stresses and strains

A few days ago I literally blew up at my closest friend. He was trying to cheer me up, but what he was saying had the opposite effect. When we hung up from Yahoo chat, I had to understand why I had been so uncharacteristically mean.
It was hard to see why. My family and I have gone through a number of strains and stresses that have definitely felt traumatizing. The need to scream, cry, feel anxiety and despair has been acute. Getting up every day and feeling good has been an effort, because every night has been one where you wonder what sort of news are you going to hear next?
However, I did the only thing that I could do under these circumstances, I sat with the pain and I worked through it. Of course one or two sittings is not going to create a fairytale. However, yesterday I woke up feeling that an Artist by profession is what I am, and last night, I did an exercise that has made me feel so very refreshed this morning, and that is saying allot.
The exercise was to imagine all of my immediate and future needs met, and also to see myself in eight years and explore how I fell then and what I have managed to do. Being in the future carried with it a relief with it. There was a definite melting away of the present and a warmth and joy to meet myself then.
This morning I wrote to my friend to apologize. I shall also look at answers to what ails me, and I shall continue to work on myself.