Strategising

Pictures !

First a serious one :

Oh and a bit of an apology for yesterday's post - sometimes I'll start off with something that seemed a good idea but sometime during the typing, the "good" of the idea evaporates and the quality starts to descend to the floor. Where it commences digging. Oh well. It seemed a good idea at the time and if anyone is interested in a little advice about :

Hifi's
Computers
Geeky stuff
Other stuff I can't mention here (that got you curious - admit it)

Drop me an email and I'll try not to go nerdygeeky like yesterday.

On with the pics, starting with going through the one up top. We've all hit the rocky stuff at some point in our lives. I'm still struggling with my own one that's lasted maybe 3 years now (it's healing but very slowly). How do I deal with it ? Staying positive, which is much harder than it sounds. When the negative stuff hits, you need something to rationalise it, to accept it, to distract away from it.

Activities - the cricket was great, a side effect of Warp Speed and exercise with me is that it shuts my brain down. I can't think as accurately as when the adrenaline isn't in my system. Sometimes that's not a bad thing. Being cold and analytical about it, depression can be due to an imbalance of chemicals in the brain. And having a rush in of endorphins and adrenaline from running around can jump start better chemicals getting in there.

Oh - if running around isn't an option (it isn't for me at the moment) then breaking the natural rhythm of what you can do helps too. It's why I'll mosey around the shops at either the local Mall or Cabot Circus for an hour or so. It gets me out of the house and doing something different.

Contribute - I live for helping people out. Although I think it was winding up the boss today when I was piping up with helpful (it was - honest) bits and pieces about the old project. I didn't know every nut, bolt, nook or cranny but it was close ...

Oh - I wouldn't advise contributing this way :

It may seem like a good idea at the time but if you don't use a burn phone, untraceable cash and can't arrange a cast iron alibi then ... Oh and use an internet cafe too cos "I need a hitman" will be a giveaway if it turns up in your Google search history on your own IP address.

Comparisons - Compare yourself to a time when you felt different. Yeah, the skin thing is lingering on and I'm not really helping it go away but - it's a hell of a lot better than this time last year and it's steadily, slowly improving.

It's not just that though. With the personal/relationship side of me I've gone through some massive highs and some equally massive lows. I'm pretty sure my latest attempt at making someone run away screaming (the - "will you go see a movie with me?" question) is actually making them run away screaming but I'm trying to be more philosophical about that than I have been in the past. I don't show it too much but I feel as deeply as anyone else does, possibly more because it doesn't get let out too much.

Emotions - Create different emotions. Watch a funny or scary movie.
Erm - like watching Captain America 2 and then having the urge to run pellmell across the car park on a leg that 3 days prior was being exceedingly painful.

Or like last week when I had a remote control tech support phone call starting at 10.30pm from the parents (who I love to bits but who I wish sometimes would RTFM). It was literally like pulling my hair out but we got things sorted. My dad is as anti-techie as I am pro-techie. Strange how that works out ! Long story short, the next thing I saw was a Yogscast Kim Galacticraft video that had me grinning from ear to ear within minutes. You can't help but laugh along with them.

Certain emotions though ... I wouldn't advise checking out ... Like Ivanova said "You're too young to experience that level of pain."

Pushing away - Push the painful situation out of your mind temporarily. It's why I've insisted on staying working when at its worst, my skin condition probably would have justified me going on sick leave. I can enter a state of total focus, where the world is shut out. Including the sensations where my body is telling me to check out the bad bits, which invariably makes things worse. The total focus state comes in during certain gameplay and can hit during work time too. I zone in.

Thoughts - Replace your thoughts. Read a book. Play a game.

There's not much worse than sitting, moping, dwelling on a problem. Sure, you need to confront, analyse, evaluate and exorcise the problem to put it behind you but - sometimes we're just not ready to put the problem in its box. And replacing the bad thoughts with something different can give you insight and inspiration of how to deal with the problem thoughts.

This is bad :

This is good :

Sensations - Identify other sensations. Be mindful of the smells, feelings and textures.

Not so sure about this one. Although what did come immediately to mind was Cupcake vs Muffin. (I definitely miss Snow Queen Special Cakes!) Popcorn vs Biscuit. Pizza vs Pasta.

Something that's not on that first list though - Ask.

Don't feel bad about asking for help. Your friends will give it unconditionally and it can sometimes be the most effective way of dealing with your problems. You may not see a way out yourself but sharing the problem with someone you trust will help you climb over that wall of thinking through it. But most of all :

Hugs always help.