Reality Bites by James  Norton

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Life is funny sometimes and the people we encounter as we navigate through it are even funnier.  In years past, I would be less tolerant than I am of people now and I look back and laugh at some of the situations my own sense of ‚Äúpride‚Äù put me in.

Today, as I close in on 40 years above-ground, I can say that other than some obvious common sense issues I have never resolved, I am wiser and more diplomatic when it comes to human interaction.  Now don‚Äôt get it all twisted ‚Äì I won‚Äôt be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize anytime soon, but, after what I‚Äôve been through personally – especially in the last year, I think I have emerged with a fairly level headed sense of reason.

The ‚Äúmoving on‚Äù part of life seems to be the most difficult for me.  Some of us, myself especially, harbor guilt and mostly for the wrong reasons ‚Äì and that‚Äôs hard to make go away when you understand what your head is telling you, but your heart is taking its sweet time catching up.

So I went to the doctor the other day, and he was shocked at the amount of weight I have lost in the last 13 weeks ‚Äì I mentioned how my life has changed since late March in this column already, so I don‚Äôt need to get into it again.  Now that I have put my physical health in order ‚Äì or on the right path anyways ‚Äì I need to get my head and my heart moving in the right direction as well.

I told him I was happy with how life was treating me these days, and I suggested maybe a more positive attitude; maintain open communications with family and friends and latching onto that which makes me happy (whatever that may be).

The doctor, while agreeing with my notion of self-induced happiness, suggested adding therapy to the mix in order to clear out feelings of guilt and self-doubt.

Oh yes, members of my family just cringed.  That‚Äôs okay though, because writing about things in my life in this column has been therapeutic over the last few years, so why mess with something that actually works?