When things are tough, try not to let your problems spill into everything.  Put up some walls.  You will be glad that you did.  Perhaps a good analogy would be the watertight bulkheads in a ship.  There are things and activities in my life where I am as at home and happy now, as I ever was.  There are things and times that totally suck.  The trick seems to be to compartmentalize and live in the moment during the good activities.  It is tolerable and acceptable to have the bad times so long as you have enough good to keep you afloat.  As I became tickled pink with my clever analogy, it occurred to me that I’m captain of the Titanic and the watertight bulkheads go no higher than E deck.  Oh Hell.  Still floating with the band playing.   It might be a logical question to ask whether this strategy might make the bad times worse, but it does not seem like it.  I think that this is good advice for anyone, big problems and small.  Perhaps I should have learned this sooner.