Too Blessed to be Stressed

"Too blessed to be stressed" is my motto of the day. I rarely open e-mail "forwards," but a Getting Ahead class member shared one that I couldn't resist and it contained that heartening homily. It was just what I needed to hear on a very stressful day.

Indeed, I am blessed with an incredibly loving and supportive family, the cutest grandchild in the world (IMHO), a job and a home I love, and the only time I go hungry is . . . well, practically never. On a day-to-day basis, though, I don't always remember to count those blessings. Like today. In just the last few months, pain from arthritis and fibromyalgia has become a daily companion and the top joints on both forefingers popped out the way my grandmother's did. Also, although my memory was always bad, now it's worse and it affects so many aspects of my life. It's discouraging to be your own worst enemy at 59.

You know, I don't mind being 59. In fact, I might even stay there. But I remember my grandmother at 59, and it takes my breath away to realize that I'm the same age she was when she was 59. It puts "59" into a completely different context for me. Mufasa! (a Lion's King reference, for those who haven't seen it 23 times).

As that great philosopher Marie Osmond once said, "You're going to laugh about it in the future. Why not laugh about it now?" OK.

If you visit the Parent Support office at Mental Health America, don't be surprised to find computer wallpaper with one or both of those sayings on it.

I got Marie's quotation from her website. I also spent a little time trying to find out where the saying "too stressed to be blessed" originated. Suzan D. Johnson Cook wrote a book called "Too Stressed to be Blessed: about her ministry as an African American woman who became a pastor at a time when many people disapproved of women as pastors.

Having a book with that title doesn't necessarily mean she said it first, though. I stopped Googling and finally decided I was just procrastinating and needed to actually write the blog. So for now, it's by the most prolific author of all time: Anonymous.

Judith Waite Allee
P.S. If you are a low-income parent, please call me at 788-0300 to see if you qualify to earn up to $450 taking a class on financial stability and investigating poverty in Licking County.