re: #338 A Mom Anon

Honestly, the biggest thing that’s helped me over the last few of years has been adopting a big dog. She was a horribly neglected and really sick as a baby, so I had to put a lot of myself into taking care of her. Now that she’s an adult, she needs daily walks, which forces me to get out of the house when I really do not want to some days. Doesn’t matter what mood I’m in or anything else, that dog has got my back. If I don’t feel like getting out of bed, she snuggles right up next to me and gives me kisses and gently prods me out of bed with her whole face, lol. She doesn’t care what I look like or what mood I am, she loves me regardless. We’ve logged 1.3 MILLION steps since the end of July when I started keeping track. That breaks down to around 425 miles, and that’s not counting what we did before then. Exercise is a HUGE thing for me, without it I go into a tailspin.

I also know the bad days don’t last forever. When I’m sad I make myself say that out loud. It’s hard to do that sometimes, but I also have a kid on the autism spectrum, and he’s WAY braver than I am and faces challenges with the best attitude, so who am I to whine that much? He still needs his Mom sometimes, and I OWE him to be there as much in one piece that I can.

Simple things, but they work for me. There’s other stuff, building a garden is a tremendous help for me too, it forces me out the door and into the sunshine. Nothing fancy really, just what feels right to me.

Something along those lines might work as an approach.

With the daughter in school that might give her more free time to do things - volunteer work or simply getting out and about. The two dogs are a bit much for her to handle (80-90+ pound German Shepherds), and they obey her husband more than they do her in any case.

A garden might be a possibility. Something she can do with her daughter as well if she has an interest in growing things. Or maybe see if she is going to go back towards sewing and knitting work like she was previously doing before the disruptions.