Anger management

I am pushing myself harder than I ever have before, physically, mentally, and emotionally. The surgery has definitely enabled me to do this, even though at times (like when starting a new grad class last night-gah) I feel like a human punching bag. It's nice to know that they will be counting the previous work and the rumors were not true. How have things changed? I have an aide in my lowest level class that took me aside and told me how amazed he was that I do not lose my temper at my 17 kids, many who have special attention needs or have individual education plans to guide their learning. I told him that the weight loss surgery helped a lot in terms of what upsets me. (That, and experience, experience, experience...) Anger can be a great motivator, but I think I am done with it. I think Sartre had it wrong: He said that "Hell is other people." I think that over time the one thing that has universally helped through Year 1 of this is other people: here, at work, and other friends (the ones that you don't lose). Dave

hey dave,, right now i need a little anger management after they posponed my surgery,,good thing im not trying to eat,,lol,,im sticking with the original low cal,liquid loss just in case danbury takes me in..glad you can controll yours,i am having a hard time dealing with why they waited two days before surgery untill then to tell me it was posponed,,i am mad,but going forward...thanks for listening dave....cyndee

At least it is "postpone" and not "cancelled"... hang in there. Buy one of those punching dummies and beat it up. A long time ago I thought of a business idea: You could email pictures of people you dislike to a web site, where they put the picture on one of those punching dummies that you can knock over and they come back up. There are several reasons I didn't pursue this! Step 1: getting the OK for surgery Step 2: surgery/ short-term physcial Step 3: long-term physical Step 4: mental/social Step 5: ? Maybe you achieve Enlightenment at step 5... Dave

Well I have two quotes for you. Nothing changes your opinion of a friend so surely as success - yours or his. - Franklin P. Jones, Saturday Evening Post, November 29, 1953 Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words - "mank" and "ind". What do these words mean ? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind. - Jack Handey The first quote refers to some of the things we were talking about last night at dinner. The second is just some random nonsense from Deep Thoughts that I threw in which will hopefully brighten your day.

Hello Dave, Great advice and its nice to hear you have gotten past the anger. Live is too short and we tend to stress out so much more these days. We all have to take a deep breath and realize its not worth it to let minor issues upset us. Major ones I could understand, but its just not worth it in the long run. I have learned as I have gotten older that we have to take time for ourselves and our families and enjoy life. This generation today is too stressed, to busy and to disrespectful. I am so glad that I have the values I have and that my parents brought me up to be respectful, caring and a loving person. I hope and pray we all live very long and happy lives. We all deserve it after all we have been through as obese individuals. This surgery saved my life and has made me love my life so much more. I know you said you did not remember me at the dance but I wanted to respond to your post and say what a very nice person you are and how much I admire you for your success with your weightloss. Your an amazing guy and very nice too. When I met you at the Picnic you were very friendly and alot of fun too and at the walk too. Hope to get the opportunity to see you again and tell you in person. Thanks for being part of our OH family. Take care of yourself and be happy. Hugs KimC

Thanks for the kind words. I didn't remember you because you, among many people who were at the dance, have changed so much in so few months that I couldn't recognize you. I think the best compliment that any one of us can get is that our outsides are finally starting to match our insides, if that makes any sense. Dave

Hi, Dave! I like your idea of the best compliment. It does make sense. We've always been beautiful inside, even if some of those around us couldn't see it. And now our outsides are finally becoming beautiful, too. Debby

Nothing has taught me patience and anger management like having four kids. They are 9,8, 5 and 4. GAH! indeed. Over the years I have learned to relax and take life in stride. I am not anywhere near perfect at this yet, but letting people and stupid stuff get the best of you is only doing yourself a disservice. The process we ALL had to go through to make it to the other side (post-op I mean) teaches a lot. Patience, perseverence, more patience....and that we are a lot stronger than we thought we were.

I have all the admiration in the world for people who have kids and are good parents to them. The more I pay attention to what little things my dad did (and still does), the more I learn from him. Sometimes these are little things, like how he always has a pen and a few index cards in his pocket, for notes, or when the grandkids get antsy in church so they can draw and be occupied. It is still the most amazing reward to get my dad to laugh at something. What I admire from my mother is her amazing willpower to succeed no matter what obstacle. She puts me to shame in the mathematics department too. Dave