Deal With It!

It seems everyone is battling record high pollen counts resulting in a lot of allergy sufferers, including me.  As a result, I am a mess!  My eyes are red, itchy, my nose runs constantly, I feel tired all the time…yeah, I’m lookin’ really good about now!  I hate it!  Because I cannot escape it I am forced to deal with it.  It nags at me 24/7.  

There is no way to avoid the pollen from the blooming plants around us.  It floats through the air, seeps through windows, doors, there is no escape.   This means numerous trips to the drug store.  I stopped today even though it meant I might be late for work.  I pull out my driver’s license so that I can buy the “hard” stuff from behind the counter.  One tablet isn’t enough, so I am experimenting with doubling my efforts.  In the mean time I continue to explain, “no I haven not been crying, or smoking pot, my eyes are just red from allergies.”

Just think if our relationship problems were like pollen in the air. What if they showed up everywhere? What if we felt the negative or harmful effects constantly, like burning itchy eyes that couldn't be ignored?  It might not be a bad thing.  In order to eliminate our suffering we would have to take action and deal with our problems. 

I call this the blessing of discomfort.  Discomfort is a catalyst to action.  Simply put, when something bothers us enough, we finally do something about it.  Denial is set aside; we pursue solutions until we find the resource that works to ease the suffering.  The key here is look for the resource that will truly help and be good for us in the long run too, no shortcuts.