For the past few days, I've been in a funk. The health insurance issue is eating away at me, worrying me far more than I am used to worrying about anything. For the preservation of my mental health, I strive to follow a basic tenet of Stoicism. In a nutshell, the Stoics argue that our misery stems from the fact that we focus our energy on the things that happen to us, things over which we often have little or no control, instead of shifting our energy to reacting to the things that happen because we do have control over our own behavior. For example, I had no control over whether or not I would get Chiari, I just did. However, I can control how I react to having it; I can choose to sit on the pity pot and make everyone around me as miserable as I often am, or I can deal with the situation, do what I can when I can, and go on with my life. But this worry about health insurance is a tough one to work with! I've done everything that I can at this point and now must wait to see what happens.

I don't usually linger on the pity pot and hope that I'll soon be able to pull myelf out of the funk. Maybe it's time to look for a new hobby?