joy time

so it's hard to write when I feel uninspired, and I have felt that way a lot recently. more than likely the whole religions challenge was a way to get inspired. it was good for a bit to challenge my mind, and I am not saying I am giving up on it, but I will say I have found inspiration once again.

so you should all know my job and how challenging it is to find joy, simply for the fact that it's a hard job-- working with people who have gotten caught between a rock and a hard place and that sucks! point here being, every day has a new crazy story about how unfair life is, and this is draining.

I kick myself in the butt a lot because my natural reaction is sympathy, I try and want to be compassionate. I see the person sitting down with me and start agreeing with them that life does indeed suck, that they don't deserve this thing happening to them! seriously, you wouldn't believe these stories and how crappy systems can be! but taking on others emotions every single day is draining. 

am i repeating myself? yes. this is my cycle, and that cycle keeps me down unfortunately. this week i chose to be positive. let me tell you straight off, i did get pissed off this week, i did complain, and i did get drained, but i kept returning to my choice to be positive. in seeking joy, what happened?

one saved message (my office mate saves messages if she gets to mine before i do). this message was an old client just calling to say thanks. to say thanks.

and a long time coming success story. here's the story. A guy younger than I served two tours and ever since has been pretty messed up, living street homeless and not wanting any help. The case manager before me couldn't get him to into services, I tried too and then decided to quit and just talk to him. He was willing to talk, unwilling for advice, so what the heck. I talked to him a little each week for almost probably a year now, never anything too deep. Out of the blue this Tuesday he brought up wanting mental health services! unfortunately, our MH doc wasn't going to be there till Thursday. (If you know anything about my work, you know if you don't get the person "in" the day of their decision to move forward, you miss your chance. truth.) So along came Thursday (today!) and there he was. He still wanted to move forward and chose to talk to some of the other clinicians as well! no matter what happens the coming weeks with him, this is a success story

so when you're down and out, force yourself to find joy. it wont happen right away, probably wont happen how you expect it, but God is faithful. just keep praying. catch you soon :)