Graf #7

We all know them, the half-empty, nothing ever goes right, poor me person. These people are hard to be around and they have a way of draining the life out of even the most positive of people. Well I hate to admit it, but my Mom is one of these people. I love my mom dearly but over the last several years she just seems to be getting more and more negative. She always assumes the worst and never sees the bright side to anything. The scary part for me is lately there are times I just don’t want to be around her…my own mom.

To look at my mom, you would think she had it all. She has a wonderful husband of 30 years, a beautiful home, a healthy daughter and grandson, family and great friends. But, she is a negativist – negative about everything. Lately, I very rarely see my mom happy over anything and wonder if she might have some type of depression. She hates her job, hates her family (on most days), hates Maine, hates the cold, etc. Nothing is ever good enough, no matter how hard you try there is just no pleasing her. I wonder where did all this negativity come from and is the reason why I always try and be so positive. Whenever she gets in a really “negative” funk, I always try and point out the bright side. For example, recently she said, “I hate my job!” I responded by saying, “Hate your job, you work 3 days a week from 7am – 3pm; no weekends; if it is snowing, they don’t make you come in; they let you take weeks off at a time…what is to hate?” And she said, “Oh I don’t know Trisha, the people.”

I finally told her that she has got to find something in life to make her happy or find out what about her life is making her so miserable and change it. Because pretty soon no one is going to want to be around her and that is very sad!