Day Eleven

DAY ELEVEN

Asking for help.

So here's the problem I faced, and I struggled with it immensely as it caused me great unhappiness. I tried every trick in my bag and nothing worked. I reread The Secret. I tried to change my attitude. I tried to smile. I tried to accept. I tried listening to music. Nothing worked. So I tried venting: and that didn't work either. Then I finally spoke to my best friend and I said, "hun, I'm just out of ideas...I don't know what to do. I'm not happy. I only accepted yesterday because it's over, but I've got two more days to get through. I don't know how I'm going to do it. If I'm going to write a book on being happy, I need to be sure that the advice I give actually works..."

Now before I tell you what she said, let me explain why my situation was difficult. It was Thanksgiving, I was working 80 hours per week, I was physically and mentally exhausted, I hadn't seen my family in over a year, I hadn't seen my girlfriend in about a month, I had no time for friends, and despite all that work--I had little if any money. So working on Thanksgiving was especially hard because it reminded me of all the things I didn't have. I worked until 2am the night before Thanksgiving, then I worked from 9am until 2 am on Thanksgiving followed by 9am until 11pm the day after. One of my jobs had a gas leak on Thanksgiving and I sat there and breathed that in for 3 hours before anyone noticed something was wrong. All that combined, with nothing really of substance to look forward to...well, I was at a low, to say the least. So, like I said, I kindly asked my best friend to lend an ear. I felt so bad even asking because I didn't want to include her in my struggles so it was difficult even gathering the courage to ask, but in the end I found it.

So when I said, "...I want the advice to be something that actually works. What's the point of giving advice if I can't use it myself?" She replied, knowing there was nothing she could really do, "Anthony," she said, "...if anyone can do it, I know YOU can." Now I don't believe in any set of magical words, something that you can utter and it will suddenly and mystically repair any situation, but if there were any, those would be them. Effectively what she did was remind me to believe in myself; to have faith that I was on the right track. So what I learned from today was: never be afraid to talk to someone or to ask for help, but always know who your strongest sources are, who your "clean-up" batters are. For me, that's her for sure. After that I was able to power through the rest of the week with a new found surge of energy, and a simple, quiet acceptance that some days are just tough. That's how it goes.

Today's task: make a list of your strongest support and never hesitate to use it. We are all here together so that none of us shall ever struggle alone.

Peace and love.