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A Monday Kind of Day
I typically do not believe in Monday kind of days. But today is an exception. My laptop died — I saw fatal errors that would make a computer technician blush. It is so bad that a message came up in foreign characters that I’m pretty sure said, “You are screwed.” Sadly my email and important documents are on that computer (FYI if you sent me an email that needs response soon, please re-email).
So then got to work on another computer. But it would not connect to the Internet, so, considering much of my work relies on the Internet, there was very little I could do. So I packed up and took the computer to Starbucks for coffee and Internet. I forgot my wallet. Got back to Starbucks and dropped my change in bird poop. Yeah, that’s right, bird poop.
Now I’m settled into Starbucks and ready to work. In front of me are 7 old guys shooting the breeze. They just finished a heated argument over one guy’s trip to Vegas and how he manages his money. It wasn’t pretty. They turned around and apologized at one point for, shall we say, colorful language. Please, with the day I’m having, they don’t know the meaning of colorful.
So I put my USB headphones on so I can edit on our last podcast. Go figure, they are not compatible with Windows 7.
None of this is the end of the world, but it is frustrating and exasperate the bigger concerns on my heart. I think I’m just going to stop right now, get back in the car (which incidentally has its own issues — the turn signal sound will not stop), drive to the park and sit for a bit. Clear my head and still my soul and touch back into the peace of God.
So what do you do when you have a Monday kind of day? Crawl into a fetal position? Pray? Continue the day in a lackadaisical state? Buck up and make a change? Recharge? Go back to sleep?
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{ 19 comments }
LOL! Hope your day picked up, Sr Julie! Bad case of ‘the Mondays’ indeed!
x
Sister Julie, I’m so sorry to hear about your day. I’ve had a few like that lately as well, unfortunately, mostly due to some extreme frustrations at work. Mine always start as insomnia; I wake up worrying about something, can’t get back to sleep, and end up feeling like I’m in a fog for the rest of the day. It happened one day last week when I got some bad news (that I had been expecting, but it became official). I felt bad about it for a while, but when I woke up the next day a thought hit me that my “pity party” needed to be OVER. Time to move on, make the best of the situation. I have felt better ever since. I’m sure it was God helping me to move on. I will keep you in my prayers today!
me personally, i do a little of all those things, first i have a yell, then i have a cry in or out of the fetal position, a little siesta, then i go for a walk in a lackadaisical state, find a little park and isolation. when there, i might cry some more, then sing what ever songs are running through my head (trust me there are more than anyone would think of) and eventually the prayer hits me. its like devine lightening bolts coming to bring me peace. then i am recharged and i either buck up and make a change or relapse into crying!!!
I have days like this, too; I think we all do. If I can, I just try to laugh–sort of a “don’t sweat the small stuff” approach. But sometimes I cry and sometimes I try to do just we you are doing–sitting and thinking and asking, “Where is God in all this?” I don’t usually get an answer except to remember that even when I can’t see God, God is still with me. And maybe God’s point is just that–to get me to stop and sit and think and refocus on God.
May God’s brilliant light break through the rotten beginning of this day to illumine the beauty that lies beneath.
Thank God for Mom’s bathing assistant when she was on palliative care! Miriam would come on Mondays and we would have faith sharing about what we heard at our respective churches the day before. Miriam scolded me when I complained about allthe crosses that God had sent me. “Father God is a good father, and a good father only give good things to his children! When the bad things come, God only asks us to be faithful!”
Okay, that’s my spiritual side talking. My physical side does a lot of heavy sighing. At the end of the day (thankful that I have survived what felt like the trials of Job!), I try to laugh over it with my sisters.
Breathe deeply, Sr. Julie! Get ready to laugh tonight!
Julie – so sorry that Monday seems to be conspiring against you. I hope this means the rest of the week will be smooth sailing. Surely after everything that went wrong today, it should be! I know what you mean about minor frustrations building up and taking their toll. Unfortunately, I haven’t developed any good coping mechanisms for when this happens!
