After my return:

Roommate:  You went for a run?!  You crazy girl!
Liz:  *shrug*
Roommate:  You could have gotten mugged!
Liz:  Yeah, I thought about that.
Roommate:  I don't know which is worse...if you hadn't thought about it, or that you thought about it and went anyway! 

Well, I feel like I've rejoined the land of the living, which is a good thing.

In the years since college, I've learned that I need to keep track of certain things and make sure I'm doing them well, or I can be faced with emotional disaster.    Here's The List, in order of importance, or at least what I think is that order at this point:

1.  Eating well and often enough. 
If I eat only bagels for a day straight, I may end up in tears or close to it the next day for no other real reason.
2.  Sleeping enough. 
Without enough sleep, I lose the ability to do basic math.  Then, I get really easily frustrated and feel very much like an on-the-verge-of-teary two-year-old at nap time.
3.  Taking vitamins and calcium. 
Multivitamins with iron.
4.  NOT drinking. 
I can get away with a beer sometimes without too many ill effects if I'm doing okay with all the other items on this list.  If not, I risk being in tears by the end of the night.  Hard alcohol?  Forget it.  Entire bottles of wine?  I think I mentioned I was crying WHILE I was doing that.
5.  Exercising regularly. 
If I don't do this, I get antsy and irritable and feel like punching something.  Running is good.
6.  Praying/spending some time not ignoring spirituality. 
This is the hardest one to keep up with, because I notice the lack of it much less than I notice the benefits when I actually do it.

When my life is stressful, it's even more important that I adhere to The List with extra strictness.  However, when my life is stressful, I don't CARE about the list.  For instance, I ate banana bread (only) for dinner last night, and tonight, though I wasn't hungry (and in... not the greatest mood...) I drove myself to Chipotle and forced myself to eat a veggie burrito.  IMMEDIATELY, I felt better.  Later, I went out for the crazy run mentioned above.  Now, I'm feeling pretty good.  Lesson learned.  Again.  Thanks, life!  hahaha.  :)

mood good