Whoo-hooooooo! I sold a book on Half.com! This is a smooth $49.00 for a book that I paid $65.75. Works for me…

Off to Waupaca to volunteer at the AG camp there that I’ve spent oh so
many summers at… Chris and I are bringing up a truck and a front end
loader with chainsaws, a lawn mower, brushcutter, and lots of diesel.
What better mix?!?

I rather like not being in control.



Many times I’ve enjoyed sitting
back and letting the world fly while just tumbling along with life
instead of trying to “right the ship” or make things go my way. No
small chance that this is why I’m never stressed….



Certainly there are many facets that I DO have control over, especially at work with a lot to oversee there. At the same time, it’s great to be a part of something bigger than me.

Being a Christian carries
this as one of the most appealing aspects. Planet Nick is too small,
too limited, too backwards, too ME to be worth spending my time on!
It’s better to realize that God has this figured out already and that
following God is the better route by far than trying to blaze some
crazy trail where no one else will follow.



My job is a microcosm of this
effect. No longer can I follow where every crew is every day. No longer
do I know where everything is or how it all works. At this point, I’m
forced to focus on my part of the business and to do that well.

This is such a great pedagogical moment in my life
to learn to let go and let live. Mmmm, pedagogical.

Mental Illness Said to Affect One-Quarter of Americans

More than half of Americans will develop a mental illness at some point
in their lives, often beginning in childhood or adolescence,
researchers have found in a survey that experts say will have
wide-ranging implications for the practice of psychiatry.

…As expected, the researchers found that the most common problems were
depression, affecting about 17 percent of the people at some point in
their lives, and alcohol abuse, affecting 13 percent. Phobias were also
common, including social phobia, a form of extreme anxiety that
affected 12 percent. More than a quarter of those interviewed had had a
mental disorder in the last year.

---

I linked to the New York Times
article, but if you can find the Wall Street Journal for June 7th, I
liked that article better. It’s online for all you other WSJ
subscribers.

---

Mental illness is a long topic,
but Chris and I were surprised that 28% had a mental illness in the
last year as determined by psychiatry’s diagnostic manual. Perhaps the
definition of a mental illness is far too broad, but nevertheless, this
put into words what I’ve witnessed just going about daily life. There
are some truly hurting people out there.

As mentioned in the article, there are people with fairly trivial
issues, but I regularly see people with debilitating illnesses.
Sometimes it’s funny. One time a woman stepped out of her condo to ask
me if I was spraying for the alligators. We’re in Wisconsin. I’ve never
seen one outside the zoo. Oh, she says, I thought someone was coming
out for that….

And sometimes it’s sad. There are a couple of people in my neighborhood
who I see all the time with blank eyes and distant stares who walk for
miles down the road by themselves with odd postures and strides or ride
around on a bike in their driveway for hours, despite being fifty-plus
years old.

Lots of pain out there.

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CVS to Sell Disposable Video Cameras

Mr.
Phillip Holt

AT
YOUR SERVICE

Phillip Holt is a multi-talented and flexible
professional butler. He graduated with distinction from The
International Butler Academy in The Netherlands. He can do it all. Not
only is he a true Butler, but he can play the Butler role as
though he came out of central casting.