S. Julie,
I recommend a nap. Take a few minutes–no more than 45–and just lay down. If you sleep, great! If not, just rest. Try not to think about the crummy things that are happening. If praying feels natural, then pray. If not, don’t. When you get up, have a cup of tea (lots of honey, please!) and continue to go about your day. When it feels natural to laugh, you should laugh. When it feels natural to cry, you should cry. Don’t pent things up. Last I checked the IHM Sisters are NOT a stoic community, so showing emotion will not lose you points.
Here’s hoping your day gets better! May God bless you with God’s peace of mind, body, and spirit. Amen.
God is Love,
Cody
Hi Julie,
I applaud you on your endurance, that was a lot for one day! However, you knew to take a time out and spend it with God. I am sure the next days will come in harmony, unless that is God’s way of saying enough of the mechanics of life and me time (Jesus). I get that a lot at times and naturally I try to stand against it and when I realize I cannot overcome the obstacle, its the higher power calling. Then peace and grace flows like a river.
Have a happy week and the blessing of having the endurance for life demands
God Bless Julie,
Cynthia
Hello, dear friend. Sounds like you need the next podcast!
Well, dear Sister, it must be the Monday of Monday’s because my morning was a total crisis. After many sighs and a being just a little crabby feeling (not to others, people just think I’ve gone all quiet), I push all the bad negative stuff out, take a deep breath, say a few Hail Mary’s to help me re-center and become calm (and if I can, I come home and play with my dogs for a few minutes as that always puts a smile on my face) so I can reconnect with God and the good. Sometimes takes a few deep breaths and more than a couple Hail Mary’s, but I get there in the end.
Hope you are in a calm state of mind now. Blessings to you!
I have a little practice that I started doing, back in the long ago and far away, when I was exploring the Far Eastern religions. The belief in yin and yang, which I had heard about earlier from Bishop Fulton Sheen who referred to the swinging pendulum. The balance of good and bad, hot and cold, female and male, and God days and devil days. So, what I do when it’s a real devil day is, I remind myself that I have an equally wonderful God day coming, probably the very next day! And I spend the remainder of the devil day trying to figure out what it is that God wants me to learn from the frustrating, exasperating, Lord have Mercy,
kind of day.
Works for me.
I am overwhelmed with your good wishes and blessings. Many thanks for lifting my spirits. After my “sit of peace” I calmly went to the Apple Store. The computer is not dead, merely asleep (to be biblical). The graphics card is shot and has to be replaced. Then I had lunch with my mom — she made me homemade vegetarian soup with fresh Italian bread. Then to the gym. I’ve now got the other guy connected to the Internet and am going to do some work. As for the bird poop? Poop happens. And that’s okay.
Must have been in the air because I had a similar Monday. I felt like I was living/working in the twilight zone. After lunch, I finally took a short walk to clear my mind and get rid of my crabbyness.
If it was the laptop and not the hard drive that went, you should be able to put the hard drive into some sort of enclosure and pull things off that way. So all might not be lost!
But I know what you mean…program notes to finish, laundry to do, and my eyes/nose/ears are oozing from allergies.
hmmmmmmm, let’s see … i probably first cry and eat anything in sight! then i try to figure it out and when i can’t i cry again and find something else to eat! then … well, you pretty much got the picture!
glad it got better, though!!!
other people are key. i invite someone over or meet someone to do something totally random.
sorry your day was so adventurous. glad it turned around a bit.
I’m sorry you had such a rough day. Here’s to a brand new day today!
I also had a little bit of a rough day yesterday so I took some time and read my book! I’m reading The Seven Story Mountain right now and it really helped me get through the blahs because I realized that I could offer up my blahs for people who don’t know God. It seems like such a small thing to do but it really does help me.
God bless you today!
JMJ+
~Betsy
Totus tuus Maria! Let’s see what the good God wills.
One of my favorite books, Betsy. Thanks for writing. And ….
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BETSY!
Chocolate: I’m very surprised no-one has mentioned chocolate in this Eastertide.
Proof God loves us and wants us to be happy.
The other thing I find reassuring is thinking of the chuckles I will get when I tell such stories to my friends. I think this may be something that comes with age, and knowing my friends well. Erm, not that I’m old. But I would think there was some small part of you thinking ‘this will make a good post…’