As I was washing the dishes this morning I was thinking about the past few days. Ron started his new job at Amazon. His hours were changed the first night ~ he was supposed to be working 6:30–5:00a Sunday thru Wednesday nights. It only changed a bit, his new hours are 6:00p to 4:30a. He also got his first assignment – he is a stower. Specifically he is unpacking product and putting it in tubs to be put in the rotating shelves. So far he is enjoying his job, just having a bit of struggle getting used to the schedule AND remembering to take his water bottle in with him!!!

He learned the hard way that he MUST take his water bottle into work with him. He got a bit overheated Tuesday in the early morning hours and had to deal with dry heaves and the shakes 😰. Last night he remembered his water bottle and this morning reported that he was feeling much better today.

I had been reminded by a dear friend to watch for signs of my depression rearing its ugly head once Ron went back to work. She knows me quite well and reminded me that I struggled with my depression when Ron was working at Amazon before our move to South Carolina. I had told myself to stay aware and be on the lookout for the signs of depression. I’m thankful for my Bestie/Jewish Mama – she knows me so well.

To be honest yesterday was a hard day. I hadn’t gotten to sleep till after 1:00a on Tuesday (Ron’s Monday night shift) and I woke up a lot through the night and just couldn’t get myself moving yesterday. I slept off/on till almost 10a, then moved to the couch for about another hour and found myself snacking A LOT throughout the day.

I did make Ron’s lunch for him to take to work and I made dinner, but forgot part of it till he was long gone to work 😱…I’m giving myself credit for the things I did yet acknowledging the things I need to work on.

I actually went to bed just before 9p last night and was asleep before 9:30, listening to the Gaither Vocal Band. I slept pretty hard for about 5 1/2 hours but was able to fall back asleep quickly after a quick trip to the potty (getting old can be so fun 🤣. Ron got home just after 5a and he grabbed my hand when he crawled into bed and back to sleep I went. I slept till the dog feeder went off at 7:30a. At first I was thinking I should change CharlieBoys’ feed time to 8:30a but immediately thought – wait what a great way for me to get up each morning…to the sound of our sweet boy eating his breakfast.

I got up and got dressed (though I think I could go back to sleep ~ early sign of my depression kicking up its ugly head!), took CharlieBoy for a short walk (need to work on taking longer walks with him in the morning ~ that is when it’s cool outside!!!

After a short walk I straightened up the trailer and did up the dishes from yesterday’s dinner (see beginning of this post 😀) and spent some time chatting with God, thinking about a few different things. One of them was “It always works out the way it was supposed to, even the disappointments”, which is something one of my RV friends posted the other day. So much truth! Thinking back on our journey over the past few months and how our life is nothing like we had anticipated it. You can read about some of that journey here. There have been disappointments AND happy times. Things happened that made me question WHY? HOW COME? and yet I can see how God took some crazy situations and has brought them to a positive place in our lives.

And I’ve learned some more about myself…I’ve known for a long time that when I have a schedule of some type, I do much better emotionally, spiritually and physically and the last three days have firmed up that knowledge. I got out my daytimer this morning and wrote down the things I need to do each day and my goal is to ✅ those items off daily. They are not life altering things, but then again, I guess they are – by doing them each day it alters my life for the day. What are those four things: time in the Word, plan dinner for each day, write and crochet. I’m sure I will add to that list. But that leads me to ask you

What do you do each day to help your life run a bit smoother?

In my quiet time this morning I focused on the Fruit of the Spirit for the month. For the month of April it is SELF-CONTROL. This encompasses so much: controlling of my tongue, my thoughts, my behaviors. The definition of self control “is the ability to control oneself, in particular one’s emotions and desires or the expression of them in one’s behavior, especially in difficult situations.” In studying the Word, the definition is “self-control is a fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23. It is the ability to control our thoughts, emotions, and actions“

And I realized this is a tangible thing for me to focus on in curbing my depression from rearing it’s ugly head by controlling what I do throughout each day will help me to not go down the ugly road of depression. Is this something new? Absolutely not, just a great reminder to keep my focus on the Lord, what HE wants me to focus on and live each day to the fullest…staying in bed all day is not living my life to the fullest. Thank you Lord for once again tying things together for me!

Do you have specific things you do to help you get through each day?