Since I’m at a more advanced stage of my recovery; I read more. There was a time in my illness that I could not read a book or even watch television, my cell phone totally stressed me out; I couldn’t even touch it. And the computer, that was out of the question. For some seemingly silly reason, my brain would not allow me to entertain myself with anything of that nature. Everything basically frightened me to death. I look back on those days now and wonder what was that all about; I could not explain it but it was sure real. And I certainly could not dismiss or choose what my thoughts were. But one thing I do know; it was real.
Most of my reading right now is centered around self help books. Books that would somehow enhance and improve my life. Some I agree with, others I have to question. One such book I’m reading now (I won’t give the name of the book, to protect the author; after all they have the right to their opinion as well). But I will quote from the book, the portion that I have to challenge and will share my own thoughts on. And the quote is, “Whether we see the glass as half full or half empty, whether we let someone else’s gloomy outlook drag us down, whether we choose to have a great day or not, is a matter of choice.”
Today is a perfect example of why I have to disagree with that statement. You see, today is a really ‘bad day’ for me, not by choice but dictated by my chemical imbalanced brain. My neurotransmitters are not at the levels they should be to maintain a ‘happy’ mood. The neurotransmitters that affect mood are serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. This explains why my mood is so low in the morning; its scientifically proven that serotonin levels are at their lowest at this time of day. So no matter what I want to choose today, happy or sad; my brain as already decided it for me. If it were a choice, I’d be the happiest man on earth. Why would someone ‘choose’ to be negative and sad? But that didn’t mean I didn’t choose to do positive things today; I still done things that helped to improve my day. I just had to make more of an effort to do them. And work a little harder to see that glass has half full.
We certainly live in a ‘it’s all about me society’. Never before have we lived in a period of time when life was so centered around; ‘what’s in it for me?’, not ‘what can I do for someone else?’ We are told to separate ourselves from someone else’s negative outlook, because negativity is contagious. Then why can’t the opposite be true? Isn’t it possible for positivity to be passed on. Why can’t we seek out those who are sad and down and maybe our positive, happy outlook would be passed on to them. And what a better place our world would be if we would sometimes put others before ourselves; it’s called selflessness. Mark 12:31 ‘The second most important command is this; ‘Love your neighbor the same as you love yourself…’
So to sum up my thoughts; sometimes people see the glass as half empty because sometimes that’s exactly what their brain is telling them. That’s not what they want to choose to believe but that’s what their mental illness is telling them. And sometimes in our lives we go through times when life presents itself as half empty. Death, sickness, divorce, financial ruin, natural disasters, crime and the list can go on. There are times when we are allowed to be sad and gloomy; sometimes for good reason. But this too shall pass, life does change; we all experience good and bad, sad and happy. And sometimes our glass may be half empty.
But eventually our glass does become half full. Reality is that for various reasons we can feel overwhelmed, sad, and anxious but when we do, just remember the light will shine again and we are never alone. I challenge those out there today who may have their glass half full to walk a mile in my shoes and see how far you would get. Maybe you too would stumble and fall. But the thing for us all to remember is always get up and keep going; we will win the race, suppose we have to crawl past that finish line; we will get there. I pray God’s protection over all of us today and may today be the best day ever!
