Grey puppy time (not quite grown into black dog)

speki4eyes.......yes do agree about dogs. Am new to the world of dogs (we liberated our adorble Poppy Springer/Viszla cross from Dogs Trust in January. She needs 2 gooda walks a day and whatever the weather its always a good way to blow the cobwebs away. In the evenings when shes calm and soppy she will drape all over my lap and because she is a short haired dog shes so wonderful to stoke...its like warm velvet. Yes they are a bit of a tie, but having a daft dog bouncing around certainly makes life a whole lot jollier.

Sitting g drinking my tea and typing have sons soppy mutt buried under quilt,he has been making me giggle licking his bum scratching his ear and wagging his tail at he same time...he loves being withme and on the other side have my faithful lovely black lab cuddling me. .....the only dog not welcome in my house isthe dreaded black one who is invisible.....

Jolly good! And mine. Really wanting to meet you in Brum?

I have a daft white greyhound (see profile pic) and it is difficult to feel down for long when she leaps about grinning her silly grin, not realising that she is not a puppy but about the size of a shetland pony. It was just "one of those days" when I felt a bit sorry for myself and all sorts of nostalgic, but sad thoughts and memories kept flooding over me. Behind me for now though!!

I've only just read all these posts because I didn't 'get' the heading - I thought you were all talking about puppies!

Saying that, I have always had a dog in my life (not a euphemism, I mean a four legged friend) and I can honestly say that being a dog owner/lover has given me so much happiness. My lovely little dog is by my side as I type. He watches my every move, follows me from room to room to garden, loves me unconditionally even when I make him do things he doesn't like,such as be bathed or trimmed or have his claws clipped. He's my rock. A lovely country walk with him lifts my spirits every day.

Gracesmum do you or could you have a dog? I ask because I'm sure your grey puppy days would be reduced in number if you did.

gracesmum hope you're feeling perkier, you've inspired me to get on with what I should be doing! So I'm going to use the energy that was sustaining my mood to sort out a large bookcase! ((((hugs))))

Think gracesmum had a creative moment despite the gloom with this expression. Could become GN standard jargon for a down day?

gracesmum- I have never heard the expression grey puppy before but I think it is wonderfully descriptive. There seem to be a number of us in the doldrums just now for a variety of different reasons.
I always think that the most important is to give some worth to the feelings and not start thinking ...... "There are others worse off than me", "I should be stronger than this" "I am so lucky to have all the good things in my life so have no right to feel like this" etc.
How we feel is how we feel and we just have to go with it a bit and recognise that it is a valid feeling for us at this moment - I am planning a massage sometime this week and think that this might do it for me - we all need to find the best solution we can.
I have recognised that I have been overdoing it, and this can often be a trigger for many people.
Hope everyone perks up soon - I will visit Lil's bar - but I am a teetotaller so likely to be banned!

Why hen ? you know you have you have an awful lot on your plate with LIL"s bar . You can"T be in ten places at once , and anyway you did hint that Mr Soop might have grounded you , Lord knows how they will cope , frankly I despair for them . REALLY hope they don"t run amoke ,but what can we do if they do ? Did hear mention of the vice squad, phew

Oh Soop you are such a poppet , you really don"t know how much u cheer me on . For that you can have an extra cupcake , don"t tell the others , you know how they can be .

Sorry, should have typed an inspiring message,

Nonu What a inspiring message. Thank you

Remember PoppaRob , we are not here rehearsing , there is an expiration date , you sound as though you have a fairly good life , nothing is perfect though is it ? we just have to take the bitter with the better , I wish u joy In fact I wish all the posters on this thread joy, hope that doesn"t sound patronising and it"s certainly not mean"t to be all round on me of course

Hilda I'm with you. The smallest treats [such as an email from my son] can lighten my mood in a trice. I'm very easily pleased. Having fully surfaced from a long period of the 'down in the dumps syndrome,' I'm at last waking up with a smile, and not a grunt. I wish all those of you that live with a depressive illness the same deserved sense of well-being.

Thats just it PoppaRob....when you're down in the 'pit' you just cant see over the top. Glad you keep trying tho!

