Survival 101 - Psychotic Killer Stalking You

Some of you may be wondering, how do you keep from losing your mind when your entire life has been turned inside out and upside down? When everything once within the illusion of your control is now running amuck like a bull in a china shop. Well here are a few tips, from someone who knows.

If you think you are in control just let go of that right now. The more you try to control the situation the worse it is going to get! If you do find yourself the object of affection for some psycho lunatic, let’s be honest, there really isn’t shit you can do. You can however work with what you've got.

Tip # 1 - Buy a Laptop

First, if you don’t have a laptop consider investing in one. Most are fairly cheap and you will thank your credit card later. This wonderful device will soon become your only link to the outside world, via email, online content and the occasional Facebook posting (although I would limit your exposure). You will also hopefully be able to salvage the remains of your life. Continue to pay bills, work remotely, maybe even buy a new pair of shoes (although you will need to set up a separate destination for delivery as you won’t to give yourself away). Laptops are also portable and can pretty much handle anything you throw at them, and most are water proof for the occasional melt down.

Tip# 2 - Prepare for the Late Night / Early morning crawl.

Next I would suggest you get familiar with Late night TV. Now I am not talking 11 pm David Letterman or Jimmy Kimmel. I am talking 230 AM TCM Abbot and Costello or my personal favorite, Tom and Jerry on Cartoon Planet. Rule of thumb, there is ALWAYS a Law and Order on somewhere. Also, just because it is black and white doesn’t mean it sucks. Best channels for late night / early morning are going to be, TCM, TNT,USA , and Cartoon Planet (does anyone else see a pattern here?). If you go cable you are going to run into soft core and since you probably not getting any at the moment probably not the best idea.

A second option for your sleepless night dilemma’s is going to be your trusty DVR. I would suggest, if you can, recording your favorite daytime soap or talkshow that you haven’t been able to watch in years. That will kill at least an hour with commercials. Now you may be thinking that you shouldn’t be prepared for the occasion of insomnia. Trust Me it will happen and better to be prepared than get stuck watching infomercials.

*Note - Do not try and work at 3 AM! First off, people are going to think you have fallen off the deep end. Second, although your eyes are open and your mind is spinning, how coherent are you really? Do be stupid and try to ‘keep up’, you don’t need to be sending drunk emails to your boss. (They found that people who drive after being awake for 17 to 19 hours performed worse than those with a blood alcohol level of .05 percent.)

Tip# 3 - Keep the little constants in your life alive and kicking

Moving on, try and keep some fragment of your life stable. (Impossible, right?) They say that children need a schedule for a sense of reassurance. Believe it or not Adults do as well. So obviously if you go running every morning you are going to have to put it on hold for a while (yes I know it totally sucks!) but things, small things, like your favorite creamer in the fridge or keeping up with you favorite blogs online. Even something as small as having Taco’s on Wednesdays can make all the difference in your ability to cope with the upheaval.

Lastly, and most important, DO NOT GIVE UP, it will end eventually. As you are already realizing, your friends and family are going to be supportive and wonderful but the fact of the matter is, you are going through this, not them.

So, do not give up, give in or let go of anything you want, wish and hope for. Those are the things that will keep you going. Things are never completely hopeless. There is always a glimmer of hope smiling back at you when you look into his eyes…hold onto the warmth of the memory, the sliver of belief that if it is meant to be it will happen.

God please make it meant to be…

So here are your tips to survival. I could go on and on but these are the must have’s in my opinion everything else is negotiable.

Stick to your guns and as Scarlett said…tomorrow is another day!

Beccs!

*Author Amy Romine writing as Rebecca Gailen the Heroine of Trust Me Book 1 - Serenity Lost available at Amazon.com