Can You Give Me A MOMENT?!

I am seriously annoyed by the rapid fire challenges heading my direction these days. A few have had life altering potential but some are just plain old look up to the sky and say, "Really? Just a MOMENT to breathe would be amazing!"

Our guys are doing pretty well these days, mostly. Until:

• Fixated girl demands attention to the point where the S.R.O. (school cop) has to get involved 
• Several authority figures accuse for things not done 
• Smack talk the wrong kid and a sharp right hook knocks unconscious requiring EMS, police, security, video surveillance, Emergency Dept, doctors, MRI, CT, concussion 

I told my Love I felt I needed a prize for getting through this week. Just a MOMENT to celebrate survival.

But I keep going - Five Minute Friday today with the prompt MOMENT.

Pictures from a few years ago when

I thought parenting was challenging.

PAUSE: A Key to Depression Prevention

Five Minute Free Write today is PAUSE.

I've written about my ongoing battle with depression several times. One of the ways I've learned to push back from the edge of the Black Hole is to PAUSE.

Do you ever have a moment where you want to freeze time and just hold still, soak it up and breathe deeply? For me - occasionally.

I love ballooning for a bunch of reasons, one of which is the PAUSE
that comes after the burner is used when there is just silence.

Do you ever have to make yourself stop, take in what is going on in your world and receive the gifts you've been given? For me - absolutely!

When I'm skirting the edge of the Black Hole of depression or getting close to falling in, I PAUSE. I look for the great things (my people), the good things (having a solid roof over my head, running water, a car to drive, food to eat) and the "daily" things t
hat have to be done but I don't always appreciate my ability to do them (cooking, cleaning, shuttling my kids around). If I PAUSE and see these things for the gifts they are, I can back away from the Hole for a few minutes, a few days, a few weeks or even, if it's sunny consistently, a few months. But I have to make myself PAUSE regularly to keep from the dark despair that comes with the Hole.

If I am IN the Hole, it's impossible or very close to it to find the good, see the great, or be amused by the "daily" stuff. That's when I go to my doctor. Modern medicine isn't the ultimate solution, but by the time I get to him, I've tried exercise, thinking happy thoughts, journaling, etc.

Like a picture captures a moment, take a moment.Stop and look around you. PAUSE.