Perspective

I've been thinking a lot these past couple of weeks about the way I view things. And considering the way it's been going, I could totally be justified in sinking in to a deep depression (or go with the more self-gratifying option of just feeling really sorry for myself). For instance, who would begrudge me being in a bad mood for feeling stressed out because my money is not only not making ends meet, it's falling significantly short? Would anyone blame me for feeling pressure because mom and I are currently stuffed in to a one-room apartment with WAY too much stuff for even one person, let alone two? When my car starts making a scraping noise because the exhaust pipe is dangling by a plastic thread on to the road, wouldn't that be okay to be mad? (and yes, Heather, you guessed it-the pipe is still not fixed. See above statement about money.) Of course, coming home at ten at night, gratefully falling into bed is nice, but not so much when I realize that I've got to be up at six the next morning to go back to work for yet another 14 hour day. And on top of that, I feel bad that I'm gone so much because my poor cat misses me and can't stop giving me kisses when I get home, to which I usually say "Pippin, your toungue is sandpaper, please stop kissing mommy!"
And I'm sure there's much more in my life that could cause me so much anxiety, stress, depression, frustration, that I could easily and quite justifiably be in a darn bad mood.
Here's the thing, however. I have a great and very supportive family. I have a kitty that wants to kiss me when I come home. I have enough money now that I'm working those 14 hour days. Not to mention that my "work" is mostly having fun and hanging out with friends. Mom and I found a great two-room apartment (with a washer and dryer-hooray!) without snarky landpeople and hopefully we'll be moving in a couple of weeks. I have more than a lot of people around the world (not the least of which is the situation in Haiti, which is why I'm thinking about my perspective in the first place). I have more than enough to be thankful for on this thursday, it just all depends on how you look at it. And so I'm going to go about my thursday, long though it may be, in a good mood.