The best medicine

Not going to lie or sugar coat it - the past two weeks I have been so negative and sad and just depressed. Beebaw being sick and then passing away and then the funeral was so much harder on me than I thought it would be. Grandpa's pass away - it's expected. And he was 83 - he had a really good, long, healthy life. And it still kicked my butt. To help myself cope, I have done a few different things and they all REALLY worked so I wanted to blog about them to help myself remember ways to kick depression in the future!!

1. Service I can't count the number of times I have heard that serving others will help relieve your own worries and basically make your troubles seem insignificant. Well, I put it to the test and it works. The weekend before last, Jake & I got home from saying goodbye to my Beebaw and it had been snowing {it was gorgeous - the valley was blanketed in white} so we decided to shovel the driveway. Well Jake shoveled the driveway and I sat and watched. When he was about halfway through the driveway, he leaned over, picked up a big snowball and threw it - hard - at my face. AT MY FACE! What a boy! So I couldn't let that be ok - I ran over to the grass and rolled some snow up to throw at him and turned just as he unloaded the shovel full of snow on my back. I was soaked but we kept throwing snow at each other - me using my hands and him using the shovel until I was too wet and cold to keep going and I surrendered. After we finished our drive way, we went and did our neighbors driveway too. That was really fun - I was holding a big bucket of salt and pretending I was feeding birds as I threw it out to melt

My studly husband shoveling in his shorts

Afterwards, we went to get ice cream at Simply Icecream in The Ranches - so delicious. I'll admit - ice cream in January when you are covered in snow is a little different but hey its what we wanted so it's what we got! 

"The Savior taught His disciples 'For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for my sakem the same shall save it' {Luke 9:24}. I believe the Savior is telling us that unless we lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives. Those who live only for themselves eventually shrivel up and figuratively lose their lives, while those who lose themselves in service to tohers grow and flourish - and in effect save their lives." - Thomas S. Monson

2. Gratitude Yesterday, I heard an awesome quote in Sacrament Meeting about gratitude. I have been trying to find it online and I can't find it, but its something along the lines of: "If you woke up tomorrow and all you had was what you had mentioned you were grateful for in your evening prayer tonight, would you feel you had properly thanked your Heavenly Father for all that you had been given?" Like I mentioned in the first post, I had a day last week when I was feeling pretty low & I decided to get our my gratitude journal and write in it. OH did that help! It really helped me realize that even though I am going through something really hard right now, I still have a lot to be grateful for.

3. Family This has made me realize, more than ever before, how awesome my family is. I have the most amazing sisters ever. There is just something very comforting about being with my sisters and crying and mourning over the same loss. My mom came to the viewing, the funeral and to say good bye to him both in the ICU and at his home before he passed away. And he isn't her father in law anymore! And she still came! My in laws came to the viewing - when they had met him once, for ten seconds, at my wedding. And they still came. My dad was so gracious and grateful for all the time spent with him. I got to see so many cousins, aunts & uncles. And Jake. Oh I don't know how I would have done this without Jake. He has been my rock and has been such a comfort to me. I am so lucky to have him in my life. He is the BEST husband a girl could ask for. I know everyone thinks they have the best husband, but I think I really do have the best - he rocks my socks off! Haha.

4. Quotes I have found so many awesome quotes - here are a few more: "You write down in your little black book, that in the Gospel of Jesus Christ you have help, and you have it on both sides of the veil. And you must never forget that one thing. When disappointment and discouragement strike, and they will, you remember and never forget, that if your eyes could be opened you would see horses and chariots of fire as far as the eye could see, riding at wreckless speed to come to your protection. They will always be there, these armies of heaven, in defense of Abraham's seed." - Jeffrey R. Holland

"Just when all seems to be going right, challenges often come in multiple doses applied simultaneously. When those trials are not consequences of your disobedience, they are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more. He therefore gives you experiences that stimulate growth, understand, and compassion which polish you for your everlasting benefit. To get you from where you are to where He wants you to be requires a lot of stretching, and that generally entails discomfort and pain." - Richard G. Scott

I am glad I found so many awesome things to help me feel better. Yay for feeling back to my old self!!