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intrepidity

(8,582 posts)
Tue Nov 5, 2024, 07:58 AM Nov 2024

You should feel great today and here's why:

Either we will win big, win barely, or barely lose.

If we end up winning (which, btw, we will) then why would you choose to spend this day feeling crappy?

Your feelings today most certainly will *not* impact the outcome.

If we end up losing (lol, no way), then I assure you, you *will* feel severe pain soon enough--why would you choose to prolong it prematurely??

It's the same way I learned long ago to approach the impending loss of a beloved pet: why spend even one minute mourning them while they still live? It *never, ever* diminishes the eventual pain we suffer when the time inevitably comes, so why add to the burden? (And, I just lost my beloved dog one week ago, so the pain is quite raw atm.) But in decades past, I would bring myself to tears thinking about how awful it will be when my pet passes, and yet it did not soften the blow by any amount, this "pre-mourning" that I would engage in. So it's kind of the same principle.

Today is that one brief window of time where you can CHOOSE to feel good and happy today. If the bottom falls out, I promise you can feel as lousy as you want tomorrow! But for today? Choose happiness. Because, I mean, worst case, it may be the last time in awhile that you can, right? (But no, it won't, because we are *actually* going to win this thing.)

Anyway, that's my pep talk for the day.

13 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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You should feel great today and here's why: (Original Post) intrepidity Nov 2024 OP
Sorry, but that was kinda depressing displacedvermoter Nov 2024 #1
Yeah, I suck at cheerleading intrepidity Nov 2024 #4
Enjoy your day! displacedvermoter Nov 2024 #5
I will! Plus, it is Taco Tuesday. intrepidity Nov 2024 #11
Not so. You cheered Me up! Easterncedar Nov 2024 #8
Thank you for saying so. intrepidity Nov 2024 #12
I cannot "choose" to be happy. BlueTsunami2018 Nov 2024 #2
You should be diggin' it, while it's happenin'. cachukis Nov 2024 #3
Harris and Walz support cannabis legalization nationwide. Emile Nov 2024 #6
You are perfectly right, I believe Easterncedar Nov 2024 #7
Yes, you get it intrepidity Nov 2024 #10
Very stoic newdeal2 Nov 2024 #9
Good advice. nt Phoenix61 Nov 2024 #13

intrepidity

(8,582 posts)
12. Thank you for saying so.
Tue Nov 5, 2024, 08:40 AM
Nov 2024

I probably didn't articulate it very well, but I'm glad you saw the message.

BlueTsunami2018

(4,988 posts)
2. I cannot "choose" to be happy.
Tue Nov 5, 2024, 08:02 AM
Nov 2024

It doesn’t work that way.

I won’t sleep right until I know we’re safe.

Easterncedar

(6,263 posts)
7. You are perfectly right, I believe
Tue Nov 5, 2024, 08:29 AM
Nov 2024

Your advice is very much along the lines of a conversation I had twice yesterday. We are all so anxious!

Anxiety is useful only if it drives you to take action to change the outcome. When action isn’t possible, you should let it go. It is hard to will anxiety away, but it’s not impossible. It’s the essence of meditative practice.

I am trying! I have been really struggling with it now for months. But now the day is here. So -

I don’t remember the name of this Graham Greene novel, and I may not get the details exactly right, but in it a South American country is gripped with suspense and excitement over a huge national lottery. The local doctor declares he is throwing a big party to celebrate his winning the grand prize, to be held the night before the drawing. When questioned, he says that as far as he knows right now he is the winner, so he will celebrate while he can.

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