Awful? Really?

http://reflectionsfromthebellcurve.blogspot.com/2012/11/stories-worth-hearing.html

Feet of clay, work in progress, one day at a time. On numerous occasions, I've used one or more of those hoary clichés to forgive myself for falling short. And each of those platitudes has worked to varying degrees - I can rationalize with the best of them.

But feeling sorry for myself has always been a flaw I've had difficulty rationalizing away, clichés or not. So after more than a day wallowing in my stink, I sat down to write a post. Several minutes of whining disguised as writing convinced me to try a new tack. I read my post from this date five years ago - no help. But the one above - from four years ago today - written soon after the 2012 devastation of Hurricane Sandy, began to lift me from the pity pot. 

Then I got in my car and drove on Route 35 through some areas still not recovered from Sandy. What was I complaining about again? Albert Ellis calls the human tendency to sometimes lose perspective "over-awfulizing".  How often do you succumb to this? Who or what helps you get a grip?