s needs and, duh, this:
Well, duh! It’s time for a definition of “duh.”
duh
interjection
\ ˈdə , usually with prolonged ə \
Definition of Duh
1 —used to express actual or feigned ignorance or stupidity
Duh, I don’t know.
2 —used derisively to indicate that something just stated is all too obvious or self-evident
Well, duh!
Examples of Duh in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Lee and his family are buried there, his marble, recumbent statue adorning the campus chapel known as, duh, Lee Chapel.
— Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati.com, “Doc: No clear solution to offensive symbols,” 22 Aug. 2017
Well, duh. Prescott ranked third in the league in passer rating, ahead of Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees.
— Pat Fitzmaurice, SI.com, “Dallas Cowboys Fantasy Football 2017 Preview: Can Elliott Repeat Breakout Season?,” 2 Aug. 2017
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word ‘duh.’ Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Several times in therapy groups this week, there was spontaneous applause, as people supported each other’s perspectives and progress.
I remember attending an “Opening the Heart” weekend workshop many years ago, where each one of us received thunderous, sustained applause after introducing ourselves. I still vividly recall how that applause felt, after I had revealed myself and my vulnerabilities to many strangers.
Hopelessness showed up in a therapy group yesterday. Today, it shows up for the first time in this blog.
I hope you can see that hope showed up there, as well. Often, when I write topics on the white board during my therapy groups, I tell people that the opposites of the topics are also present. I hope that leaves room for all the reactions, thoughts, and feelings in the room.
Do you see hopelessness and/or hope in my other photos from yesterday?
What do you do with hopelessness? I try to accept hopelessness AND to leave room for whatever hope exists, no matter how small that hope might be.
In the last two thousand and thirty-eight days of blogging and living, I have never said, written, or thought, “I give up!” Today, I am saying, writing, and thinking it. Why? Because starting yesterday, every time I use my laptop to try to create a new blog post, contact WordPress support, or do many other essential tasks, all WordPress gives me is this unhelpful, unchanging screen:
That gives me nothing and no way to post or to get help.
I’ve given this a lot of time and many attempts at solving this. My mind is giving me no more ideas and options.
I give up!
But I can NOT give up blogging, no matter how many new obstacles life gives me, because this blog and my readers give me so much.
So how can I keep giving myself and my readers more daily gifts?
My phone does not give me the ability to contact WordPress for help, but it does give me the ability to create a new post.
So I can give you, today, this daily blog and give you my latest photos.
Harley is obscured there, just like solutions to my blogging problem are hidden from me now. Is it curtains for my blog? Or will some solution become clear and emerge?
Is there a recipe of steps that will give me back the ability to blog from my laptop? If not, maybe I can give myself comfort with the delicious food Michael gives me.
Maybe some computer genius, somewhere, will give me some solution to my WordPress problem. If not, I’ll just keep blogging, giving up disappointment and judgment.
This is the kind of look I give the world when I’ve had no sleep the night before. I’m going to give my haircutter, Mia, a look at this photo the next time I see her, so she can give me a similar haircut next time.
Even if nobody can give me the answer on how to blog again on my laptop, my phone will be just that good as my daily blogging machine.
I give my patients the choice of five “Coping and Healing” groups every week. This gives me tremendous satisfaction.
If you were lost in the woods — of WordPress or elsewhere — and it got dark, what would you do? I’ll give you all the time you need to think about that.
Michael keeps giving us amazing meals — that’s the one he gave us last night before we gave my son Aaron a ride to the airport.
I took this photo to give me a clue about how to find my car in the enormous and confusing parking lot at the airport, which always gives me a headache.
After I took that picture, we did not give up when we were told that Aaron needed a printed-out visa to board his flight to India, even though a website had given him the erroneous information that he could board by giving the visa information on his phone. Michael and Aaron gave me his bags to watch while they ran to the Hilton Hotel, which had printers which gave Aaron what he needed.
I give up trying to explain that any better.
Is it time for you to give up some comments below?
If you look at the good comments in yesterday’s post, you might notice that some good people had some trouble discerning whether that post had good news.
The news in today’s post is that I can relate to that confusion. When I look at the news these days, I often ask myself and others, “Is this good news?”
It’s probably not news that I’m going to share many new photos and relate them to today’s topic. I ask you, good readers, is this good news?
Is this good news that my son Aaron took so many photos of camera-shy Michael? I guess it depends on your perspective and on who you are.
