ups and downs

I guess I am so surrounded by my girls that I tend to assume that moodiness is a female specific trait sometimes. Then Mike comes home after a not so great day, and I have to remind myself that grumbling, drama and negativity are definitely not just for women. In fact, sometimes he is the worst of all of us, when it comes to being in a crappy mood. When he's down, he's really down, and then it generally manifests into anger. Anger at what someone on the tv says, anger at the new dog who unfortunately for Mike happens to be afraid of men, anger at my inability to respond to his mood in a way that pleases him. Once he gets on a roll, it's hard to stop the ride. If I can't bring him down, which I often can't because my own mood is one of exasperation, and generally just being really annoyed that he is being a shit, then it escalates into a rant of some kind, which I then just have to walk away from.
Okay, so we are all moody from time to time. And that in itself is not necessarily a terrible thing. Life is about balance, right? You need some downs now and then to appreciate the ups. The trick, to me, is to figure out when and how to pull out of a "down" mood, and get back to an "up". There's a great line in a great song by Gotye that goes like this,

"You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness."

I think that sums it up perfectly. We all have our sad moments, but some of us have sad hours, even sad days, or worse. I think I live with at least two people who struggle with an overabundance of sadness, and I wonder, are they happiest when they're unhappy? Sometimes it seems that way. It almost seems like they fear happiness, like it's too good to be true and it's sure to end at any moment, so why get too attached to it?

Ugh. Sometimes it's overwhelming. I am not always a happy person by any means, I get bitchy and cranky and tired, especially at the end of the day, just like lots of people. But I do feel that I am the glass half full person in my marriage. And I would say that two of my daughters are like me in that respect. The third, well, she was just one of those people born with a thundercloud over her head. Her father is the same, although it took me a long time to realize that. I suppose we all need each other, or we upbeat types would just be happy all the time...hmmm. That last sentence smacks of desperate rationalization. A classic comment from a classic "look on the bright side" person.

Oh well. Onwards and upwards.