WAH!
By Vickey Pahnke Taylor

Dim, dumb, or depressing aside, we have things to do and blessings to claim! When, even with the best of intentions, “dark clouds of trouble hang over us and threaten our peace to destroy”(see Hymns, # 19), how do we make things better?

In creating our good days, there are lessons to be learned as we dump our misery and move forward in as cheerful a manner as possible.  ( See John 16:33, D&C 78:18, D&C 68:6, 3Ne 1:13.)  Do we sometimes have a ‘reason of the day’, or a focus on the negative, that makes us feel sorry for ourselves? Things like:

• “I made a big mistake.”
• “How could I have been so stupid?”
• “I have repented but I don’t believe I deserve forgiveness.”
• “Things are not as I thought they would be.”
• “So-and-so is better off than me.”
• “So-and-so is so much better than me.”
• “This is too hard.”
• “Despite my best efforts, nothing is working out.”
• “My expectations are not being met.”’
• “I can’t do this (whatever the hard thing is) any longer.”
• “I feel unwanted and ignored.”

When dim moments, dumb actions, or depressing circumstances circle around us, it may be time to internalize Elder Marvin J. Ashton’s words: ”It is generally good medicine to sympathize with others, but not with yourself.”  It certainly may help us get rid of the “wah” factor. I learned this for myself from a beautiful mentor in my life:

My Mom was diagnosed with cancer when I was fifteen years of age. She underwent chemotherapy and radiation as a 35-year-old mother of two. She went through 26 major surgeries over the course of the next three and a half decades.  Had people known what she went through, how frail her body was, and how much she dealt with, they wouldn’t imagine she could even be up and walking around- ever.  Her body was disfigured and she could not do most of the things that many take for granted. She dealt with constant pain and discomfort.

But my Mom had a secret weapon. She refused to give in to discouragement.  She retaliated against the “wah” factor in a simple manner she described this way:  “I will allow myself to have a pity party from time to time. But it will be short and no one else is invited. At the end of an hour, my pity party is done and I will move on.”

She was brilliant in her dealings with discouragement. I am not sure how many pity parties she threw through the years, but I can vouch for her ongoing faith, her encouraging attitude, and her undaunted ability to weather the dark times.

“One of Satan’s most powerful tools is discouragement. (President Spencer W. Kimball.) Seems to me that discouragement has been a bona fide “wow” factor in aiding Lucifer’s cause…… how often do we fall prey to the “wah” factor because of it? Is it not possible to go through gloomy times without becoming gloomy ourselves?

Although the way may be hard, we can distance ourselves from despondency, by taking to heart President Gordon B. Hinckley’s wonderful words:

There is no doubt that President Hinckley lives what he teaches. There is power and honor in following his example. The “wah” factor will no longer be a factor in our lives!