When Life is Frustrating

How do  you respond when life is frustrating?

This week has been very frustrating for my family.  We packed for our five month winter trip with anticipation and excitement. But on our departure day, Thanksgiving Day, we were unable to finish our preparations until 10 am.

At 10 am, we finally left our North Country home.  We stopped and had a delicious Thanksgiving meal at a diner in Connecticut.  Then we rested for a few hours in our vehicle and resumed our trip.

Arriving at our first destination at 3 am yesterday, we fell into bed and slept.  I woke with the most vicious migraine of my life.  I could not eat or drink.  Something, probably my mold allergy, was causing me to feel very poorly.  Our two dogs would not leave my side because they were worried about me.  I took a top of the line migraine medication called Relpax but even that did not help.

I did not get up on Friday until noon.  Feeling very ill, I told my husband I could not get out of bed.  Being very familiar with the severity of my migraines, he sat next to me and rubbed my aching head.  After a few minutes, he spoke softly, “Babe, I think we need to go back to the North Country.  You do not have these severe headaches there. If we leave in an hour, we can get half way back by night fall.”  I agreed because I felt too unwell to argue.

We had not unpacked anything so we just hopped into our vehicle and returned to our mountain home.  A few hours before we arrived, my headache went away and I could eat and drink again. At 2:30 am this morning, we finally were home again.

Now I am completely well again, thank God!  But I lost 3 pounds in the past 3 days without even trying.

This was very frustrating for several reasons.  First, we spent several hundred dollars on gas.  Second, we were looking forward to visiting with friends and family who do not have time to travel this far North (about 50 miles south of the Canadian border).  Also, my husband has been trying to complete a large project with a due date of tomorrow and could not work on it at all while driving for 2 and a half days.

In spite of our frustration, we did not get angry with each other.  I think this situation brought us closer together because we stood together throughout our journey.

When you or your mate becomes frustrated, how do you respond?  I hope that you respond lovingly with each other and let your frustrations bring you closer instead of driving a wedge between the two of you.

When life is frustrating, look for the good in your mate and draw closer together.

Let the encouraging words in these near a river posts help you

soar like an eagle above life’s storms.

Expectations cause stress, anxiety, and unhappiness.

You can manage your anger in healthy ways!

Be the person your dog believes you are…

A word to the wise about medical bills…

If you enjoyed this post, remember that BJ writes children’s books.

Her encouraging children’s eagle

near a river common core reading book

is available on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com.

Buy BJ’s near a river encouraging eagle reading book

for a child you care about today!