As Monty Python so cheerfully sang "Life's a piece of shit when you look at it", but I'm not ready to pull the plug on life just yet. Life is best when you're young, fit, have a half decent job, kids running around and someone to share it all with, but maybe that's just because at that age we're too busy to get too reflective and we have a lot of life in front of us? My Dad always said it was a pity youth was wasted on the young.

I'm 55 soon. The average male life expectancy is Australia is 81.7 years. My cardiologist told me I'd lose 10 years for being a smoker, 10 for being morbidly obese, and 10 for having had congestive heart failure and my stroke, that was last year so theoretically I'm already dead. I did an online lifestyle calculator thing which said I'd be gone by 62, so I'll go with that one I think. What shall I do for the next 7 years? :-)

But back to the grey puppy (I really like that!)... I do get despondent and wonder why I ever bother, but then the 3 year old GD does something sweet or funny, or one of my daughter's friends asks for help or advice or invites me to a get together, or the uke club asks me to help with something, or in summer it's Wednesday night so it's night owls lawn bowls. I am a bit prone to navel gazing but I try to find things to look forward to, and of course compared to a lot of other people I have a lot to be positive about... it's just when you're in that despondent moment it can be hard to find the positives.

The funny thing is, it takes so little to cheer me up. For example I just suddenly realised that I was feeling jolly good today. I took dog for walk, and had a bit of a mental sorting out session trudging around the fields...in the sun missed the showers. Then did a couple of hours voluntary work and had a good natter to the customers. Just now have had a jolly nice animated phone call with daughter which included a two second 'Hello Grandma' with GS and she popped his photo on facebook with a picture that he had just finished. Such little things but boy, they make my day. Hope others have something to smile about very soon.

Yes, you've said it all there Biker, I feel exactly the same and obviously so do lots of us.
Thank goodness, we can't all be mad!!

Well put biker

HildaW I'm sure it's been said (in fact I know it has) many times here on Gransnet, that sometimes we think it is only "us" that feel the way we do, to have these strange and grey/black moods, and if we tell it all to others that they think we are sort of ermm.. "not of sound mind"or being meladramatic, when we have horrible dark thoughts, and are down and depressed and feel like we have to keep these thoughts to ourselves.Sometimes I don't think we can find the cause, it could be our "age" or just the time of day, just about anything can trigger one of these moods , we can be laughing and happy as Larry one min, then the next we come down to earth with a bump, but to every one else we are all " happy chappies" I think it seems to be worse as we get a bit older. I think also knowing that there are many more like you/us does just make it that little bit easier to try and get through, knowing you are "not" the only one, Tomorrow is "New Day" lets hope it is all a little brighter for us all Hey!!! has the wine in the Gransnet wine glass icon gone down?? I'm sure it has!! I wonder lol..

Definitely not alone ! Anything but!

I was trying to explain to someone that I sometimes am a bit of a 'basket case' and that I did not want them to be offended if I seemed a bit brusque. She gently said it was not a problem and that we all get 'dealt some unpleasant cards' in life and not to worry.
It got me thinking, yes I've had a few things over the last few years to cope with, and even potentially yet another one a couple of weeks ago that thankfully turned out to be much less alarming that we first thought........BUT, its not actually the cards we are dealt thats the problem is it?. Many many wonderful people cope with far far worse than I will never know and yet some days I could cheerfully walk under any obliging bus.
With me its my coping mechanism, its shot to pieces. Part is historic, part is, I think my personality (glass definately always half empty) and part is the accumulation of events. But I still think there is something else that I cant fathom. I just know that I instantly see the worse, instantly go under when things are not going well. Yes, I've been to Drs and we've had the chat but I think I'm just going to have to ride it out.

Any road up, suns been out today and I've had a glass of wine so tis not all bad. More importantly is just so darn reassuring to come in here and see I am far from alone. Cheers ladies and gents.

biker good for you,I bet you'll get the hang of it soon, and then there'll be no stopping you! And you'll be a skinny minny!

hello gracesmum ok everyone..time for a challange!! never mind the Olympics! First thing Monday morning..off to the shops and get yourselves a Hula Hoop (apparently the weighted ones are better to use) pity wer'e not able to show videos (but maybe youtube)!! "grass skirts are optional"