Worn out, but positive

~ beetleypete

I woke up feeling worn out this morning. Despite trying to make the most of the relaxing four-day lull, my body refused to see the positives that my mind insisted on conjuring up. This tiredness and malaise is predominantly self-inflicted of course, and I know most of the reasons for it.

Too much red wine over a ten-day period.
Eating things I would never normally even have in the house.
Staying up far too late, for no good reason.
Being awakened by barking dogs before 8 am every day.
Allowing myself to be physically aware of every year of my long life so far.
And so on…

But I am a positive person now, so must search out the positives, and let them rise over the negatives trying to dominate my day. This first day of that strangely futuristic-sounding 2018, when in just three months, I will be 66 years old, an age I never expected to reach, at one time.

The sun is shining.
Ollie is waiting to go out, watching me type this. He has been exceptionally good, despite all the disruption to his routine.
The house is warm and dry, and everything has been tidied away.
After today, life returns to normal, until the 24th of December at least.
My blogging friends are all anticipating the year ahead, and many are featuring their blogging ‘best bits’ of 2017.
The TV will stop showing ‘specials’ and tired re-runs of films, concentrating instead on some fine ‘winter drama’ to enjoy in the coming months.
I have a pile of DVD films to watch and review.
My wife starts a new job next Monday. A fresh start, and a complete change of career.

So, the positives far outweigh the negatives.
You just have to say them out loud.

99 thoughts on “Worn out, but positive”

  4. Hope you feel better soon, Pete! I think blogging is a good remedy for you! 🙂
    Happy to see that Julie got a new job, good people are always in demand. 👍🏻
    Give Ollie🐾🐾 lost of pats from us. It’s quite stormy in Cley right ow. Our beach clean out on Saturday has been cancelled.
    Wishing you all a healthy, happy and prosperous 2018!✨
    xxxx

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    1. We saw on the news about the poor dog that died at Cley beach, after eating something toxic. I hope the recent storms have not left too much pollution in your lovely village. Ollie is fast asleep. I will give him your pats when he wakes up. 🙂 X

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      1. Oh dear, that’s tragic! Poor dog and family! 😢 We had no idea ( we don’t have a telly, but sometimes we watch Alex Dolan and the weather forecast …), thanks for informing us. x

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  5. Loving your positives list. I think we are all feeling a bit sluggish after the overindulgence. Although I managed to only drink one glass of wine in the whole two weeks, I did eat my body weight in cheese and chocolate.

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  8. Sounds to me like you are experiencing the joys of living. Sounds to me like it is all positive with you. I am having some of the same kinds of thoughts but in the end of the day I find myself rejoicing in the fact that I can experience all these things …. Better to be on this side of the sod than the other..

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  11. I agree that we have to find the positives and say them out loud. Sometimes I get stuck in a funk and can only see the negative, it may take me some time to realize how truly blessed I really am. But thinking positive can change your life completely.

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        1. Thanks for your thoughts and kind words. I didn’t have a miserable life, fortunately, but I did make so many mistakes. Mostly, that was because I saw the negatives in everything, and was quick to run away from situations that may well have been very beneficial to my well-being in the long run.
          It took me more than 60 years to start to think about life from a different angle.
          Best wishes, Pete.

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  13. Come on Pete 66 is not old, didn’t you know 50 is the new 40, and the 60’s are now your middle ages, not “old” anymore. I would say you are in your prime. My problem trying to get to sleep is the heat, roll on March, best month of the year…

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  15. You know what they say, Pete – after 40, if you wake up and nothing hurts, it means you’re dead! It is annoying having bits of yourself fail -like eyesight, all those pairs of glasses everywhere – and not digesting what you want to eat, but there are benefits. Like knowing you don’t have to do a lot of things, and that you don’t have to care what people think. Best wishes for the New Year!👍🌺🌞⭐️

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  16. Yes, you just have to say them out loud. Thank you for that, and for a great post. I have no grand review of 2017, nor a list of goals and resolutions. I just write about the important things. That’s it. Best to you, Pete.

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    1. Thanks, Jennie. Your work is all about important things. My only goal is to try to see some positive things, in a world full of negatives. But you already do that, every day at school.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  19. Well we are having the coldest New Year’s day in 100 years. Which is longer than I have been alive which makes me feel a little younger! I did ok with 66; it was 70 that knocked me for a loop. As for something positive about Trump that would take more than 2018 to accomplish. Happy for a new job for Julie, health for you and the companionship of Ollie.

