TROOPS

Sometimes when people find out that my philosophy of life is to Thrive and not just Survive they sometimes believe this means I never get down or depressed. That couldn't be futher from the truth.

Just like everyone, I got through my times of ups and downs, and usually the ups wind a lot more than the downs. However, there are times when it seems like my life is just spiraling downhill and things are jumping from bad to worse. It's bad enough when it's an occasional outside occurance but I noticed during that time that my attitude can take amajor hit and I lose that inner joy that helps me over the hump.

It's during those times that I find I have to call in reinforcements, you know, "gather the troops" together so to speak. So when I say "troops' am I talking about people? Well, sometimes. In fact, when I'm so down I have to look up to see bottom it is always good if I can call on someone to remind me I'm not alone. However, in my lifetime, more times than not, there were not a lot of people I was comfortable turning to. So my troops took on a little different form.

For example, as a kid I used to spend a lot of times watching TV. I usually concentrated on the funny shows or, my favorite, good science fiction to take my mind away and let me know things were better someplace. (Even if that someplace was occasionally outer space.) As a became a teenager that turned to popular music of the 70s (which I still love, with a sprinkle or two of great movies. As a young adult, renting videos could get my mind off of a bad day (or week) and get my mind turned around. The secret for me was to just get me happy again. Because I knew that once i did that things just didn't seem so bad and soon after that downward spiral had begun turning up. Yes, calling in the troops has saved my sanity on numerous occasions.

Now, these days I still call in the troops when things get a bit overwhelming. However, my type of soldiers have improved in the last decade or so. My music has been turned into inspirational talk CDs, my old science fiction books have been replaced by self-help and positive thinking books, and most of my old movies has been replaced by a mentor who shows me not just tells me what to do.

Now don't get me wrong, ever so often I go visiting the old "veterans". They definitely still have life left in them. My criteria is simple. To be successful and stay successful in eerything I do the first thing I need to do is get happy and stay happy. And although being happy is a choice no matter the circumstances, sometimes getting a boost from an old friend can go a long way.

TNJS