Here's my story..midlife crisis/infidelity

[flowmom]

I could echo Flowmom's advice about only worrying about the present, but since I am a total failure at that, I can only say "it sure seems like a good idea!"

I'm not pretending that I'm great at this, but sometimes it helps to say to myself "what is happening right now?". I usually find that the intolerable part of my experience isn't what's happening right now, it's my thoughts about the past/future. Then sometimes I can choose to challenge those thoughts.

If you've been through labour without pain relief, you probably know that you're OK if you just stick with focusing on what's happening in your body at that moment. It might be painful but you can handle it. It's when you start getting scared -- "I can't handle this for 2 more hours" -- "I'm too tired, I can't possibly keep doing this until I'm fully dilated", etc. -- that the pain feels unbearable. I had to use mental discipline to get through it. I don't know if that analogy works for you...