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  22. Staying up even later than normal has been an issue for me too, goodness knows why I get involved in a second rate movie!! But from tomorrow I am going to try and be more of a morning person and the first job of the new year is to do a thorough spring clean! Your positivity is catching… 🙂

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  23. Happy New Year, Pete. Congratulations to Julie on her new job. I hope she enjoys it. I’m feeling pretty positive today despite being tired after a very late night. I finally got my new blog up and running with its first post. It’s here if you want to take a look: https://marysmithsplace.wordpress.com/ It still needs quite a bit of tweaking but I’m so glad I managed to get up before the year turned. Also, Hugh of Hugh’sViewsandNews has featured my short story collection on his blog as the Book of the Month. And the rain stopped so we could get out for a walk this afternoon. A good start to the year even if I should have done my annual accounts by now …

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  24. Good Morning Pete:

    Reading that Julie starts a new job on Monday is indeed good news. At, least I hope so. Not thinking about you or me in particular, I have noticed that the face people put on for the public is not entirely accurate. There is always some behind the scenes drama. A manager at the gas station that shares a parking lot with McDonald’s where I normally break my fast is the light of positivism and sunshine. I stop and chat with her simply because it is always a positive experience. I do my blood work in the Ridgeline when I get to McDonald’s. This takes a few minutes. Even in the cold weather, I do it with the driver’s window open. This morning I inadvertently overheard her in a heated telephone discussion with her mother talking about custody of her children and the cost of attorneys. I had no clue there were issues in her life before this morning. Unlike you, I do post images on Facebook to share with a few people who know that I am a closet photographer—two former colleagues, five of Nancy’s sewing buddies and miscellaneous relatives and in-laws of relatives and others. It astounds me how a happily married person one day is remarried three days later with no mention of problems in the former marriage or even that it ended. People posting memorials to relatives who are also on Facebook with no indication they were dying of x, y or z. (It is no wonder so many people believe fake news, they live fake lives online). So, I do hope, the new job is a positive thing for you and Julie.

    Staying with positive, I can see that making an effort to be and stay positive one will have results for one both in the short and long run. Once one makes a conscious effort and sticks with it (allowing for a little slippage), being positive will become a habit. That is good for then one has reason to believe that there is good around one. One will actually look for it. My recommendation is to keep being positive in 2018. I know from your example and my picking up on it early has made me look more positively at things and even feel more positive. (Unless you count my view of the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC—our Chief Boob” better know as the pestilence.)

    Happy New Year and warmest regards, Theo

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  26. Spent a quiet evening at home, despite living in one of the world’s great party capitals. I’m looking forward to writing a considerable amount of fiction, a ton of lyrics, and a few limericks in 2018. I have a birthday coming up the day after tomorrow. I won’t give away my age. But for some reason, there’s this song that keeps playing in the back of my mind…

    Send me a postcard, drop me a line
    Stating point of view
    Indicate precisely what you mean to say
    Yours sincerely, wasting away
    Give me your answer, fill in a form
    Mine for evermore
    Will you still need me, will you still feed me
    When I’m…

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      1. I remember that post very well. And knew for a fact that you’d know exactly to what (song and) age I was referring! By the way, Alaska will also be celebrating a birthday (statehood) on the 3rd. It’s sobering that I am five years older than Alaska…

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  27. “Positivity” keeps you young Pete! Don’t sweat that which you can’t change. Change the things you can and have the wisdom to know the difference. Off we go into the future! Best from Florida!

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  32. Happy New Year, Pete. 66 is still pretty young, my Mom is turning 80 this year and she is still very sprightly. There are lots of lovely things ahead, like the bluebells in the spring [I just love those]. Have a lovely evening and get some rest [smile].

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  34. Happy New Year Pete. Despite drinking far too much rhubarb gin and staying out until 3am, I was surprisingly perky this morning. I went for a little walk in the winter sunshine and I’m about to blitz the endless household chores that have built up over the festive period. I’m possibly still drunk, but I’m making the most of it!

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  35. Happy New Year. Well, I guess pretty much everyone feels worn out on a day like this. Staying up late hasn’t been a thing that I have been doing much anymore (maybe it’s an age thing or something), so I guess that is probably another reason to feel worn out as well. That said, I still look forward to the upcoming year, where hopefully good things are going to be happening. And looking at your list of positives for this first day, I hope they will continue to happen for you as well 😊😊 Hope you will have a great upcoming week!.

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