Staying Sane in an Insane World

I know it's hard getting by today in our world. And I don't mean we have to grin and bear it...
Sometimes we have tips and survival tools we can share that just might help someone else.
I'm not smarter than anyone else, but I've been through some things that might help someone else feel not so all alone.
In any day, if we can find something to smile about, or commiserate with someone, or just find the human nature in another soul, maybe we will all get through this together.
I found out I got my house foreclosed on a week ago. I've been hanging on to it for a couple years, by just a thread. I haven't made a payment, except for a couple here and there, for about a year and some months.
It's been tough. I make a little money here and there being a realtor, but not enough to pay all of my bills. I pick a couple that I have to have, my utilities, my phone, my TV!
But I'm cutting back, and calling the companies to see what I can do to change my services.
I'm trying to help people through my work, telling them what they need to know to modify their loans, or short sale their houses.
But I tried that, short selling my house, and it slipped through the cracks, I guess, and the bank foreclosed on it. I found out from my realtor, a friend, that it had foreclosed. And I was devastated, in disbelief. I cried, and called friends. And wrote my friends an email telling them what had happened. I got a lot of calls, emails back from people, saying "I'm so sorry, what can I do?" Or "you can come live with me!"
All those things helped. It made me feel not so alone.
And we're not alone, we're all struggling. And if you're not struggling personally, then your family is, or your next door neighbor, or friends at work are.
And that's what we have to decide, that it's not our fault. We're all in this together.
The friend that looks so together, and seems so healthy, is moving out, moving away, lost their house. We can all put on a pretty face, but what's happening is happening to many of us.
What can we do?
Act normal, do normal things.
The day I found out my house had been foreclosed on, I went and washed my car. I went to the one that had the wands and you have to get out and wash it with the power wash.
I was talking to myself the whole time, "this can't be real, this can't be happening to me", but I washed my car just to feel Normal. To act normal.
When someone goes through this kind of change, it's devastating.
Right up there with Divorce or death of a loved one.
Buying a house, is like a marriage. You fall in love, you make an investment, and you visualize all the things you're going to do together. Then you have fun, planting roses that your kids give you, or get it painted, spruce it up. And love it.
Take a nap in the chair in the front porch, vacuum the carpets, wash the windows and love being there.
And so it goes.
And then times get tough, and you say, what can I do to get by.
So you cash in your 401k, sell your mother's jewelry, get another job.
All those things.
And you hope.
That things get better.
That you can keep the house.
You don't know where you're going to go.
Or how you're going to live.
But you know you'll survive.
Because you have to.
There is no other choice.
So what do we do next?