It's All Small Stuff

2011-04-23T11:03:00.000-05:00

For years prior to my dysthymia diagnosis, I got mad at anything and everything. If some event during the day did not go as I wanted or I perceived it as "bad", my anger flared. And I didn't stay mad for a minute or an hour but for as long as a day or even a week. I allowed one negative situation to over ride all other aspects of my day even the pleasurable, fun and "good" events. I was unable to let go, forget and move on. Unable to live "in the moment" my bad days out numbered the good days. What types of things made me so mad you ask? All of the following and more:

dropping an object

getting stuck in traffic

my husband watching too much TV

a client cancelling a show

the local radio station changing the "time-saver traffic" report to "real-time" traffic

waiting in line at the grocery store

being put on hold on the telephone

a store discontiuing an item I frequently buy

a rain storm

my husband changing the radio channel when he drove my car and not changing it back after he arrived back home

Do any of these things sound familiar to you? If you get mad over little things like those listed above you are sweating the small stuff. After two years of therapy, listening to self-help CD's and re-inventing my thinking along with the help of anti-depressants, I've learned that every thing in life in "small stuff". I no longer anger or even become slighted irrated at any of the events listed above.

I live my life in a state of gratitude and know that the world and my day is not "all about me". If fact it's not about me at all. I'm here on a journey, a mission and everything that happens in my daily life is meant to happen, to teach me a lesson I need to learn. I am healthy, able-bodied, have a warm bed to sleep in and a roof over my head as well as good food in my refrigerator and pantry. I have all I need. (Material good will never acheive happiness for anyone. A better car, more money, a better job or being 20 pounds lighter will never buy a person happiness.)

If you become irrated or angered over small things, you are unhappy. If you do not realize you are unhappy, you could be suffering some a mood disorder.

For a period of two weeks, write down everything that makes you mad every day. Also note how long you stayed mad and how mad you are on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being totally and completelly mad enough to act out in violence). After two weeks, look at your list. If you list consists of trival, unimportant items that make no difference in your in your long term happiness, it might be a good idea to seek counseling. I did....and my quality of life improved 10-fold.

BORN MAD

It's All Small Stuff