Bonus List Poem: Chemical Solutions for Chemical Problems

Meds Hormones

Sunlight

Dancing

Pain Management

Hiking

Sex

Faith

Cyclical Changes

Planetary Changes

Time with Trees

Time with Ocean

Time with Friends

Rest

Action

Singing

Meditation

Nutrition

Hydration

Yellow-Lensed Sunglasses

The emotional clouds lifted yesterday at about 9am, after I talked to a girlfriend all about her situation and her issues for a while and I realized, again, that we all have our stuff and my stuff is not very different from a lot of people’s stuff.

Then I went to a meeting, then to see Trish, my longtime therapist. She said, “Have you noticed that this happens around this time of year every year?”

“But Mike is really upset at how upset I am,” I said.

“Yes, that happens too,” she said.

And then we discussed the effects of chronic pain and seasonal darkness on mood. Then I went and got myself some actually comfy shoes, Altras, which elated me.

My mood continued to lift and dissolve throughout the day and it wasn’t full sunshine and birds chirping and rainbows in my head but there was peace. And there was hope.

Yep, I’m pretty sure whatever I was experiencing was chemical – it had that desperate uncontrollable quality to it – that real emotions unrelated to real events quality. I can get through it. I get through it. I have help. I’m gonna keep going.