COPING

To cheer up on those bad or frustrating days, I want to laugh, so I watch “I Love Lucy†tapes.

—Gail Devers

We all have those days we don’t perform at our best—even Olympic gold medalist runner Gail Devers. Illness, fatigue, and stresses of all sorts sap our strength. How do we cope? If we can find a way to cheer up, our frustrations and failures are reduced to temporary setbacks.

A bad day might be turned around after a good workout at the gym or a walk through the park. An inexpensive bunch of daffodils, a phone call to a supportive friend, a funny movie, engrossing book, or a delicious dinner can all help to buoy our spirits and cement our resolve to tackle our goals tomorrow. Let’s find out what works for us, and spare our families in the bargain.

On this day, I will take five minutes to talk to my child about building an arsenal of “feel good†remedies to use in case of any temporary blues.