Always look on the bright side...

I've been feeling pretty rubbish for the last week or so.  Last week I developed a load of mouth ulcers which pretty much prevented me eating anything that required chewing, needless to say I had a lot of soup.  I felt generally drained all week and couldn't do my usual exercise.  A few days later (on the first day of my 4 day weekend) I came out with a stinking cold.  I dosed myself up as we were going away for the weekend and managed to feel okay for our trip to the zoo on Saturday and ALS' first strongman competition on Sunday (he did excellent by the way!!).

Bank holiday Monday was not pretty.  I'd kept the cold at bay for a few days but the amount of paracetamol and such I'd taken caused havoc with my stomach so I spent my day absolutely full of cold and dashing backwards and forwards to the toilet.

The reason I'm explaining all of this is because this is what my life was constantly like a few years ago.  I'd get a nasty virus like this that would knock me off my feet for a couple of weeks probably once a month.  I was sick a LOT and it meant that I just had to carry on.  I couldn't take time off work every time I got a bad cold or something because I'd never be there so unless I was being physically sick I always dragged myself into work.

Cue this morning (Tuesday) when I get to work feeling very sorry for myself.  Having not had a nasty cold or bug for nearly 2 years now thanks to getting myself a lot fitter and healthier I suddenly don't know how to cope any more and have been a lot more self pitying than I should.  It was only when someone asked me this morning why I was at work when I realised that I could easily handle a cold.  I was at work because I hadn't even considered taking the day off - this wasn't "being sick", it was just a bad few days and a part of life for me.  Plus people seriously abuse the word "sick day".  Such as coworkers who would take a day off for a hangover... here's an idea, don't get drunk on a work night?

Long story short I've been cranky and grumpy but tonight I instantly feel better and it's for such a simple reason.  I just had a little walk to the local shop to stock up on essentials and on the way I noticed a plant pot in a public area where someone had obviously just ripped the flowers out and scattered them on the floor around it along with copious amounts of soil.  It reminded me just how selfish and unnecessarily hurtful people can be (I'm guessing the flowers never did anything to them).  On the way home, however, I walked past the same plant pot, looked up and saw the most beautiful sunset.  The sky was all different shades of blue, red, purple and orange.  It made me think that even in the most ugly situations there can be beauty and there's almost always a positive somewhere if you look hard enough.  I'm still annoyed that people vandalised public property but if I'd not stopped I wouldn't have seen that sunset.

So next time you're feeling crap about something, stop and take a full 360 view of it (whether physically or metaphorically) and hopefully you'll find something positive somewhere along the way.