Woe is Me

One of Socrates most famous quotes is "know thyself".  Wisdom often comes from being honest with yourself and truly knowing your strengths and weaknesses.

The last several weeks have been a bit stressful for me.  I felt like I was burning the candle on both ends. Being self-aware, I realize that when I start to feel stressed out, I get increasingly annoyed with others and my patience is short.

Here are a few of the stress-filled roles I've played over the past 3 weeks:

1. Greiver - Foxylady, my sweet pomeranian of nearly 13 years, passed away suddenly
2. Patient - I had a painful medical experience when an ovarian cyst ruptured unexpectedly - the doctors are monitoring a second one
3. Travel agent - I planned my dad's 80th birthday cruise and coordinated travel for nearly 20 people
4. Doctor - My son was attacked by fire ants and had an allergic reaction to the over 30 bites
5. Counselor - Several people close me asked for my guidance on personal and work related problems

Notice I only listed roles I played in my personal life.  The work roles were too many to mention.  I began wallowing in self pity.  I allowed myself to get distracted and feel sorry for myself - "I'm so busy...I've got so many problems to solve...No one helps me, why aren't people more accountable, wah-wah-wah, boo hoo, woe is me!!!..."  I had accepted an invitation to my own pity party.

Woe is me is a phrase my husband and I have used for nearly 20 years to make fun of ourselves when we're having a pity party.  We also say Down in the dumps and make sad faces.  Ironically, these tend to cheer us up.  Fortunately for me, my wonderful, loving husband allows me to vent .  I even went as far as documenting the top 10 Things that annoy me, and it felt good getting it off my chest (if you're curious what those are, leave a comment and I'll send them to you).

As I've written before, my stress antidote is going on vacation.  As soon as I felt the twinge of annoyance, I knew it was time to book a cruise.  So that's exactly what I did.  My Michaels and I went on a fabulous cruise vacation to Belize and Cozumel.  We got back Thursday.  It was just what the doctor ordered.  We zip-lined through the rain forest, went cave tubing in Belize, relaxed on Paradise Beach in Cozumel, Mexico, and even tried ice skating on board the ship.

Do you really know yourself?  Do you know what makes you tick, what drives you nuts, and what you love to do the most?  I'm not exactly proud of my moments of weakness, but I'm surely not ashamed.  We all have our moments of self pity...the key is to acknowledge them, move on, and get out there!