On The Negative....

Chance commented to me this weekend that my attitude (and blogg posts) have been a bit negative as of late. I certainly didn't deny it, how can I? As someone who leans towards pursuing the positive aspects of all factions of our collective experiences, even I find myself in moments of dispair and fret.

Happily, our political climate has shifted and now faces the demanding, but at least now possible, challenge of change. Clearly this is something to be enthusiastic, if not totally hopeful about.

Yet, this morning, I came across this while surfing the net....


http://projects.washingtonpost.com/fallen/



The thousands of faces, most under 25 years of age, I can't find the words. Think of a similar project documenting faces of each Iraqi murdered in this war? There are numerous that detail the incidents and estimated deaths (http://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/) but the exact details, the faces, the mothers and children...

It's difficult to not feel dispairity over the massive loss of life. It's difficult to gather my thoughts, to fully comprehend the numbers, the lives, the impact this war will have on all of us over the long term.

The issues I am facing with Max's dad are pretty difficult and stressfull. It's nothing new to the countless other single mothers who have fought to manage this situation and I shall too, fight the fight to keep my child safe and mentally/emotionally sound through what may turn out to be rather ugly. Absentee fathers is an epidemic in our culture, in many. But no matter where you live, it's not being dealt with. These men are not being held accountable, and their lack of accountability is enraging generations of children. Affecting their self esteem, their self worth and pushing so many into poverty and with substandard opportunities. I cannot deny that I am angry with this man, any mother would be. Max deserves more. All of our children deserve more and not just from the fathers that mothers that aren't there to support and love them, but from our community and support systems across the board.

My stress level regarding a few different issues have hit the ceiling recently and my body has taken extreme measure to inform me that it is time to get the stress under control, else face the consequences.

With that in mind, I am having to make some changes. One of them being more of a focus on my own mental/physical/spiritual health. It's a beautiful idea in concept, but implimenting this plan of mine will take some effort, an effort worth it all eventually.

I suppose we'll see, but this past week has taught me some thing very vaulable and that is that I can give my love to those around me wholeheartedly, but becoming consumed by every emotion of every day is too much for anyone and at the end of the day, I must take care of me in order to care for the people and this life that I cherish.

How do you manage your stress? When negative, less than peaceful thoughts enter your mind?